Chain of cash: ‘Weakest Link’ stays strong with all-new episodes
What do “Fleetwood Mac” and this series have in common? If you guessed: “They both ask you to ‘never break the chain,’” then maybe your memory could earn you some cash. Asking big questions — and promising big rewards — the supersized third season of the “Weakest Link” reboot returns with all-new episodes, beginning Monday, May 20, on NBC.
“The game begins with eight strangers who must join forces in order to win the maximum amount of cash available in each round,” NBC, the longtime network host of the series, explains.
“One at a time, each contestant must answer general knowledge questions to build chains of correct answers. The team’s prize increases as more consecutive questions are answered correctly. But an incorrect answer could end in disaster: Anyone’s wrong answer will break the chain and force all the contestants to start over from the lowest dollar amount. Contestants compete for more money after each round, but they must vote to boot the individual viewed as the ‘weakest link’ in the chain.
“On the flip side,” NBC continues, “the last person left standing is crowned the Strongest Link and gets the total cash prize won by the entire field of contestants. That can be as much as $1 million.”
Emmy winner Jane Lynch (“Glee”) is back to lead this season’s players as the series’ stalwart, acerbic host, leading her quizzical contestants with plenty of biting wit and sarcastic remarks.
“I’m very much looking forward to [more episodes] of mocking contestants and encouraging discord,” Lynch recently claimed, surely hiding more tricks — and tricky questions — up her sleeve.
Returning to the helm of this reboot is showrunner Stuart Krasnow (“The Mediator”), who first brought the American adaptation of this (first-british) show to life back in 2001, then again in 2020, when Lynch joined the team.
Now produced by BBC Studios’ Los Angeles Productions — in association with Universal Television Alternative Studio, a division of Universal Studio Group — “Weakest Link” comes from executive producers Ryan O’dowd (“Wrestlers”), Aaron Solomon (“Brainsurge”) and Lynch herself.
Test your knowledge and see how you’d fare against the strongest when the “Weakest Link” returns Monday, May 20, on NBC.