Close calls....narrow escapes.....

[Allstar87]

Only now, they seem to be more about throwing out the baby with the bathwater.  Hence them skipping episodes altogether.

I can confirm they have done this in the past. I have a good chunk of the Body Language skips, and in one of them a contestant simply guessed "midget" when the word being acted out was "elves". It was super easy to mute it out, and they skipped it anyway.

I hate to think that that's the reason for the Whew skips when they can and have simply muted the offending word in the past, but unfortunately there is some evidence this is the case here.

[JMFabiano]

Only now, they seem to be more about throwing out the baby with the bathwater.  Hence them skipping episodes altogether.

I can confirm they have done this in the past. I have a good chunk of the Body Language skips, and in one of them a contestant simply guessed "midget" when the word being acted out was "elves". It was super easy to mute it out, and they skipped it anyway.

I hate to think that that's the reason for the Whew skips when they can and have simply muted the offending word in the past, but unfortunately there is some evidence this is the case here.

Think Buzzr is trying to give the viewers what they want, but to a fault.  In that they think of something else we'd dislike equally. 

[TimK2003]

Again, we do NOT know for sure if Stephen's return for his inaugural trip to the Gauntlet is indeed the episode being skipped.  Maybe I was home from school on a random teacher in service/sick/snow day, or possibly President's Day (I don't think MLK weekend was recognized yet back then)

Nor do we know that if it is the skipped episode, what is the reason for not airing it ‐‐ it could be a damaged or missing tape,...

One thing that COULD be an advantage to us if Stephen's return episode(s) will not air on Buzzr ‐‐ for whatever reason(s) ‐‐ since the Whew! library more or less came via Winc and their connections, what's to say it could show up in a future edition of Wink's Vault???

Then, the game show fanatics can see it au natural on a website while the Buzzr folk who think it is too controversial to the general public will never see it over the air.

Again, these are all just speculative musings...

[Robair]

So for those who didn't see today's show, #175 ended in a tie game. 176 then, if it were THAT episode, would be comprised of the tiebreaker round, then that winner's gauntlet with Joyce or Viscuso, then Stephen's gauntlet, and finally the first round of a new match with the celebrities. No matter, 177 would start with the second round of the match with the Stephen gauntlet played in 176, or a tiebreaker round or gauntlet if no Stephen.

[gridlockjoe]

So for those who didn't see today's show, #175 ended in a tie game. 176 then, if it were THAT episode, would be comprised of the tiebreaker round, then that winner's gauntlet with Joyce or Viscuso, then Stephen's gauntlet, and finally the first round of a new match with the celebrities. No matter, 177 would start with the second round of the match with the Stephen gauntlet played in 176, or a tiebreaker round or gauntlet if no Stephen.

And the mystery continues because 177 started with a gauntlet. No Stephen.

[JMFabiano]

So for those who didn't see today's show, #175 ended in a tie game. 176 then, if it were THAT episode, would be comprised of the tiebreaker round, then that winner's gauntlet with Joyce or Viscuso, then Stephen's gauntlet, and finally the first round of a new match with the celebrities. No matter, 177 would start with the second round of the match with the Stephen gauntlet played in 176, or a tiebreaker round or gauntlet if no Stephen.

And the mystery continues because 177 started with a gauntlet. No Stephen.

Perhaps if next game is 2-0, we might have a chance?

[MikeK]

Unless my math is wrong or I wasn't paying full attention, Monday 4/11's show starts at the Gauntlet with the champ getting 73 seconds.  She won (a record?) $1310 in the main game.

[Bryce L.]

Unless my math is wrong or I wasn't paying full attention, Monday 4/11's show starts at the Gauntlet with the champ getting 73 seconds.  She won (a record?) $1310 in the main game.

$10 + $50 = $60
$60 + $30 = $90
$90 + $50 = $140
$140 + $30 = $170
$170 + $500 = $670

$30 + $30 = $60
$60 + $40 = $100
$100 + $20 = $120
$120 + $20 = $140
$140 + $500 = $640

$640 + $670 = $1,310
Your math checks out just fine. And I think you may well be right about that being a record as well.

[TimK2003]

One thing I've been noticing in some of the more recent airings (I'm still a few weeks behind in watching recorded episodes) in the Celebrity Whew! era is that the charging teams have been noticeably more successful in winning the round versus the blockers, including a few rounds where the charging team had plenty of time to hit multiple boxes on level 6 as well as several "perfect" rounds (no blocks or wrong answers).

It didn't seem to happen as often in the civilians‐only episodes.  But then again, viewers (and contestants) were still trying to wrap their brains around the format and rules.

[Ian Wallis]

One thing I've been noticing in some of the more recent airings (I'm still a few weeks behind in watching recorded episodes) in the Celebrity Whew! era is that the charging teams have been noticeably more successful in winning the round versus the blockers, including a few rounds where the charging team had plenty of time to hit multiple boxes on level 6 as well as several "perfect" rounds (no blocks or wrong answers).

It didn't seem to happen as often in the civilians‐only episodes.  But then again, viewers (and contestants) were still trying to wrap their brains around the format and rules.

I've always thought the best strategy is to load up the blocks on a couple of levels - I think the odds are higher that a couple of them will be hit.  When the contestant only gets to put 3 blocks and the celebrities the other 3, I've noticed that it's usually more scattered.  In the recent episodes I've seen (a couple of weeks behind what BUZZR's currently airing) frequently the chargers don't hit any of them; or maybe just one but still have plenty of time on level six.

Having celebrities definitely seems to change how the game's played.

[JMFabiano]

One thing I've been noticing in some of the more recent airings (I'm still a few weeks behind in watching recorded episodes) in the Celebrity Whew! era is that the charging teams have been noticeably more successful in winning the round versus the blockers, including a few rounds where the charging team had plenty of time to hit multiple boxes on level 6 as well as several "perfect" rounds (no blocks or wrong answers).

It didn't seem to happen as often in the civilians‐only episodes.  But then again, viewers (and contestants) were still trying to wrap their brains around the format and rules.

Well the celebrity episodes I find have more easy bloopers, even the further to the right you get on the board.  I've seen some tougher questions though now that we're all-celebrity, so perhaps the writers decided to reinstate a balance once they got used to the new format? 

I've always thought the best strategy is to load up the blocks on a couple of levels - I think the odds are higher that a couple of them will be hit.  When the contestant only gets to put 3 blocks and the celebrities the other 3, I've noticed that it's usually more scattered.  In the recent episodes I've seen (a couple of weeks behind what BUZZR's currently airing) frequently the chargers don't hit any of them; or maybe just one but still have plenty of time on level six.

And that is one of the foibles of the new format.   Putting half your fate in the celebrity's hands.  Other shows do it but it can be awkward on W!  Blocking is better when it's one person's strategy and it has that one continuity to it. 

[Bryce L.]

STEPHEN'S ON!

[JMFabiano]

STEPHEN'S ON!

Had a feeling since yesterday ended with a Gauntlet win.  Then the final segment kept the retired champ with the two celebrities being interviewed.

[BrandonFG]

Our long national nightmare is over

[snowpeck]

Our long national nightmare is over

Will this be one of the rerun episodes on Sunday?

No.