Weaver's Week 2025-06-22

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Contents 1 99 to Beat – an analysis 1.1 Episode 1 1.2 Episode 2 1.3 Episode 3 1.4 Episode 4 2 In other news

99 to Beat – an analysis

Earlier in the spring, we said that we'd have a good look at 99 to Beat, the ITV show testing – well, pretty much everything. The winner would prove to be an all-rounder, but what would be the key skills they showed?

While researching this two-part article, we wondered what other stories were being told. Who got a lot of airtime? What brought someone to prominence? How much of a loss was that team game in the third episode, because it felt like an abrupt end to a lot of stories.

And then we saw someone talking about Genius Game and thinking that Player X would win because they got a particular edit. If that theory holds, who was going to be the winner of 99 to Beat?

We're going to give a line (or lines) for each of the challenges on the show. What was in the challenge, how does it fit into Twil's Task Taxonomy as we discussed earlier? Who went out, how many times had they given a piece to camera?

We're going to talk about "contributions" and "spots". A "spot" is one challenge, or the sections between games where players talk between themselves. A "contribution" is a piece to camera, either in the arena or in a side room, where the contestant is captioned; the speech doesn't have to be continuous, and can cut back to the arena, but no other contestant speaks to camera. A player can have more than one appearance in a spot. "Contribution" must be in one of the side-conversations or be captioned; we hasn't attempted to record every time a contestant speaks in a game, that would be unmanageable.

Episode 1

The episode began with seven contestants talking about their hopes. We count these as both "spots" and "contributions".

Round	Game	Category	Eliminated	Conts	Spots
100	Find an exercise ball while blindfolded	Dexterity	Edward	3	2
99	Curl slinkie onto forehead	Dexterity	Dilan	2	1
98	Balance drinks can on its edge	Co-ordination	Calvin	4	1
97	Ping pong ball on a spoon in your mouth	Dexterity	Caroline	3	1

Edward spoke in the introduction, and was first out.

A team game followed: run a ball along a drainpipe to knock over skittles. Worst of eight teams was eliminated. The players eliminated were:

Eliminated	Conts	Spots	Notes
Kieran T	1	1
Adam	6	1	Betrothed to Dani G
Jane	0	0	Ten contestants leave without giving a piece to camera
Dev	0	0
Julie	0	0
Robert	0	0
Phill	0	0
Pam	0	0
Kyle	0	0
unknown 1	0	0	Three don't appear to be named on screen
unknown 2	0	0
unknown 3	0	0

We're able to categorise the team game by the weight of skills tested. This one is two parts Dexterity, two parts Co-Ordination, one part Social, one part Physical (holding the drainpipes up isn't easy) and six parts Fortune (seemed to be luck about your team's performance).

Round	Game	Category	Eliminated	Conts	Spots	Notes
84	Defrost frozen t-shirt	Physical	Les	1	1	Lisa leaves the competition (7 apps, 4 spots)
83	Extract coin from piggy bank with paperclip	Co-ordination	Yae	3	1

Lisa was injured during celebrations after the team challenge, and was replaced by Ali. We've no problem with replacing contestants on the first episode, but wouldn't want to do so when a significant number of players have been eliminated.

Episode 1 had 86 contributions from 50 spots. We had heard from eight of the eliminated players, and 23 continuing contestants.

Episode 2

Round	Game	Category	Eliminated	Conts	Spots
82	Guess weight of a llama	Mental	Janet	6	5
81	Pack sticky tape into tiny box	Dexterity	Tony	5	3
80	Retract tape measure, stop it between lines	Co-ordination	Paul M	4	2
79	Hook pasta onto spaghetti using mouth	Dexterity	Paul	3	1

The pasta game was made easier when the last two players had great difficulty completing it. One wonders if they might have eliminated both... until we see there's a team game next.

Build a domino rally along the length of a narrow plank, so it pushes from one end to the other. Worst of six teams is eliminated en masse. We class this as Social, Physical (1 each), Dexterity, Co-Ordination (2 each), and Fortune (7). Thirteen went:

Eliminated	Conts	Spots	Notes
Bethany	0	0
Biddy	8	5
Bruno	0	0
Charlie H	3	2
Chelsey	0	0
Dan	1	1
Dani G	7	1	Betrothed to Adam, who was eliminated in last show's team game
Ellie	0	0
Ian	0	0
Mike	1	1
Safyah	3	2
Sue	8	4
Tom	0	0

Early eliminations for both of the betrothed couple, it felt like the producers wanted them to go far – except Dani had only had one Spot, when up against her fiancé.

Round	Game	Category	Eliminated	Conts	Spots	Notes
65	Hold flower in secateurs, don't snip or drop	Dexterity	Paul O	4	3	Effectively withdrew
64	Volleyball whittle (winning team safe, losers halve)	Physical	Katy	3	1

The original De Alleskunner loves its whittles, halving contestants until one remains. This adaptation, not so much.

Episode two had 71 contributions from 42 spots; the team game was told mostly through live action from the arena rather than recaps later. We've heard from 25 continuing contestants. Peeking ahead, we see just three Spots this episode from contestants who lasted into episode six, and none at all from the finalists – might we suggest that the producers missed the actual winners?

Episode 3

Round	Game	Category	Eliminated	Conts	Spots	Notes
63	Knock a balloon off a stand by firing an elastic band	Co-ordination	Freddie	8	3
62	Balance 11 nails on one nail	Dexterity	Ali	3	1	Ali replaced Lisa, who withdrew in ep 1, so "only" beat 21 players
61	Throw a paper plane	Co-ordination	Jeff	8	5

Jeff, the oldest contestant in the field, was absolutely confident that he would use years of experience to make a paper plane that would fly to the other side of the room. It nosedived. Pride before a plummet is a trope 99 to Beat (and De Alleskunner) use often.

The team game was to toss three pancakes down the line; worst of five teams is eliminated. We're going to class this as Social (2: the insight is to put your weakest players first), Co-Ordination (2: aiming your pancake, and receiving it), and Dexterity (1: the actual flip), and Fortune (7: don't be on a bad team)

Eliminated	Conts	Spots	Notes
Aaron	0	0	Team game; worst of five teams out
Frankie	0	0
Neil	0	0
Surabhi	0	0
Wes	0	0
Georgia K	12	4	Twin with Courtney
Megan	2	2
Nevaeh	15	9	Most-seen so far
Louis	5	4
Dáire	0	0
Kingsley	8	7	Along with Georgia, Nevaeh, and Louis, had been in all three eps; others across all shows were Jeff (out 61) and Courtney (continuing)
Flex	3	2

"A brutal elimination", said the hosts. This was evidenced by the statistics: the twelve players we'd seen had had about 20% of screentime. But then, any elimination of 20% of players should have folk who have had about 20% of screentime. Someone on the Discords said these team eliminations were a complete momentum-killer, and we agree: it's hard to pick yourself up when so many familiar characters leave at once.

Round	Game	Category	Eliminated	Conts	Spots
48	Count peas in a bottle	Mental	Bianca	4	2
47	Drop candles into perspex holders	Dexterity	Lewis	10	5

Lewis had discussed his problems with Dexterity challenges earlier in the episode; the producers build up a story and resolve it within the hour.

Episode three had 95 contributions from 47 spots. We'd heard from 24 continuing contestants, with 22 yet to contribute. If we're looking for an edit for a winner, watch for Courtney, Duvali, Jess, Omali, and Shane.

Episode 4

Round	Game	Category	Eliminated	Conts	Spots
46	Find t-shirt with your name on it	Social	Will M	4	2

This game seemed not to go to plan: the producers probably wanted it to be a searching test (which we'd probably class as Memory), but it turned out to be "Bill! Your shirt's here!" Even in the final three, players were helping each other.

Team game next: complete a set of five players with the same percussion instrument. Worst of the nine teams leaves. We classify this as Memory (remember what you've got), Mental (work out where the matching sounds come from), and Fortune (3: there's a lot of luck involved). Felt like some instruments were a lot easier to match than others.

Eliminated	Conts	Spots
Will T	0	0
Charlie B	0	0
Shane	7	5
Will L	6	6
Georgia G	2	1

Yes, they're still eliminating players without speaking to them.

Round	Game	Category	Eliminated	Conts	Spots
40	Longest peel from a potato	Co-ordination	Amy	11	6
39	Push off scooter; first to fall or cross finish line is out	Physical	Amir	8	1
38	Bounce pencil into pot	Dexterity	Mia	8	4
37	Pop champagne cork as far as possible	Co-ordination	Dexter	7	2

Scooter (game 39) was an imbalanced whittle: the players were in three groups of 13, with the one worst in each group going to the final. Amir's 8 Contributions in this single Spot is the most we'd see across the entire series.

Episode four had 93 contributions from 46 spots. Duval got a lot of time in the scooter game, so did Joán, and the producers included Charlie J quite a lot. Of the contenders prominent in the first three episodes, Jess got one of the sideline chats, Courtney was active in the games but didn't speak to camera, and Shane was eliminated.

We will complete this review in next week's Week (which will probably be published on Friday).

In other news

A few obituaries of folk who briefly had roles in the game show world.

Wincey Willis, aged 76. She was best known as the TV-am weather presenter, also a friend to animals, and the host of various programmes about exotic and everyday pets. She was the firm but fair adjudicator on Channel 4's Treasure Hunt, able to banter with Anneka Rice so that there was always something to see and hear.

Uriah Rennie, aged 65. He was the first Black referee in top-flight football, the firm but fair adjudicator for more than 300 matches in the men's Premier League. He later worked as a magistrate and was installed as chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University just last month. His game show credential was as the gruff and grumpy umpire on ITV's short-lived Freeze Out, a quiz on ice.

Kim Woodburn, aged 83. One half of How Clean is Your House troublemakers Kim and Aggie, she later became a regular on ITV's Loose Women and This Morning shows. Kim's game show links were on reality shows - Celebrity Big Brother, I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, and Come Dine with Me.

More celebrities on Celebrity Puzzling (C5, Mon-Fri), back for an unexpected run. Popmaster tv also has a new series (More4, Mon-Fri). It's championship week on Countdown (C4, final on Fri).

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