Format
The original format features a team of nine contestants who take turns answering general knowledge questions. The object of each round is to create a chain of nine consecutive correct answers and earn an increasing amount for a single communal pot within a certain time limit. An incorrect answer breaks the chain and loses any money earned in that chain. However, before their question is asked, a contestant can choose to bank the current amount of money earned in a chain to a safe pot, after which the chain starts afresh. A contestant's decision not to bank, in anticipation that they will be able to correctly answer the upcoming question allows the money to grow, as each successive correct answer earns proportionally more money.
When the allotted time for each round ends, any money not banked is lost, and if the host is in the middle of asking a question, or has asked a question but the contestant has yet to answer, the question is abandoned. Occasionally, the host gives the correct answer whether the contestant is able to answer the question correctly or not. The round automatically ends if the team successfully reaches the maximum amount for the round before the allotted time expires, and the next person says "Bank". Each round thereafter is reduced by 10 seconds as players are eliminated. The remaining two players have 90 seconds on the clock for the triple stakes round.
The first person to be asked a question in the first round is the player whose name is first alphabetically. Every subsequent round starts with the "strongest link"—the player with the most correct answers—from the previous round, unless that person has been voted off, in which case the second strongest answers first.
Read more about this topic: The Weakest Link (UK game show)