Countdown is a British game show involving word and mathematical tasks that began airing in November 1982. It is broadcast on Channel 4 and is currently presented by Colin Murray, assisted by Rachel Riley with lexicographer Susie Dent. It was the first programme to be broadcast on Channel 4 and 90 series have been broadcast since its debut on 2 November 1982. With over 8,000 episodes, Countdown is one of Britain's longest-running game shows; the original French version, Des chiffres et des lettres, has been running on French television continuously since 1965. Countdown was produced by Yorkshire Television and was recorded at The Leeds Studios for 27 years, before moving to the Manchester-based Granada Studios in 2009. Following the development of MediaCityUK, Countdown moved again in 2013 to the new purpose-built studios at Dock10 in Greater Manchester.
Street Smarts is an American game show that featured two in-studio contestants trying to predict the outcome of interviews of people who were found on the street. The show, which was hosted by Frank Nicotero, aired in syndication from 2000 to 2005. Nicotero would be on locale with the on the street contestants, virtually any and everywhere in the United States. The in studio gameplay however, was at G4 and TMZ, headquarters, Victory Studios, in Glendale, California.
Body Language is an American game show produced by Mark Goodson Productions. The show aired on CBS from June 4, 1984, until January 3, 1986, and was hosted by Tom Kennedy. Johnny Olson announced until his death in October 1985; Gene Wood and Bob Hilton shared the announcing duties afterward, having substituted on occasion before then.
Leslie Matthew Heath is a New Zealand actor, producer, radio host, sports commentator, columnist and musician. He played Danny Parker on Back Of The Y Masterpiece Television and Dick Johansonson in the feature film The Devil Dared Me To. He was guitarist and singer for the 2000s band Deja Voodoo. He has worked on shows for MTV2 in the UK and appeared on Eating Media Lunch. Heath hosts the Matt and Jerry Breakfast Show with Jeremy Wells on Radio Hauraki. He has been a columnist for The New Zealand Herald since June 2014 and provides cricket commentary for The Alternative Commentary Collective. Heath runs the motion graphics company Vinewood Animation Studios with Philip Brough. In 2018, he co-hosted The Moment with Mike Lane on TVNZ Duke throughout the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Heath is the author of a cookbook titled "The Best of Leslie's Kitchen".
The Singing Bee is an Australian game show which is based on the original American version of the same name. By combining karaoke singing with a spelling bee-style competition, contestants have to sing lyrics to songs without making a mistake or risk elimination.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee, formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and often referred to as the National Spelling Bee or simply “the Spelling Bee” in the United States, is an annual spelling bee held in the United States. The bee is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W. Scripps Company and is held at a hotel or convention center in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area during the week following Memorial Day weekend. Since 2011, it has been held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center hotel in National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, just outside Washington D.C. It was previously held at the Grand Hyatt Washington in Washington D.C. from 1996 to 2010.
The Singing Bee is a sing-along game show that originally aired on NBC and then CMT. Combining karaoke singing with a spelling bee-style competition, this show features contestants trying to remember the lyrics to popular songs. Originally slated to begin with a six episode season during late 2007, it launched early in reaction to Fox's competing Don't Forget the Lyrics!
7 Days is a New Zealand comedy game show focused on current events, hosted by Jeremy Corbett and created by thedownlowconcept. It has aired on Three since its premiere in 2009. Two teams, consisting of a team captain — until 2022, nearly always Paul Ego and Dai Henwood — and other comedians, answer questions about stories from the last week; since 2022, the team captains have changed each week. As of 2024, 7 Days has aired for 16 seasons, with a 17th planned for 2025.
The Great Australian Spelling Bee was an Australian reality series on Network Ten. Hosted by Grant Denyer and Chrissie Swan, and produced by Shine Australia, the series premiered from 3 August 2015 until 17 September 2016. The series also stars Chris Edmund as pronouncer.
The second season of The Great Australian Spelling Bee premiered on 17 July 2016 on Network Ten. The season sees Grant Denyer and Chrissie Swan return as hosts.
The Big Spell is a British game show which aired in January and February 2017 on Sky 1. The program is an adaptation of the Australian program The Great Australian Spelling Bee. It features 20 children aged between 9 and 13 competing in a series of spelling-related challenges, and delves into both the spellings and the meanings of various words. The show is hosted by Sue Perkins and Joe Lycett, with newsreader Moira Stuart the pronouncer. Perkins stated that she only was interested in presenting the show if it was "nice" and avoided cynicism. The show was cancelled after one series, with only 160,000 viewers watching the finale.
Guy Montgomery is a comedian from New Zealand. He is known for his panel game show Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee, a series he began as a web series before becoming a TV series, for +HR=E in New Zealand, and later, adapted to a slightly higher budget Australian version for the ABC. He won the Fred Award in 2023.
Genius Junior is an American television game show that debuted on March 18, 2018 on NBC, during the 2017–18 season. In March 2017, NBC ordered ten episodes for the first season of the series, which was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. The series shows children, aged 12 and under, competing in teams of three in five increasingly difficult rounds. Each round tested the teams in various subjects including spelling, mathematics and memory. The winning team received the "Genius Junior Grant".
Urzila Carlson is a South African-born New Zealand comedian and actress, known for her stand-up performances as well as her appearances on television programs in both New Zealand and Australia. Carlson is a regular panellist on 7 Days and both the Australian and New Zealand version of Have You Been Paying Attention?. She has also been a panellist on The Masked Singer Australia for the show's second and third seasons and a contestant on the second season of Taskmaster NZ.
Have You Been Paying Attention? is a New Zealand panel show on TVNZ 2, based on the original Australian series Have You Been Paying Attention?. The series is a mix of news and comedy in which host Hayley Sproull quizzes five guests – permanent panelists Urzila Carlson and Vaughan Smith and three others – on the week's top news stories.
Taskmaster New Zealand is a New Zealand comedy panel game show, first broadcast in 2020 on TVNZ 2. The format for the show was created by British comedian Alex Horne during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010 and was subsequently developed into a successful UK television show in 2015.
Paul Anthony Williams is a New Zealand comedian and musician. Williams plays the role of Taskmaster's assistant on the New Zealand version of the international television series Taskmaster, and is one of the show's principal writers. He was nominated for the 2017 Billy T Award for up-and-coming New Zealand comedians for his stand-up comedy.
Brynley Alexandra Stent is a New Zealand actor, comedian and scriptwriter. She appeared on the first season of the New Zealand adaptation of Taskmaster and played the character Kelly-Anne Johnson on long running New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. She won the 2021 Billy T Award for best breakthrough comedian for her show Soft Carnage.
Aaron Chen is an Australian comedian and actor from Sydney.
Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee is an Australian television comedy panel show on the ABC, created and presented by Guy Montgomery and co-hosted by Aaron Chen, based on the New Zealand TV show of the same name. The eight-episode first series premiered on 14 August 2024; every episode was made available on ABC iview that day.
