Unan1mous is an American reality television program that premiered on the Fox Network on March 22, 2006, and ran for one season. The host of the series was J. D. Roth.
Nine strangers are locked in a bunker and told they cannot leave until they unanimously choose to award one of them the grand prize money. Contestants are isolated from the outside world, and have no access to any time references. If a contestant chooses to leave the bunker and quit the game would result in the grand prize being cut in half (in one instance on the show, a contestant was forced to leave for health reasons so the money was not cut in half).
Votes are cast by each contestant taking a ball and selecting the name of one of the other contestants via a roller inside of it (a person's own name is not included in their ball). If a vote is not unanimous, something negative happens to the players to increase the pressure to reach a unanimous decision. Throughout the course of the game, these were the "punishments" the players received:
The contestants select three random envelopes, each containing a secret about one of them. It is not known whose secrets are being read, and contestants vote to decide which secret is the worst. The holder of that secret is "outcast" from the game, meaning they are no longer eligible to win the money, but that they will remain in the bunker (wearing a special uniform) and continue to vote. Outcast players are also still subject to the rule that if anyone leaves, the amount will be halved. (After Vote 1)
The money begins to constantly decrease, pausing only when a vote is being held or to freeze the amount when someone has decided to leave. (After Vote 2)
The contestants secretly vote to decide who will become an outcast. (After Votes 3 and 4)
The person voted to become an outcast is given the chance to select any remaining active player to become an outcast. (After Outcast Vote 2)
The three outcasts each get to select one of the four remaining players, making the unpicked person an outcast. (After Vote 5)
The four outcasts must select which one of the outcasts gets put back into the game. If they cannot decide by a majority within 15 minutes, the decision is left to the group leader (who, if an outcast, can choose to bring him/herself back). (After Vote 6)
The show was supposedly open-ended, and could end at any time: from one episode to several depending on if or when a unanimous vote is eventually reached. If the contest continued long enough, the money would be completely gone. The final episode aired May 10, 2006. However, the whole premise had a definite time limit of less than eight full days. The entire show was filmed in only 10 days, as the total amount of money was cut in half once and then decreased at such a rate as to make it impossible for the contestants to be stuck in the bunker "forever."
↑ Jamie left the game due to medical reasons, so the money was not cut in half because of her departure
↑ Due to conflicts with others in the bunker, Kelly removed herself from the game and cut the money in half
1 2 Richard was made an outcast after the first vote, but when Kelly left the game, he became active again to keep the total number of eligible players at 8
1 2 After Vote 6, the inability of the outcasts to decide which of them to bring back into the game resulted in Tarah, the group leader and then an outcast, choosing to bring herself back in.
1 2 Vanessa was chosen by Steve to join him as an outcast after Outcast Vote 2.
↑ After Vote 5, Tarah was the person not chosen to remain active in the game by the other outcasts.
Finale
On Wednesday, May 10, 2006, the final vote was taken. Tarah received the necessary 6 votes (out of 7; her vote was for Jameson) to win the game, and won $382,193 as a result.
Broadcast information
Unan1mous was broadcast on eight consecutive Wednesday nights, from March 22 to May 10. It was broadcast in the 9:30pm time slot, immediately after American Idol (the actual start time for each episode was 9:32pm). The premiere episode attracted an audience of 15.84million viewers in the United States, with most of the other episodes attracting between 12 and 14.5million viewers. Despite these high ratings, the show did not return for a second season, presumably due to high production costs. The show aired in Australia on Fox8. It was also broadcast in Sweden on TV6 and in the Netherlands on RTL 5.
International versions
Versions of the show have aired in Italy, Kenya, Spain, Norway and in the United Kingdom (where the show is called Unanimous). A version in Russia called Who does NOT want to be a millionaire? aired starting on October 4, 2008 on the Russian TNT channel. An Indian adaptation of the show, known as The Player, aired on December 12, 2009 on Channel V (now Fox Music Asia).
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