Power of 10 (American game show): Difference between revisions

Power of 10
File:Power-ten.JPG Power of 10 title card
Created by	Michael Davies
Directed by	Mark Gentile
Presented by	Drew Carey
Composer	Lewis Flinn
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	7 (to date)
Production
Executive producer	Michael Davies
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	August 7, 2007 – present

Power of 10 is a CBS game show hosted by Drew Carey. The show premiered on August 7, 2007 and airs twice weekly, on Tuesday and Wednesday at 8:00pm ET/PT. Each game features contestants predicting how a cross-section of Americans responded to questions covering a wide variety of topics in polls conducted by CBS. The top prize is $10,000,000.

The series is produced by Embassy Row Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television and is taped at Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York City.

Two contestants try to predict the results of poll questions, based on the surveys used on Family Feud and Card Sharks (e.g., "What percentage of Americans said they are afraid of circus clowns?") in a best-of-five elimination round. After the question is read, each contestant has 10 seconds to lock in an answer; if they do not lock in an answer the computer will lock in the percentage they are currently on. The player who comes closer to the actual percentage earns a point. The first player to earn three points wins the round and goes to the money round to play for $10,000,000.

In the money round, the contestant is given similar questions, and must place a range, that is similiar to The Price is Right's, Range Game, on the scale from 0% to 100% that includes the correct answer (for example, if the answer is 45%, then the contestant's range must include 45%). The size of the range decreases as the money values increase:

• $1000 question: 40-point range
• $10,000 question: 30-point range
• $100,000 question: 20-point range
• $1,000,000 question: 10-point range
• $10,000,000 question: Exact guess (see below)

For the first three questions, the correct answer to the question is revealed once the contestant has locked in an answer by pulling down a lever. For the $1,000,000 question, the correct answer is revealed only if the contestant misses the question.

If the contestant correctly answers the $1,000,000 question, the contestant is then given the chance to win $10,000,000 by picking the exact percentage (rounded to the nearest 1%) out of that 10% range; thus, the contestant has a 1 in 11 chance of being correct.

If the contestant misses either the $1,000 or $10,000 question, he/she leaves with nothing. From the $100,000 question and then on, missing a question will cause a contestant to lose "by the power of 10", thus having their winnings divided by 10 (thus, losing on the $100K question drops the winnings to $1,000; losing on the $1,000,000 question drops the winnings to $10K, and losing at the $10,000,000 level drops the winnings to $100K).

For each question, audience members lock in what they think the correct percentage is, and the contestant can ask an in-studio relative or friend what their opinion is before locking in any answer. Contestants are also allowed to adjust their choice as much as they want, in order to elicit reactions from the audience or their friend/relative. Contestants can stop the game at any time and take their money, so long as they do not lock in an answer.

Drew Carey does not know the answers and actually goes out of his way to help contestants think through questions. He also makes jokes and pokes fun at the contestants' occupations, hobbies, and himself during the questions.

Jamie Sadler, a 19-year-old Upper Montclair, New Jersey pre-med student at the University of Florida, was the first contestant to earn the right to play for money on the game show, and succeeded in winning $1,000,000 (to be paid as a ten-year annuity). This made him the youngest person to ever win $1 million on a quiz show or game show. Sadler accomplished this distinction by giving a range of 23% to 33% for the question, "What percentage of women consider themselves feminists?" Though given the chance to win the $10,000,000 grand prize, he declined to "lock in" a guess for the exact percentage within that range. Instead, he quit the game, and kept his $1 million prize; had he chosen an incorrect answer, he would have won only $100,000. Subsequently, with no risk involved, he guessed 24%; the correct answer was 29%.

This marks the first time CBS has ever awarded a $1 million prize on a game show, excluding reality shows.^[1]

On the show, Carey claimed that neither he nor the show's producers believed anyone would reach the $10,000,000 question so early in the show's run. As a result, Carey claimed that they were unprepared for its actual occurrence, and that he would "wing it." ^[2]

Also, CBS's Big Brother 8 reality show contestants Daniele Donato and Amber Siyavus won the opportunity to appear on the show in a competition. Amber won in the opening round and made it to the $100,000 question, however she missed and only won $1000.

Power of 10 premiered on August 7, 2007 with ratings at 9.25 million viewers, the highest ratings the timeslot had seen since Mid-May. The second episode shown on August 8, 2007 dropped almost 2 million viewers to 7.83 million viewers, and ratings continued to drop for the third episode, not as dramatic, but to 7.73 million viewers. The fourth episode saw a 950,000 viewer increase to 8.68 million viewers, the highest the ratings have been since the premiere of the show. On August 28, 2007 Power of 10 received it's highest ratings yet with 9.72 million viewers which is 1 million viewers higher then the previous episode. Following this episode the ratings slipped a bit to 8.40 million viewers, but it won it's time slot for the third consecutive broadcast (see episode number 6's source)

Nine Network in Australia acquired the domestic rights to the show and plan to begin airing a local version in 2008.^[9] Top prize should be the same as the American version, but in Australian dollars.

TF1 in France has picked up the rights to the format and intend to air a local version.^[10]

• Official Site
• Press release announcing summer pick-up of Power of 10
• Power of 10 recaps

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