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The Money Drop Thailand
21 September 2015
Thailand’s version of Endemol’s game show format The Money Drop has been one of the stronger shows in its genre in the country.
The format challenges a pair of contestants with seven multiple-choice questions to win a THB2 million/US$56,788 cash prize and a car.
The Money Drop Thailand premiered on 2 August 2014 on terrestrial station Channel 7, airing weekends 5.30pm to 6pm. The format initially aired 6pm to 6.30pm but was moved to make way for the airing of daily government programmes.
The highest rating recorded for the game show was 10.8 for the 20 December 2014 episode, a record which no other game show has topped.
The show’s main set-up is a three-metre centre platform (meant to isolate contestants from everyone else) equipped with four trapdoors representing four different answers. For each question, contestants have 60 seconds to place their money on the trapdoors. Wrong answers mean the money drops through the trapdoors. If the contestants lose all their money before reaching the final question, the game ends. If they keep their money or the car key through to the final question, the remaining money and the car are theirs to keep.
Local elements include the car as a prize and celebrity couples. The car was added as the programme reached its 100th episode.
Produced by Zense Entertainment, The Money Drop Thailand challenges include the selection of couples to compete and planning the right questions for them.
It was also the first time Zense had to operate a special computerised programme that controls the display screen for the questions, lighting, graphical LED screens, sound effects and trapdoor mechanism.
“We want the drop to be powerful, so we searched for the best mechanism for the trapdoors, and ordered them from Sweden. They were very costly but worth all the money spent,” says Varavuth Jentanakul, host of The Money Drop Thailand and chief executive of Zense Entertainment.
Five-year old Zense Entertainment is one of Thailand’s heavyweight formats production house servicing mostly free-TV broadcasters Channel 3, Channel 7 and Channel 9 as well as digital variety True 4 U. Other localised formats produce...
Thailand’s version of Endemol’s game show format The Money Drop has been one of the stronger shows in its genre in the country.
The format challenges a pair of contestants with seven multiple-choice questions to win a THB2 million/US$56,788 cash prize and a car.
The Money Drop Thailand premiered on 2 August 2014 on terrestrial station Channel 7, airing weekends 5.30pm to 6pm. The format initially aired 6pm to 6.30pm but was moved to make way for the airing of daily government programmes.
The highest rating recorded for the game show was 10.8 for the 20 December 2014 episode, a record which no other game show has topped.
The show’s main set-up is a three-metre centre platform (meant to isolate contestants from everyone else) equipped with four trapdoors representing four different answers. For each question, contestants have 60 seconds to place their money on the trapdoors. Wrong answers mean the money drops through the trapdoors. If the contestants lose all their money before reaching the final question, the game ends. If they keep their money or the car key through to the final question, the remaining money and the car are theirs to keep.
Local elements include the car as a prize and celebrity couples. The car was added as the programme reached its 100th episode.
Produced by Zense Entertainment, The Money Drop Thailand challenges include the selection of couples to compete and planning the right questions for them.
It was also the first time Zense had to operate a special computerised programme that controls the display screen for the questions, lighting, graphical LED screens, sound effects and trapdoor mechanism.
“We want the drop to be powerful, so we searched for the best mechanism for the trapdoors, and ordered them from Sweden. They were very costly but worth all the money spent,” says Varavuth Jentanakul, host of The Money Drop Thailand and chief executive of Zense Entertainment.
Five-year old Zense Entertainment is one of Thailand’s heavyweight formats production house servicing mostly free-TV broadcasters Channel 3, Channel 7 and Channel 9 as well as digital variety True 4 U. Other localised formats produced by Zense scheduled to premiere in Thailand in the next few months include game show Still Standing Thailand (starts 1 October on Channel 7) and Singer Takes It All Thailand (pending air date/broadcaster). Zense is also involved in the creation and production of original content, including current romance variety show Honeymoon, game show 60 Seconds Game, horoscope quiz show Horo Game and sitcom Ha Company Limited.
This article originally appeared in ContentAsia's eNewsletter issue 219 published on 19 October 2015.
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