Here are the eight contestants who will take part in tonight's show. One of them will walk away with up to $1,000,000. The rest will leave with nothing. As round by round, they are voted off as the Weakest Link.
Anne: Welcome to the...
Any of the eight players tonight could win up $1,000,000. They don't know each other, however, if they want to win the money, they'll have to work as a team. But, seven of them will leave with NOTHING. As round by round, we ELIMINATE the player voted, the Weakest Link!
Broadcast History
Host: Anne Robinson
Announcer: John Kramer
Airdates: April 16, 2001-August 2002, NBC primetime
Packager: Laurelwood Entertainment in association with the BBC. Distributed by NBC Enterprises.
Rules
The Weakest Link could be best be described as a hybrid of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Survivor, and may be the most "anti" game show ever made.
This was Anne's rules explanation before each show:
"In each round the aim is
to answer enough questions correctly to reach your $125,000 target within the
time limit. 
There are eight of you, so the fastest way to reach that target, is
to create a chain of eight correct answers. Get your question wrong and you
break the chain and lose all the money in that chain. But if you 
say the word BANK
before your question is asked, the money is safe, however, you'll start a
brand new chain. Remember, at the end of the round, only money that's been
banked can carry over into the
next round."
Each round consisted of Anne,
firing rapid fire general knowledge questions at the contestants, going left to
right. Each round had a lower time limit. The first round was 2:30, with 10
seconds coming off the clock in each round. 
ONLY
money banked carries over to each round. The chain consisted of these values:
$1000-$2500-$5000-$10,000-$25,000-$50,000-$75,000-$125,000
At
the end of each round, as said before, one player was eliminated. Each player
wrote down 
their
vote. During this time, John Kramer, the announcer, would tell the
viewers who was the Weakest Link, the worst player statistically, and the
Strongest Link, the best player. The player 
with
the most votes was voted off, but not before Anne Robinson
would throw insults at some of the players, chastise, or criticize them for not
banking enough, by saying things like "Miserable" and "Pathe-TIC."
If the vote was tied, the Strongest Link would cast the deciding
vote. The player voted off would take the infamous "Walk of Shame"
along with Anne's
catchphrase of "You are the
Weakest Link! G'bye!" Also, after a player 
was
voted off, a videotaped interview with them is played.
Each round after the first round started with the Strongest Link from the last
round, moving to the right.
Final Round
When
there were two players left, they played one more round worth double the money
banked. After that, the players would compete in a best of 5 question
"shootout." The Strongest Link from the final
round had the choice to go first or second. They then would ask alternating
questions, best of 5. Whoever answered more, won all the money banked. If there
was a tie, a "Sudden Death" tie breaker would
happen, where if one player got one right, and the other wrong, the player who
answered right would win.
Anne's Biting Remarks
"We'll start with the Strongest Link from the last round, that you <insert name>. Let's play, the Weakest Link!"
"One of you is going away with nothing. It's time to vote off...the Weakest Link!"
"Voting over...it's time to reveal who you think, is the Weakest Link!"
"Who's several fries short of a Happy Meal?"
"Who's head is just hot air?"
"Who's several margarita's short of a party?"
"Who could fill an encyclopedia with all they do not know?"
"In that round, you banked, a MISERABLE, PATHETIC, DEPRESSING....$5,000"
"It's just another question you screwed up"
(At the end of the show) "Join us next time on, The Weakest Link. <winks and smiles> G'bye!"
Facts
-Anne Robinson, a British native, also hosts the UK version of the show on the BBC, both in daytime and a primetime version. She was the host of that before she came to the US.
-Weakest Link started off with very good ratings on NBC. Sadly, celebrity specials and "theme" episodes slowly took the ratings down and it was not renewed for the 2002-2003 season.
The Syndicated version of Weakest Link with George Gray