Divided (game show)

Divided
Genre	Game show
Created by	Talpa
Presented by	Andrew Castle
Starring	Question Master Charlotte Hudson (2009) Rachel Pierman (2010)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	53 (7 unaired)
Production
Location(s)	Granada Studios
Running time	60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company(s)	Brighter Pictures (2009) Remarkable Television (2010)
Distributor	Endemol UK
Release
Original network	ITV, UTV
Picture format	PAL (576i, 16:9)
Original release	18 May 2009 (2009-05-18) – 7 May 2010 (2010-05-07)

Divided is a game show that was broadcast in the United Kingdom from 18 May 2009 to 7 May 2010. It is hosted by Andrew Castle with Charlotte Hudson as the Question Master for Series 1 and Rachel Pierman as the Question Master for Series 2. It is produced by Endemol UK for ITV and is filmed in Studio 8 at Granada Studios, Manchester.

Transmissions

Format

A team of 3 complete strangers are tasked to answer up to 15 general knowledge questions to amass as much money for a communal pot as possible. The round structure is as follows:

• Round 1 has 5 questions, each worth up to £3,000, making a potential maximum of £15,000.
• Round 2 has 4 questions, each worth up to £7,500, making a potential maximum of a further £30,000 (running total: £45,000).
• Round 3 has 3 questions, each worth up to £15,000, making a potential maximum of a further £45,000 (running total: £90,000).
• Round 4 has 2 questions, each worth up to £30,000, making a potential maximum of a further £60,000 (running total: £150,000).
• Round 5 has 1 question, worth up to a further £75,000, making a potential grand total of £225,000.

Each question is either in the format of a multiple choice question, with one of three answers being correct, or the question is to put 3 answers in a particular order (for example, to put the first names of 3 Harry Potter characters into alphabetical order). If a team makes it to the fifth round and decides to play, the question has 3 possible answers and the team must select all of the correct answers, of which there may be more than one. The value of each question falls by 1% for every second taken before an answer is submitted. In Round 1, each second of hesitation costs £30, in Round 2: £75, in Round 3: £150, in Round 4: £300 and in Round 5: £750. Each question has a time limit of 100 seconds to come to a unanimous decision about the right answer/order and press an illuminated red triangle on the desk to lock in their answer. If the answer is correct and the studio goes green, then the amount of money remaining is added to the pot. If the answer is wrong and the studio goes red, then whatever money that is in the pot at the time is halved, and one mistake is earned. If a team earns 3 mistakes, then they are relegated from the show by going home with nothing.

When each round is completed, the team is given 15 seconds to come to a unanimous decision about whether to play on, or stop and get promoted to dividing whatever money has been earned. If the team does not come to a unanimous decision after 15 seconds or the team elects to play, then the next round will start automatically.

If the team elects to stop and get promoted to cash dividing round at any time, then they are made aware of how much has been won, and that is what will be divided between them. However, the shares are unequal: the players are shown 3 shares marked A, B and C. Share A is the largest (50-70% of the total amount), Share B is a middling amount (20-40% of the total amount), and Share C is the smallest (generally 10% of the total amount). Usually, the split is extremely close to 50/40/10, 60/30/10 or 70/20/10. Each player is given 15 seconds to state their case for which share they feel they deserve, generally based on how well they have performed in the game. If the team reaches a decision of each player receiving one share each, then that is what they will win. However, if a decision is not reached (because 2 or all 3 players want the same share), then a timer of 100 seconds starts and the money will start counting down (by 1% per second), and the players argue among themselves, trying to change a player's mind about which share they should take. After 50 seconds have elapsed, there is a short pause. The host will remind the players that half of the money has gone and that they have 50 seconds left to reach a decision or they will all be relegated from divided and leave with no money at all.

Academic paper

The show has been studied by a team of economists. They find that individual behavior and outcomes are strongly influenced by equity concerns: those who contributed more to the jackpot claim larger shares, are less likely to make concessions, and take home larger amounts. Contestants who announce that they will not back down do well relative to others, but they do not secure larger absolute amounts and they harm others. They find no evidence of a first-mover advantage and little evidence that demographic characteristics matter.^[1]

International versions

Country	Title	Host	Network	Top Prize	First Airdate
Afghanistan	ثانیه‎ 100 100 Sanya	Hafiz Mohammadi	Tolo TV	Af.1,000,000	8 June 2013
Albania	TBC			TBC	TBC
Arab World	من الأحق؟ Men El Ahaq?	Amira El Fadl	Abu Dhabi TV	د.إ‎ 1,000,000	5 October 2008
Chile	Divididos	Álvaro Escobar	TVN	CL$75,000,000	March 2012
Denmark	Splittet	Camilla Ottesen	TV3	250,000 Danish kroner	8 April 2015
Estonia	100 sekundit (Mondays)	Madis Milling	TV3		30 August 2010
					3 January 2011
	60 sekundit (weekdays)			120,000 krooni	4 October 2010
Hungary	Cápák	Unknown (heard from speakers only)	TV2	26,250,000 Forint	25 August 2008
India (Marathi)	Divided	Aadesh Bandekar	ETV Marathi	₹650,000	30 July 2012
India (Kannada)	Divided	Rohit	Zee Kannada[2]	₹1,000,000	3 January 2014
Malta	Divided	Mariella Scerri	TVM	€80,000	1 October 2009
Netherlands	De Gemene Deler	Rinie van den Elzen	RTL4	€250,000	6 July 2008
Slovenia	Vse ali nič	Milan Gačanovič	TV 3	€10,000	4 October 2010
South Korea	TBC			₩ TBC	TBC
Turkey	Anlaşma	Ansi Elagöz	Türkmax	100,000 TL	20 September 2010
Ukraine	Хто вартий більшого? Khto vartyi bilshogo?	Andriy Dzhedzhula	Ukrayina	225,000 ₴	15 September 2013
United States	Divided	Mike Richards	GSN	$75,000	25 November 2016 ("Sneak Peek" episode); January 2017 (series premiere)

Notes

External links

• Divided at UKGameshows.com
• Article about the arabian version (In Arabic)