Yet Again it’s Whoever Wins, We Lose

Press release time!

Win The Week returns to ABC in August

Win the Week, the news quiz where you can betray your way to the top, returns to ABC for a brand new series premiering Wednesday 3 August at 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview. Hosted by Alex Lee (The Checkout, The Feed) along with regular panellist Craig Reucassel (The Chaser, War on Waste), Win the Week pairs celebrities with regular Aussies as they battle their way through current news stories.

Win the Week has brand new games, brand new celebrities and brand new news!  In 2021 the show covered Australia’s rising covid numbers, Putin’s threats in Europe, and a world economy teetering on the brink – thankfully, none of that is in the news anymore… right?

Joining Alex and Craig this season are much loved celebrities such as Wendy Harmer, Mark Humphries, Tony Armstrong, Nazeem Hussain and returning champion Ellen Fanning, amongst others.

The new season also includes exciting changes to the format. Instead of having fixed “Stay or Betray” moments, players can hit the “Betray” button at any time.

Host Alex Lee said “Contestants mentioned wanting to remove Craig from their team earlier, so we’ve introduced the “Betray” button at any time during the show.  It’s complete chaos, but so much fun.”

Producer and regular panellist Craig Reucassel said “My therapist is really looking forward to me returning to this game where I am betrayed on a weekly basis.

“It’s great that team captains can betray at any time. This way the celebrities can get the kind of immediate negative feedback they would normally only receive on social media.”

Filmed weekly in front of a live studio audience the pressure will be dialed up as our celebs seek to prove their worth, talk themselves out of being betrayed or beg not to be discarded. Egos might be dented but champions will be made.

Did anyone watch the first series of Win the Week – and really, we should stop right there – and think the whole “betray” angle was the most important part? It feels like they’re doubling down on what was (in the episodes we watched) a drawn-out and occasionally confusing element that didn’t really add much to what was really just another news quiz.

In theory the whole “betray” angle works in two ways. You’re trading up to someone you think is better, and you’re saddling your opponent with someone you think is worse. But purely as a television show, it means almost nothing: we’re still watching the same people answering the same questions, they’re just in different seats.

Also, it’s not like the contestants are being paired off with specialists or known experts or anything. They’re just getting stuck with the usual ABC panelists, and swapping one for another doesn’t make much difference – just watch any ABC panel show from the last few years for proof there.

There are ways to make Win the Week funnier and there are ways to make it a better quiz show, but tinkering around with the whole “betray” angle ticks neither box. Then again, who knows? “Exciting changes to the format” could mean literally anything.

Even that Win the Week somehow becomes entertaining.