Schlag den Raab

Schlag den Raab
Genre	Game show
Directed by	Ladislaus Kiraly
Presented by	Matthias Opdenhövel (2006–2011) Steven Gätjen (2011–2015)
Starring	Stefan Raab
Country of origin	Germany
Original language(s)	German
No. of episodes	55
Production
Producer(s)	Jörg Grabosch
Location(s)	Mülheim, Cologne, Germany
Running time	226 up to 371 minutes (including commercials)
Production company(s)	Raab TV, Brainpool
Release
Original network	ProSieben
First shown in	23 September 2006
Original release	23 September 2006 – 19 December 2015
External links
Website
Production website

Schlag den Raab (German pronunciation: [ʃlaːk deːn ʁaːp], German for Beat (the) Raab) was a live game show airing on the German television channel ProSieben on Saturday evenings. A total of six episodes are produced and broadcast each year. A candidate who can beat Stefan Raab in a number of disciplines wins the jackpot.

Concept

At the beginning of an episode five possible candidates (usually four men and one woman) are introduced to the audience. Each candidate represents him- or herself in a short video clip of one minute (three minutes before the 45th episode). The TV audience then determines the person to battle Raab by televoting. Each episode features one contestant battling against Stefan Raab in up to fifteen games for varying amounts of money, €500,000 being the lowest. Each episode consecutively won by Raab adds €500,000 to the jackpot, e.g. the prize money in an episode following three consecutive Raab victories would sum up to €2 million.

The games have included sports contests such as biathlon, go-karting, badminton and ice hockey, puzzles, quizzes and various other challenges. Raab and his opponent compete in a maximum of 15 games. The first game awards one point, the second two points and up to fifteen points for the fifteenth game. The show ends when Raab or his opponent gains more than 60 of the possible 120 points. Therefore, the earliest point to win an episode is after completion of the eleventh game. Furthermore, it is possible to win an episode even though one has actually won less games than the opponent, e.g. if one wins just the last five games (11+12+13+14+15=65) while the opponent wins the first ten (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10=55). Should Raab and his opponent have each scored 60 points after the fifteenth game, a tiebreaker determines the winner.

Six episodes of Schlag den Raab are broadcast each year, three in the first half of the year and another three in the second half of the year. The last episode was aired on 19 December 2015. For this last episode, each of 15 contestants faced Raab in one game. Each contestant who beat Raab received €100,000 from the €1.5 million prize fund and moved on to a final game. For the final game, all of the contestants who had beaten Raab played against each other for the remaining money. Six contestants beat Raab in their games, so that the winner of the final game received an additional €900,000, or a total of €1 million.

History

As the show is broadcast live and the games are of different duration, a single episode generally has no fixed time limit. It regularly runs for four or more hours. The very first episode ended just after midnight at 00:01 after a runtime of three hours and 46 minutes and was therefore the shortest episode. The 49th and longest episode ended at 02:23,^[1][2] which equals a runtime of six hours and eight minutes.^[3]

Raab has won the contest 36 out of 52 times. He was first defeated in the third episode, when contestant Matthias Göbel won €1.5 million. The highest amount won by a single contestant so far was €3.5 million (Bernd Stadelmann on 15 December 2012). On three occasions an episode ended after just eleven games – each time Raab being the winner. The fastest candidate to beat Raab was Deaon Maxwell (episode 27) after 12 games. Two candidates, one female and one male, have been defeated without scoring a single point. Until 25 April 2015 no woman had defeated Raab.^[4] All candidates except Jan May (episode 12) have been younger than Raab. On 1 November 2014 the episode had to be cancelled for the first time in the history of the show, as Raab was suffering from a severe cold.^[5] That episode eventually aired a fortnight later, on 15 November 2014.^[1][2]

The show continues to be highly successful as each episode is usually watched by around three million people in Germany, reaching a market share of around 20% in the advert-relevant target group.

Awards

The show was nominated for the Adolf Grimme Awards category entertainment/special in 2007 and 2008.^[6] Schlag den Raab won the Deutscher Fernsehpreis for Best Entertainment Show in 2007,^[7] and won a Goldene Kamera in the category Entertainment in 2008.^[8]

Episodes

International format

Schlag den Raab has been sold to these countries

Country	Title	Network	Host	Competing against	Games	Date aired
Australia	Beat the Star	Seven Network	Daniel MacPherson	Changed weekly	Unknown	7 September 2010
Bulgaria	Разбий Иван и Андрей Razbii Ivan i Andrei	Nova Television	Ivan and Andrey	Ivan and Andrey	11	26 September 2011
Croatia	Pobijedi Šolu	RTL Televizija	Belma Hodžic	Vlado Šola	15	20 February 2009
France	Qui peut battre Benjamin Castaldi?[9]	TF1	Carole Rousseau & Denis Brognart	Benjamin Castaldi	13	29 November 2008
Georgia	დაამარცხე ვარსკვლავი Daamartskhe Varskvlavi	Rustavi 2	Ann Korkia	Unknown	Unknown	14 June 2010
Norway	Hvem kan slå Ylvis	TV Norge	Frithjof Wilborn	Ylvis brothers	Unknown	2009
Norway	Hvem kan slå Aamodt og Kjus	TV Norge	Henriette Bruusgaard Pia Lykke	Kjetil André Aamodt & Lasse Kjus	Unknown	2010
Serbia	Izađi na crtu	Prva	Srđan Karanović	Milan Kalinić	15	25 September 2011
Sweden	Vem kan slå Filip och Fredrik?[10]	Kanal 5	Pontus Gårdinger	Filip and Fredrik	15	9 September 2008
Ukraine	Побий ведучого Beat the host	1+1	Ostap Stupka and Nikolay Vasilkov	Andrew Domanskiy	4	2012
United Kingdom	Beat the Star[11][12]	ITV	Vernon Kay	Changed weekly	Unknown	20 April 2008

Games

Several video game adaptations of the show have been released for the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and PC platforms in Germany since 10 September 2010, as numerous versions of a board game and a quiz.

See also

• Beat the Star
• Beat the Star (Australia)
• Vem kan slå Filip & Fredrik (2008)

References

External links

• Official website
• Schlag den Raab at the Internet Movie Database