Whew!

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WHEW!
The opening logo of "Whew!"
Airdates:	CBS April 1979 - May 1980
Host:	Tom Kennedy
Announcer:	Rod Roddy
Producers:	The Bud Austin Company, Jay Wolpert Productions

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Civilian-only version 1.2 Celebrity version 2 Notes

Gameplay

Civilian-only version

Two players competed. The challenger of the match (or the winner of a coin toss if both players were new) was briefed on the categories for the boards in the first two rounds, and decided whether to Charge or Block the first round. The Charger for the first round was then escorted offstage while the Blocker placed traps on the game board. The board itself consisted of five bloopers ranging in value from $10 to $50, with a sixth level on top of the board bearing three bloopers worth $200, $350, and $500. Blooper difficulty was based on its dollar value, hence a $50 blooper was more difficult than a $10 blooper. The Blocker placed a total of six secret blocks on the board, with a limit of no more than one block on the sixth level and no more than three blocks on any lower level. Once the blocks were in place, the Charger was brought back onstage to attack the board.

The Charger then attempted correctly answer one blooper in each level, starting at level 1 and working his way up. The bloopers themselves were one-sentence statements in which the last part of the blooper was altered to make the statement humorously untrue. (For example: "During operations, nurses hand surgeons their phone numbers." The correct answer is "scalpels.") Upon correcting a blooper, the player was able to advance to the next level on the board. If the player chose a blooper that had a block on it, the Charger had to wait out a 5-second penalty before choosing another blooper on the same level. If all five bloopers on a particular level were used up, the player got to advance to the next level regardless. Players were not obligated to advance to the next level upon a correct answer; they could stay on lower levels to build up their winnings if so desired as well.

The Charger's object was to reach the sixth level and correct a blooper there in under 60 seconds. If time was running short and the Charger doubted that he could clear the board in time, he could call for a "Longshot". This would allow the Charger to advance directly to the sixth level (provided he had not already gotten that far), but also allowed the Blocker to secretly place one final block on the sixth level. If the Charger found a safe blooper on the sixth level and solved it, or if he managed to correct a Level 6 blooper without the need of the Longshot, the Charger won the round. If time ran out, or if the Charger uncovered a block or failed to solve the blooper after the Longshot was called, the Blocker won the round. The Charger earned money for each of the bloopers he solved regardless of the outcome of the round, while the Blocker earned money for the blocks that were uncovered along the way.

The players switched roles for the second round. The first player two win two rounds won the game, got to keep the money they had earned, and advanced to the Gauntlet of Villains bonus round. If the match was tied after two rounds, a tiebreaker board was played, with the champion (or coin toss loser) choosing roles for that board.

In the bonus round, the player attempted to cross the "Gauntlet of Villains" - a series of wooden cutouts resembling various evil characters with a television monitor inside each one. To advance past a villain, the player had to solve one blooper before the Villain solved it (in essence giving the player a two-second limit for each blooper). If successful, the villain's arm would lower, allowing the player to pass. The contestant had 60 seconds, plus one bonus second for every $100 earned in the front game, to make it through all ten villains. (Thus, if a player earned $750 in the front game, he would have a total of 67 seconds for the bonus round). If successful, the player won $25,000 and retired undefeated. Otherwise, he won $100 for each villain he passed and returned to play another match, up to a maximum of five.

Celebrity version

Halfway through the show's run, the format was tweaked to give both players a celebrity partner. Although the essence of the gameplay remained the same, the following rules were modified to allow team play:

• Each teammate was responsible for placing three blocks on the board while serving as the Blockers.
• The celebrity and civilian alternated turns solving bloopers on each level; the civilian chose which of the two would start on Level 1. However, either player could call for a Longshot.
• When playing the Gauntlet of Villains, each teammate played through five of the ten villains; the contestant chose whether to play the first five or the last five.

On the final week of the show, the rules were again modified to ensure that each match was self-contained in one episode (previously, matches were allowed to straddle two episodes if needed). Any player that won the match by winning the first two rounds was treated to a special bonus round, playing as the Charger for a third board. Blocks were placed by the producers, who randomly chose a blocking pattern to place on the board. Play was otherwise the same as before; if the team could clear the board in under 60 seconds or through the use of the Longshot, they got to keep the money earned on that board and hence added more time for their use in the Gauntlet.

Notes

• The Gauntlet of Villains were, in order: A gangster, a hooded executioner, a loan shark, a Roman emperor, a vampire, a Frankenstein's monster, a wild-west bandit, a pirate, a mad scientist, and a witch. Each villain had a monitor embedded in them that not only displayed the right answer to a blooper if the contestant was wrong, but also served to taunt the contestant at the start of the round and either gloat or gripe at the end, depending on the outcome.
• The series' biggest winner was Howard Wilson, who won $32,750 over the course of seven episodes. The change to a limit of five matches was made soon after his appearance.