Weakest Link is returning for a new season with an all-celebrity edition, but for the first time ever, it will air on Fox!
As announced on Monday (May 12), the popular game show is moving from NBC to Fox for its upcoming season. Hosted by Jane Lynch, the rapid-fire quiz show will see eight celebrities competing to win up to $1 million for a charity of their choice.
Despite the change in network, the format remains the same. The show will see the celebs answering general knowledge questions and banking money as a group across multiple rounds. At the end of each round, the contestants vote out who they believe is the weakest link, leading Lynch to deliver the iconic “You are the Weakest Link. Goodbye.”
Weakest Link, based on the British format, originally aired on NBC in 2001-02 with Anne Robinson as host. It was revived in July 2020 with Lynch in Robinson’s role; it premiered on NBC on September 29, 2020, and aired three seasons, with the last airing in 2023.
Speaking to the media ahead of Fox’s Monday upfront, Fox network president Michael Thorn said a big part of reviving Weakest Link was getting Lynch “back on the network.” Lynch was one of the stars of Glee, which ran for six seasons on Fox between 2010 and 2016.
“She’s amazing, and we’re thrilled to have her be back on Fox,” Thorn said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “But the other part of it is we saw an opportunity to have a celebrity game night on Monday night and to have that as real strong counter-programming in the fall. And so when it became available, it just felt like a signature piece of IP and something that could really blend in with our game shows.”
In addition to Weakest Link, Fox is also reviving Fear Factor, another show that originally aired on NBC. When asked if the decision to bring these shows to Fox was in response to NBC clearing its schedule for the incoming NBA rights, Thorn said it was more of a “strategic programming decision.”
“I think it’s very similar to the answer we gave a little bit earlier where this was several months ago, Weakest Link, we saw an opportunity to add it to our great roster of game shows and it’s great IP with an unbelievable host with Jane Lynch,” he stated. “And as we were mentioning earlier, there’s a really fun opportunity, we think, for our audience to have a celebrity game that night along with Name That Tune and Celebrity Weakest Link. So that was kind of a strategic programming decision we made months ago.”
Weakest Link and Fear Factor are two of six new series Fox is adding to its lineup for the next broadcast season. The network has also picked up the competition series 99 to Beat, hosted by Ken Jeong and Erin Andrews, the one-hour comedy Best Medicine, the dramatic thriller Memory of a Killer, and the multi-part scripted event The Faithful.