¿Qué apostamos? () is the Spanish version of the German prime-time television game show Wetten, dass..?. It was broadcast nationwide live on La Primera Cadena of Televisión Española (TVE) for seven seasons from 1993 to 2000 and on some regional broadcasters of the Federation of Regional Organizations of Radio and Television (FORTA) for an additional season in 2008. On the show, ordinary people offer to achieve some unusual and very difficult tasks while top-ranking celebrity guests bet on the outcomes.
Format Seasons one to seven were produced by Europroducciones and Televisión Española (TVE), which broadcast it live in prime-time on its Primera Cadena nationwide. It followed the format of , the Italian version of Wetten, dass..?. It was hosted by Ramón García along with Ana Obregón (seasons 1–5), (season 6), and and Mónica Martínez (season 7), and featured an orchestra directed by Eduardo Leiva, who also helped the hosts.
Each episode featured four bettors –ordinary people who offered to perform some unusual and very difficult tasks– and four celebrity guests who, starting from an initial amount of money, bet for or against the bettor. The celebrity who accumulated the most money in the end was the winner and the amount achieved was distributed among the four bettors according to the ranking in the televote of the public who voted for the bet they would have liked the most.
One of the guests in each episode used to be a top international celebrity. These included Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Catherine Deneuve, Mia Farrow, Cher, Alain Delon, Marcello Mastroianni, Ursula Andress, Gérard Depardieu, Christopher Reeve, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Joan Collins. Tippi Hedren, Jeremy Irons, Roger Moore and Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Three of the bets were carried out in the studio and a fourth on a remote location –usually the third in the order of the program–, known as "outdoors bet". The bets were unusual and surprising, ranging from great skill, precision, extreme strength or great memorization or numerical calculation abilities, often against the clock. During all editions, more than two hundred different bets were made, including: Guess a song by observing the movements that the sound caused in a lit candle. Place a fire truck on four glass glasses. Identify a board game by shaking the wrapped game box. Recognize any song performed in the Eurovision Song Contest with just a phrase read in its original language. Climb Torrespaña to the dome faster than the tower's elevator. Put twenty-six people in a SEAT 600. Guess the trademark of a piano by listening to just one note.
An additional bet was done in each episode. Members of the audience could challenge the show to gather a number of people with a certain characteristic (e.g. one hundred people playing the accordion). One of these bets was selected at the beginning of the show and had to be fulfilled by its end. If said bet was achieved, the bettor had to take a live shower. If not, it was one of the hosts or the guests who received the punishment.
As some bets required a lot of space, a large marquee was built in the Prado del Rey grounds with everything necessary to produce the show. This temporary marquee was the set of the first three seasons. From the fourth season onwards, the show was made at studio 3 of Estudios Buñuel –TVE's largest studio and one of the largest in Europe at the time, but smaller than the marquee–.
Season eight was produced by Europroducciones for some regional broadcasters of the Federation of Regional Organizations of Radio and Television (FORTA). It was broadcast by La 7, Castilla-La Mancha Televisión, Telemadrid, Canal 9, Aragón TV, Canal Extremadura and Canal Sur in their respective regions and was hosted by and . It was a more modest show with a much smaller budget, was recorded in advance in a smaller studio, had no bets on remote locations or an orchestra, and only invited local celebrities.
Episodes
Hosts Hosts Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ramón García colspan="7" 97 Ana Obregón colspan="5" colspan="3" 70 colspan="5" colspan="2" 14 colspan="6" 13 Mónica Martínez colspan="6" colspan="7" 13 colspan="7"
Accolades Tp de Oro
Year Category Recipient Result Ref. 1995 Best Game Show Best Presenter Ramón García 1996 Best Game Show Best Presenter Ramón García 1997 Best Game Show Best Presenter Ramón García 1998 Best Presenter Ramón García
ATV Awards
Year Category Result Ref. 1998 Entertainment: varieties and game shows
Argentine version In 1995, the show had its own version in Argentina on Canal 9 Libertad. Hosted by , it used the logo, theme song, and opening of the Spanish version, from which it used footage extensively. The show combined live segments produced locally with recorded segments from Spain.
Notes
References
External links Producer's Official webpage ¿Qué apostamos? at RTVE Play