Weakest Link goes worldwide

Anne Robinson gives the show much of its character

Presenter Anne Robinson is to host a US version of her hit BBC daytime TV quiz The Weakest Link - which has also been sold to five other countries.

The format for the show - which began on BBC Two last summer - has been sold to the NBC network.

Robinson - whose mocking tone has helped the show amass fans - is making a pilot version of the show for the US audience.

The NBC deal is a part of a worldwide coup for the producers of the quiz, which has also been sold to France, Australia, Italy and Holland.

The Weakest Link is made in-house by the BBC and has been sold through the corporation's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide.

In the UK, the BBC recently announced that the new series of the The Weakest Link will move onto BBC One later this year.

The programme has become a surprise hit and Robinson's mocking catchphrase, "You are the weakest link - goodbye" has given the show much of its character.

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Contestants have to answer general knowledge questions, building up a prize fund between them and eliminating contestants who are performing badly - the "weakest link".

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The final contestant remaining wins the money.

The show's daytime run on BBC Two was recently re-commissioned, with 100 new episodes being made of the programme, which runs daily at 1715.

NBC will also be making a second pilot of The Weakest Link with Richard Hatch, winner of smash hit US reality TV show Survivor.

The show is expected to be ready for launch in around three or four months.