Weakest Link weakens grip

Robinson: Has divided viewers with her style

Audience figures for the UK quiz The Weakest Link in the US have gone down by 16% in its third week.

The show, hosted by TV presenter Anne Robinson, pulled in chart-topping audiences in its first two weeks.

It had 15, 14 and 17.5 million households on the first three nights respectively of its opening run, which easily beat other networks' shows.

But Nielsen Media Research estimate just 7.9 million US households tuned in to watch Robinson humiliate contestants in the US version of the BBC hit in its regular Monday slot.

Headlines have helped fuel interest in the show

Now it has slipped behind a drama show on the rival CBS network, The King of Queens, which had 100,000 more viewers that Monday.

There are indications that The Weakest Link is not reaching the vital market of young people as it fell to fourth place in New York, an audience section seen as the barometer of public opinion.

This means that the NBC network will have to cut advertising rates around the show.

'Bogeyman'

Critics and audiences have been split over Robinson's rude style.

NBC have played on Anne's dominatrix image, billing her as TV's rudest woman.

The New York Post newspaper devoted a front page to Robinson in the opening week of the show, under the headline Host from Hell.

Viewers have described her as everything from "sophisticated" to the new "bogeyman".

The quiz was originally scheduled to run for 13 episodes but the early ratings success of the show convinced NBC bosses to extend the programme's life to 26 episodes.

There had been reports that the show may go head-to-head with the other successful British exported quiz, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

The US version of the show regularly pulls in 19 million viewers for ABC, making it the country's most popular show.

A showdown between the quizzes had been seen as likely by television industry commentators once the Weakest Link had established itself as hit material.

NBC has not confirmed whether the quiz will now take on the Who Wants to be a Millionaire? challenge.