Grand Slam is a United States game show based on the British series of the same name. The program aired on the GSN, and premiered on August 4, 2007. It is hosted by Dennis Miller and Amanda Byram, who both provided play-by-play. The off-camera "Questioner" is Pat Kiernan. The series is from Embassy Row Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television and GSN. Legendary Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings was the winner of the Grand Slam tournament, beating out Ogi Ogas, a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Premise
The program features 16 of the biggest winners in United States game show history in a single-elimination style tournament. The contestants are seeded by the amount of money won on their original show(s). The sole winner takes home the $100,000 Grand Prize and a crystal trophy.
Gameplay
The contestants face off against each other in a rapid-fire style series of questions. There are four rounds of questioning: General Knowledge, Numbers and Logic, Words and Letters, and "Mixed" (questions from all of the previous categories). Exclusively for the final match, a fifth "Contemporary Knowledge" round was added as round #3, between "Numbers and Logic" and "Words and Letters". In each round, the players are given one minute on their clocks, and the first contestant (determined by coin toss for the first round; alternates for each subsequent round) is asked a question by the off-camera "Questioner", and his clock starts counting down. The timing mechanics are similar to that of a chess clock--if a contestant answers correctly, his clock stops, and his opponent's clock starts running. However, if the active contestant answers incorrectly or passes, their clock continues to run and another question is asked.
When one contestant's clock expires, the round ends. The total quantity of time left on each player's clock at the end of each round is added to the one minute they begin with in the fourth round. The contestant who wins this final round wins the match.
Each contestant is given three "switches" at the beginning of the game, and one more before the fourth round; a contestant can use one by saying "switch" during their turn. This stops their own clock and begins their opponent's turn with the current question. Switches can be used consecutively (by saying "switch back") to switch the question back and forth between contestants.
List of Players
The list is shown in the order the players were seeded in the tournament.
- Brad Rutter - Current all time Jeopardy! champion and (at the time) all-time game show winnings record holder, winning $3.255 million.
- Ken Jennings - 74-time Jeopardy! champion, winning $3.02 million (at the time second highest of all-time).
- Dr. Kevin Olmstead - Jeopardy! contestant and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? all-time winner of $2.18 million.
- Ed Toutant - Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? winner of $1.86 million.
- David Legler - Twenty-One all-time winner of $1.765 million.
- John Carpenter - first ever Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? winner (and first-ever millionaire in television history), and winner of $250,000 during Millionaire's Tournament of Champions.
- Rahim Oberholtzer - Twenty-One's first millionaire, winner of $1.12 million.
- Nancy Christy - first female winner of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.
- Ogi Ogas - Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? winner of $500,000.
- Phyllis Harris - Contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, Super Greed, Wheel of Fortune, Trivia Trap, Scrabble, and Card Sharks, winnings totaling $497,150.
- Thom McKee - Tic-Tac-Dough all-time champion, winning $312,700.
- Frank Spangenberg - Jeopardy! tournament champion, winnings totaling $269,596.
- Leszek Pawlowicz - Contestant on Jeopardy!, Win Ben Stein's Money, and History IQ; winnings totaling $194,700.
- Michelle Kitt - One of the biggest winners of The Weakest Link, winning $107,500.
- Victor Lee - 2007 World Series of Pop Culture champion, winning $83,333 of $250,000.
- Amy Kelly - Member of the biggest winning team of Lingo, winning $20,500 of $41,000.
Tournament Bracket
The listed score is the number of seconds the winner had remaining at the end of the match.
Results
Games are listed in the order in which they aired.
First Round
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 2 Ken Jennings |
|
0:31.62 |
|
1:31.62 |
0:36.10 |
0:55.52 |
| 15 Victor Lee |
0:08.70 |
|
0:08.28 |
1:16.98 |
0:00.00 |
1:16.98 |
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 3 Kevin Olmstead |
0:17.98 |
0:11.68 |
|
1:29.66 |
0:00.00 |
1:29.66 |
| 14 Michelle Kitt |
|
|
0:18.15 |
1:18.15 |
0:03.34 |
1:14.81 |
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 1 Brad Rutter |
0:46.36 |
0:04.43 |
0:51.68 |
2:42.47 |
2:14.09 |
0:28.38 |
| 16 Amy Kelly |
|
|
|
1:00.00 |
0:00.00 |
1:00.00 |
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 4 Ed Toutant |
|
|
|
1:00.00 |
0:00.00 |
1:00.00 |
| 13 Leszek Pawlowicz |
0:19.06 |
0:16.83 |
0:25.58 |
2:01.47 |
0:50.67 |
1:10.80 |
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 7 Rahim Oberholtzer |
|
|
|
1:00.00 |
0:00.00 |
1:00.00 |
| 10 Phyllis Harris |
0:03.55 |
0:39.31 |
0:10.83 |
1:53.69 |
1:21.42 |
0:32.27 |
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 6 John Carpenter |
0:31.50 |
|
0:55.25 |
2:26.75 |
0:55.31 |
1:31.44 |
| 11 Thom McKee |
|
0:36.27 |
|
1:36.27 |
0:00.00 |
1:36.27 |
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 8 Nancy Christy |
|
|
|
1:00.00 |
0:00.00 |
1:00.00 |
| 9 Ogi Ogas |
0:16.23 |
0:39.64 |
0:31.03 |
2:26.90 |
1:50.09 |
0:36.81 |
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 5 David Legler |
0:41.38 |
0:03.01 |
|
1:44.39 |
1:02.86 |
0:41.53 |
| 12 Frank Spangenberg |
|
|
0:06.25 |
1:06.25 |
0:00.00 |
1:06.25 |
Quarterfinals
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 1 Brad Rutter |
0:18.63 |
|
0:14.20 |
1:32.83 |
0:00.00 |
1:32.83 |
| 9 Ogi Ogas |
|
0:39.08 |
|
1:39.08 |
0:16.82 |
1:22.26 |
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 13 Leszek Pawlowicz |
0:06.94 |
|
|
1:06.94 |
0:00.00 |
1:06.94 |
| 5 David Legler |
|
0:25.38 |
0:21.54 |
1:46.92 |
0:44.55 |
1:02.37 |
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 2 Ken Jennings |
0:35.49 |
0:32.36 |
0:47.88 |
2:55.73 |
2:19.77 |
0:35.96 |
| 10 Phyllis Harris |
|
|
|
1:00.00 |
0:00.00 |
1:00.00 |
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 6 John Carpenter |
|
|
|
1:00.00 |
0:00.00 |
1:00.00 |
| 14 Michelle Kitt |
0:15.34 |
0:14.65 |
0:20.41 |
1:50.40 |
0:09.18 |
1:41.22 |
Semifinals
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 9 Ogi Ogas |
0:28.83 |
0:32.73 |
0:23.20 |
2:24.76 |
1:37.48 |
0:47.28 |
| 5 David Legler |
|
|
|
1:00.00 |
0:00.00 |
1:00.00 |
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 2 Ken Jennings |
0:35.50 |
0:27.69 |
0:54.09 |
2:57.28 |
2:45.45 |
0:11.83 |
| 14 Michelle Kitt |
|
|
|
1:00.00 |
0:00.00 |
1:00.00 |
Finals
A fifth round, Contemporary Knowledge, similar to the first round of the British series, was used in the Finals only.
| Contestant |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
Round 5 |
| Start |
End |
Used |
| 9 Ogi Ogas |
0:00.14 |
0:02.96 |
|
|
1:03.10 |
0:00.00 |
1:03.10 |
| 2 Ken Jennings |
|
|
0:48.64 |
0:09.67 |
1:58.31 |
1:27.67 |
0:30.64 |
External links
United States
