game show
A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...
, adapted from the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
format ''
The Alphabet Game
The Alphabet Game is a comedy panel game show that aired on BBC1 from 5 August 1996 to 27 March 1997 and is hosted by Andrew O'Connor. The programme was created by O'Connor, Rebecca Thornhill, Mark Maxwell-Smith and produced by Objective Produc ...
''. The title is a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words
Gameplay
In each episode, two contestants team with celebrities to play various games. A team's correct responses in these games score seconds, extending their contestant's time limit in the final game, known as or .
In the , gameplay proceeds through letters of the Spanish alphabet. For each letter, the host reads a definition of a word starting with or containing that letter. A contestant responds with a word, or passes by saying "". Completing the with every response correct wins the show's
progressive jackpot
A progressive jackpot is a jackpot (a gambling grand prize or payout) which increases each time the game is played but the jackpot is ''not'' won. When the progressive jackpot is won, the jackpot for the next play is reset to a predetermined value ...
.
Advanced gameplay sees one player immediately passing (Pasapalabra) to skip letters they don't know the answer to and then deliberately running their clock down during the round when their opponent has got letters wrong and cannot win, unless they believe they know all the remaining answers of course. Whilst the purpose of this is the player's own motive, one reason is to prevent the opponent from immediately passing as well thus forcing them to play on a letter they obviously don't know the word for.
History
''Pasapalabra'' first aired on Antena 3 in 2000, with
Silvia Jato
Silvia Jato Núñez (born 6 June 1971 in Lugo, Spain) is a Spanish TV presenter and model.
She studied Economics at CEU San Pablo University, Madrid. She had three children with pilot Eduardo San Román, to whom she separated from in 2012, af ...
as host.
Constantino Romero
Constantino Romero García (29 May 1947 – 12 May 2013) was a Spanish actor and presenter. Due to his deep voice, he was most known for voice actor, dubbing into Spanish and Catalan other actors like Clint Eastwood, James Earl Jones and Arnold ...
substituted Jato in 2002.
Jaime Cantizano
Jaime Cantizano Camacho (born 22 July 1973 in Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain) is a Spanish television and radio presenter.
Career
At 17 years old, Cantizano started his career in radio broadcasting as a speaker in his hometown' ...
replaced Jato as host in 2006.
In 2006, a ''Pasapalabra'' jackpot of €2,190,000 became the largest prize ever awarded on a game show in Spain, and the third largest prize ever awarded on a game show in Europe.
In 2007, ''Pasapalabra'' moved to
Telecinco
Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially launc ...
with Christian Gálvez as host. ''Pasapalabra'' aired evenings on Telecinco, Monday through Friday.
In 2014, Lilit Manukyan of Armenia became the first ''Pasapalabra'' jackpot winner whose native language was not Spanish.
On 2 October 2019, the programme was pulled by Telecinco, following a ruling by the
Supreme Court of Spain
The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the highest court in the Kingdom of Spain. Originally established pursuant to Title V of the Constitution of 1812 to replace —in all matters that affected justice— the System of Councils, and currently regulat ...
in favour of
ITV Studios
ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcas ...
in a royalty dispute over the rights to the ''Pasapalabra'' format. While initially adapted from the British panel game show ''
The Alphabet Game
The Alphabet Game is a comedy panel game show that aired on BBC1 from 5 August 1996 to 27 March 1997 and is hosted by Andrew O'Connor. The programme was created by O'Connor, Rebecca Thornhill, Mark Maxwell-Smith and produced by Objective Produc ...
'', Mediaset argued that the format had evolved substantially to include elements (such as the endgame) that were not included in the original format, to the point that it believed ITV were no longer entitled to royalties. However, the court ruled otherwise. Telecinco briefly replaced the programme with its own original format, ''El tirón'', which was also hosted by Gálvez.
On 19 December 2019, Antena 3 announced that it would revive ''Pasapalabra.'' Roberto Leal took on hosting duties, with Manel Fuentes filling in for him for two episodes while he was quarantined after contracting
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
On 28 February 2021, a special 20th anniversary episode aired with former hosts Silvia Jato and Jaime Cantizano as guest contestants.
On 1 July 2021, Pablo Díaz won a jackpot of nearly €2,000,000, after a record run of 260 consecutive episodes.