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''It's a Knockout'' was an Australian game show that was adapted from the original British version of the same name, which in turn was adapted from the French show, ''Intervilles''. It originally ran from 17 April 1985 to 11 September 1987. It was later briefly revived albeit less successfully on 27 November 2011 on
Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...
and hosted by HG Nelson and Brad McEwan with Charli Robinson.


History

An Australian version of ''
It's a Knockout ''It's a Knockout!'' is a British game show first broadcast in 1966. It was adapted from the French show '' Intervilles'', and was part of the international ''Jeux sans frontières'' franchise. History The series was broadcast on BBC1 from 7 A ...
'' ran on
Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...
from 1985 to 1987. The teams were divided by Australian states
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(NSW), Victoria (VIC),
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
(QLD) and
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
(SA) with each team being represented by members of an
Apex Club The Association of Apex Clubs of Australia is an Australia-wide association of autonomous clubs dedicated to fellowship, self-improvement, and community service, similar to other service clubs such as Lions International but with a younger me ...
in their home state or territory. Prize money was donated back to the club to fund projects in their local community. The show was hosted by Queensland-based personalities, including Billy J. Smith (born 1945/1946 - 2019) and Fiona MacDonald (the sister of ''
Hey Hey it's Saturday ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' was a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 28 years on the Nine Network from 9 October 1971 to 20 November 1999, with a recess in 1978. Its host throughout its entire ...
s,
Jacki MacDonald Jacki MacDonald (born Jenine MacDonald; 26 November 1953) in Blackall, Queensland is a former Australian television personality, who now works in radio broadcasting. Career Popular in her home state of Queensland, MacDonald appeared on a number ...
), with Max Rowley as announcer, for the duration that it aired in Australia. They would arrive to the show in a golf buggy with the show's mascot Combat the Dog (an
Old English Sheepdog The Old English Sheepdog is a large breed of dog that emerged in England from early types of herding dog. Obsolete names for the breed include Shepherd's Dog and . The nickname ''Bob-tail'' (or ''Bobtail'') originates from how dogs of the bree ...
), and introduce the teams to compete in various athletic timed tasks. The show was filmed in a field in
Dural Dural is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 36 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of Hornsby Shire and The Hills Shire. Dural is part of the Hills Distric ...
, New South Wales, however due to numerous noise complaints from local residents the show was dropped in 1987. This version also aired in Mexico on the TV Cable Network Multivisión and was a success during 1992, as well as the United States on
KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios at the CB ...
in Los Angeles &
WWOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by Fox Te ...
in New York in 1990–91. It was also adapted and shown in Argentina known as Supermatch. This version was heavily edited, and the
anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ...
s were replaced by off-screen commentators. In
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
was aired by "La Red" in the summer of 1992, known as ''Esto es Supermatch'', based on the Argentinian version. In the original series, an individual game win was awarded 4 points and second place 2 points (any ties were split between all tying teams). A nightly winner gave a team 6 points for the individual state ladder and $1,000 (first runners-up win 4 points and second runners-up win 2 points). After each team in each division played three times, the leading team in each state qualified for the semi-final worth $5,000. After each of the three semi-finals were conducted, the champions of each state qualified for the preliminary final worth $10,000. The same process was conducted again in pursuit of the teams for the grand final worth $20,000. A famous feature of this run was called the "Joker" which was used by a team to double any points they could get in only one individual game. The use of the Joker was self-contained to the individual episode.


2011/12 return

On 17 October 2011, it was announced that Channel 10 Australia was re-launching a new version of ''It's a Knockout'' for its 2011/12 Summer programming lineup hosted by HG Nelson, Charli Robinson and Brad McEwan. In each episode, Nelson and McEwan arrived on-set in a golf buggy and announced each team and the points tally, in addition to commentating each match whilst Charli introduced each game and explained the rules. Due to insurance costs however the show was recorded offshore in
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,
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
, and it ran for eight 1-hour episodes and featured teams of 15 from each state of Australia. The teams competed for the Billy J. Smith cup as the grand prize. It premiered on 27 November 2011.


References


External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0211152, title=It's a Knockout - Australia 1980s Australian game shows 2010s Australian game shows Network 10 original programming 1985 Australian television series debuts 1987 Australian television series endings 2011 Australian television series debuts 2012 Australian television series endings English-language television shows Television series by Fremantle (company) Television shows set in New South Wales