1-2-3 (Dryicoran game show)

1-2-3 (pronounced Yksi, kaksi, kolme) was a Dryicoran game show broadcast from 1981 until 1985, and again from late 2022 onwards, on DTV 1. It was based on the Spanish variety show ', best known for its British version '.

Format
The show lasted for two hours on a Friday (or from 1983 until 1985 Sunday) night, comprising three main rounds, the Quiz Round, the Elimination Round and the Auction. Three couples took part in each episode, each episode having a theme based on a particular topic.

The contestants would be cheered on by "Los Positivos" (in a hark back to the show's Spanish heritage), the nice half who wanted them to win as much money as possible, and "Los Negativos", who wanted them to lose. Los Positivos consisted of the host, and six to eight models who served as the glamorous assistants, who usually modelled clothing based on that episode's theme. The models would always wear oversized, thick-rimmed glasses; which caused uproar amongst Los Negativos, who disapproved of their style, and actively tried to discourage the contestants from doing well.

The Quiz Round
One of the models would hand each couple a tray full of envelopes. Each couple chose one and gave it to the host. The envelope contained a multiple-answer question which the host read to the contestants and gave an example (like: "Name some fruits like, for example, an apple."). The couple then had to repeat the given example as the first answer, and then give as many answers as they could within a maximum time of 45 seconds.

Contestants had to answer alternately and could not repeat an answer that had already been given before, either by them or their partner. Additionally, the rules encouraged contestants to be as specific as possible (for instance, if a contestant answered a generic "berry" to the above question, it would be valid, but after that they could not mention specific varieties of berries, such as "strawberry" or "blueberry" as it would be counted as a repetition). Additional rules were added for some questions. When a contestant gave a mistaken or repeated answer, a member of the negative cast stopped the clock immediately and the couple's time was over. From the third season, the contestant who did not have the turn to answer could mime to help the other contestant if they got stuck. Contestants were given a certain amount of money for each correct answer. The accountant model was in charge of sum and announce the money won in each question.

There were three questions for each couple with an increasing level of difficulty. In the show's first three seasons, couples were given 25 Kr for each correct answer for the first question. From the fourth season onward, a slot machine determined the random amount of money for that in every episode. In the second question the couples were given the amount won in the first question for each correct answer. And in the third question the couples were given the amount won in the second question for each correct answer.

When all the questions were done, the couple with the highest amount of money became champions and returned the following episode and the other two couples went on to the second part of the show.

Elimination Round
The elimination round was a physical competition that changed each week according to the episode's theme. For example, contestants might be required to fill wine glasses sitting on a tray and then slide down a slide, and the winner would be the couple with the highest amount of liquid accumulated in a jar, or they might be required to climb structures like buildings, strings or poles faster than their rivals, or they could also have to wear clothes of the opposite sex and walk through a cat walk in front of a jury that would vote the funniest couple. On the tenth season, the elimination round would be replaced by a round of questions about the book of the week and the winners would be the couple with the highest number of correct answers. The winning couple would go on the third part of the show.

The consolation game
In the first season and also in the first months of the second and third season, the couple losing the elimination round went home only with the amount earned on the question round. This was changed during the second season, when the consolation game was introduced. Up until the fifth season, the consolation game was a board game, usually involving the use of giant dice and a big board, where moving the tab to certain square and answering certain question or performing certain task would give money to the contestants. They could also lose money from the question round if they did not have luck, and usually there was a goal in the game which if reached gave the contestants a jackpot that was increased each week it was not won. All board games were dedicated to the mascot of the show, and home versions of these games were commercially released so that people could play at home. In many episodes the couple in the consolation game eventually won a much better prize than the one who had won the elimination round at the end of the Auction.

The Auction
The longest and most well-known part of the show was the auction. The host and the contestants stood next to the audience behind a table from where they saw everything that happened. The auction usually began with the host introducing a theatrical set specifically built in front of the audience according to the theme of the week, where a Broadway-like musical number related to that topic was performed by the models, who sang and performed different choreographed dances. There were also comedic sketches and performances by famous artists next to the table, as well as other surprises. After each performance was finished, an object related to the theme was taken to the table. Each object had a card attached to it, which had a text that could be related to the object or the performance where it came from. The host was allowed to read a part of the text, until they stopped midway with "... ja nyt olette omillasi" (And you're now on your own).

This would continue until there were three objects on the table. As there could not be more than three objects, the contestants had to discard one in order to continue with the game. When an item was discarded, the host would read the complete card, including the text beyond the point where they had stopped earlier, revealing a prize the contestants had passed up. The show went on like so, watching performances, bringing a new object, discarding another one and losing a prize, until the show was over and there were three final objects on the table. At this point, the host could ask the contestants to discard two objects at once, or one by one, and they would keep a final object which would contain the prize they had won. Prizes ranged from cars, apartments, holidays, money and jewellery to booby prizes such as thousands of matches, used tyres and bottles of laxative.

Some cards could contain more than one prize, some times, a booby prize at the beginning followed by marvelous or even worse prizes. In those cases, the host could let the contestants keep the object after revealing the first booby prize to reject another prize on the table, in the hope that the following unknown prize would be good.

Sometimes, however, an object's card would contain a gambling game. In those gambling games, the contestants could win different amounts of money or other prizes. The host was usually allowed to reveal when an object had a game attached to it, as long as they did not reveal the rules, which remained secret if the game was discarded, because some unused games were recycled for future programmes.

Even when the contestants had the last object on the table, the game was still not over. At that point, the game started that gave this segment its name: the auction. The host would begin to offer money to the contestants in exchange for the prize, raising the amount if the contestants said no, until they reached the top offer. When the host reached the top offer or the contestants decided to accept the money, the prize they had won or lost was revealed.

Any imaginable prize could appear on the show, and no prize was guaranteed to appear at all, except one prize that the rules stated had to appear in at least one of the objects: the show's mascot. There were different mascots through different seasons, normally associated with a booby prize. Sometimes, though, the mascot had extra prizes attached to it, so it was not always bad. There also were some seasons where there was a couple of mascots, one of them good and the other bad. In those seasons, winning the good mascot meant choosing any prize from that episode, and winning the bad mascot meant going home only with a doll of the mascot. When there were a good and a bad mascot on the same season, only the presence of one of them was forced, and the contestants wouldn't know which one of them was going to appear on the show. Sometimes, though, both could appear on the same episode, and they could even appear as prizes inside a game.

There was one basic rule for the host. The contestants could make all the questions they wanted, and the host was not allowed to say a single falsehood. They could refuse to answer, and also could not say the whole truth, that is, they could omit context or hide some valuable data, but everything they said had to be true. For example, the host could explain a gambling game like this:

And the contestants would indeed stop before getting their 6 numbers from the hype, in fear of getting the ball 13 as the chances were increasing. But then, when the game was over, the host would reveal that, certainly, the contestants would have lost if the ball 13 had come out... but there was no ball 13 in the hype.

Trivia

 * The show was the first in Dryicoran television to feature male models, as it did occasionally from 1983 until its demise in 1985.
 * It also featured its infamously odd booby prizes, including the infamous broken-down car, and the time-share in a mansion one week a year for the next 25 years.
 * The revival premiered in November 2022, and was a massive hit for DTV once again, with one fifth of the population tuning in.