Everybody's Equal

200 contestants were asked a question with four options and those who got it right were asked another.{{cite book |last=Blackburn |first=Virginia |date=2003 |title=Chris Tarrant: The Biography |url=https://archive.org/details/christarrantbiog0000blac/page/68/ |location=London |publisher=Metro Publishing |via=Internet Archive |pages=68–69 |isbn=1-84358-081-0 |accessdate=2024-03-04 }} This continued until fewer than ten players survived, at which point they face four questions which were worth £50 each. If more than ten players remained after the sixth question, the ten fastest players went through. The player who correctly answered the final question the fastest went on to play the final round. The winning contestant was to place four things into the correct order, to win £1,000. If they got it wrong, the money was divided equally between all the other contestants.

On the original version of the show, Chris Tarrant would routinely "name and shame" the contestants who voted for the most outlandish answers – most memorably the first game of the first show where all but one contestant voted for the correct answer. At the start of each show, the host would introduce the “Four to Follow” contestants, pre-selected by the computer as the most likely to win the game, and regularly check in to see if they were still in the game as it progressed.

In the revival, likely due to lower budgets, the main prize is £250 or £500, depending if the contestant wanted to take on the offer. This time if one of the ten remaining contestants were out of the game, they would have to wear a "Whittle Mask", which consists of a purple "W" from the show's logo graphic on a yellow disc with eye holes to see out of.

Hillary Kingsley of the Daily Mirror praised the show, writing, "Everybody's Equal is good fun, the questions aren't too taxing, we can all play along at home and the contestants seem relatively normal, unlike the brain donors they sometimes get on Big Break. But the biggest plus is Tarrant himself. I'm not sure I'd want to buy a used car from him, but at least he doesn't take himself seriously. With some of the jackets he wears, he daren't."{{cite news |last=Kingsley |first=Hillary |date=1991-07-20 |title=Hillary Kingsley's Pick of the Day |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000560/19910720/199/0029 |url-access=subscription |newspaper=Daily Mirror |via=British Newspaper Archive |accessdate=2024-03-04 }}

In a 1989 review, the columnist Norman Harper wrote, "It is a novel idea and one which works rather well. It is a shame that people who answer wrongly are singled out for the glare of ridicule, but presumably they knew the risks before they agreed to take part. It is also worth watching for the vigorous and prolonged handshaking offered by host Chris Tarrant to each week's victor."{{cite news |last=Harper |first=Norman |author-link=Norman Harper |date=1989-06-17 |title=TV review: Whizz of a quiz |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000578/19890617/222/0012 |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The Aberdeen Press and Journal |via=British Newspaper Archive |accessdate=2024-03-04 }} In a 1991 review, Harper stated, "The format is as trite as every other gameshow and there is a flaw of sorts in that the audience can't develop a rapport with the contenders — because there are 200 contenders. The strength of Everybody's Equal is host Chris Tarrant. It was a colleague who pointed out that, alone among TV hosts, Tarrant doesn't patronise the participants, and it's true. He doesn't use them as foils for well-rehearsed wit and the show has a relaxed, matey, pleasing air as a result. Good stuff."{{cite news |last=Harper |first=Norman |author-link=Norman Harper |date=1991-07-27 |title=TV review: Bum notes and all that jazz |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000578/19910727/251/0012 |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The Aberdeen Press and Journal |via=British Newspaper Archive |accessdate=2024-03-04 }}

{{Reflist}}

• {{UKGameshow|Everybody's_Equal}}
• {{UKGameshow|Whittle|Whittle}}

Category:1989 British television series debuts

Category:1997 British television series endings

Category:1980s British game shows

Category:1990s British game shows

Category:British television series revived after cancellation

Category:Channel 5 (British TV channel) original programming

Category:British English-language television shows

Category:ITV game shows

Category:Television shows produced by Thames Television

Category:Television series by Reg Grundy Productions

Category:Television series by Fremantle (company)