Personne n'y avait pensé !

Personne n'y avait pensé ! (Nobody had thought of that!) is a France 3 game show adapted from the BBC's Pointless. Presented by Cyril Féraud, it ran for five seasons in 2011, 2015–16 and 2018–21.

Format

The rules are based on the British original. There are four teams of two people. All questions have previously been given to 100 members of the public, and the contestants seek to give the answer that they think the fewest members gave. Féraud gave the example in an interview that if the question were on European Union capitals starting with R, it would be better to go for Riga or Reykjavik than Rome. Giving a "pointless" answer (personne n'y avait pensé) before the jackpot round wins the duo €100.^[1]

The duo who score the highest in each round are eliminated, until the winning duo gets to play for a jackpot starting at €2,000. If they do not win the jackpot by giving a pointless answer on the final question (a correct answer given by no member of the survey), the money rolls over to the next episode.^[1]

Unlike Pointless, winning duos stay on for the next episode.^[2]

Broadcast history

In June 2011, the programme was announced to begin in mid-July, as a weekly broadcast each Saturday afternoon.^[3] It began on 16 July at 5:15 pm; a review in Libération joked about how the show's unique format of earning as few points as possible did not extend to the losers winning money and the winners leaving with nothing.^[4] The season ran into December.^[5]

The return of Personne n'y avait pensé ! was announced in May 2015.^[6] The season ran twice a week from July 2015 to October 2016.^[5]

From 8 January 2018, Personne n'y avait pensé ! replaced Harry as a daily broadcast, preceding Féraud's other show, Slam.^[5] In November 2020, the show was axed as France 3 needed to cut one of its four daily game shows to match its commitment to show more regional programming; as the show was produced externally by Endemol Shine Group it could be cancelled without layoffs.^[7] The final episode was broadcast on 22 January 2021, attracting 962,000 viewers (11%).^[8]

References

1. "Le jeu Personne n'y avait pensé ! débarque sur France 3 le 4 juillet" [The gameshow Personne n'y avait pensé ! starts on France 3 on 4 July] (in French). Yahoo!. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
2. Flores, Emilie (12 February 2020). "Personne n'y avait pensé : Matthieu et Bruno battent le nouveau record de gains de l'émission en seulement... 5 victoires (VIDEO)" [Personne n'y avait pensé : Matthieu and Bruno beat the show's record for winnings in only... 5 victories (VIDEO)]. Télé-Loisirs (in French). Retrieved 19 April 2021.
3. "Pointless : Le nouveau jeu de Cyril Féraud sur France 3" [Pointless: Cyril Féraud's new game show on France 3]. Télé-Loisirs (in French). 10 June 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
4. Garrigos, Raphaël (5 July 2011). "L'été télé dans le vice-versa" [Summer TV turned upside down]. Libération (in French). Retrieved 25 March 2021.
5. Garin, Clément (8 January 2018). "Personne n'y avait pensé remplace Harry sur France 3 dès ce lundi 8 janvier" [Personne n'y avait pensé replaces Harry on France 3 from this Monday 8 January]. Télé Star (in French). Retrieved 25 March 2021.
6. "Personne n'y avait pensé : Le jeu de Cyril Féraud va faire son retour cet été sur France 3" [Personne n'y avait pensé: Cyril Féraud's gameshow will make its return this summer on France 3]. Télé-Loisirs (in French). 7 May 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
7. "France Télévisions met fin à ses émissions "Personne n'y avait pensé" et "Je t'aime etc."" [France Télévisions puts an end to its shows "Personne n'y avait pensé" and "Je t'aime etc."] (in French). Europe 1. 16 November 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
8. Lheritier, Kevin (23 January 2021). "Personne n'y avait pensé : Cyril Féraud « très triste » pour la fin, quelle audience pour la dernière du jeu ?" [Personne n'y avait pensé: Cyril Féraud "very sad" for its end, what was the audience for the last episode of the game show?] (in French). Toute la Télé. Retrieved 25 March 2021.