Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2010) |
| Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez | |
|---|---|
 Logo of the show with its mascot, Ruperta the Pumpkin, next to it. | |
| Genre | Game show |
| Created by | Narciso Ibáñez Serrador |
| Written by | Luis Peñafiel |
| Directed by | Narciso Ibáñez Serrador |
| Presented by | Kiko Ledgard Mayra Gómez Kemp Jordi Estadella Miriam Díaz-Aroca Josep Maria Bachs Luis Roderas |
| Country of origin | Spain |
| Original language | Spanish |
| No. of seasons | 10 |
| No. of episodes | 411 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 90 minutes / 120 minutes |
| Production company | RTVE / Prointel |
| Original release | |
| Network | La 1 |
| Release | April 24, 1972 – June 11, 2004 |
Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez (English: One, two, three... respond again), often shortened as Un, dos, tres, and named Un, dos, tres... a leer esta vez (English: One, two, three... time to read) in the last season, was a Spanish game show created by Narciso Ibáñez Serrador. The show, which ran from 1972 to 2004 spanning ten seasons, became the most famous game show in the history of Spanish television. It also was the first television show exported outside of Spain, with versions aired in the United Kingdom, Portugal, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
Structure
Serrador (alias Chicho) created the show as a mixture of different traditional game show formats. It included a quiz show section as the first round (called the question round), physical competitions as the second round (called the eliminatory round), and luck and psychological games as the third round (called the auction). The show derives its name from these three parts (un, dos, tres means "one, two, three"). Contestants consisted of three couples. Each show had a theme focused on a specific topic, such as the French Revolution.
The contestants would be cheered on by a "positive" cast of characters consisting of people who wanted them to win as much money and prizes as possible; and opposed by a "negative" cast, which wanted contestants to lose. The notion of having people actively rooting against contestants was innovative for Spanish television, something that had never been tried before this show.
The "positive" cast usually consisted of the host of the show and a team of several beautiful girls who served as the host's assistants, called secretaries. The secretaries usually wore sexy uniforms or costumes that reflected the theme of the show (for instance, they might dress as cowgirls for a show about the "Far West"). No matter their costumes, the secretaries always wore glasses with large, round frames; this became one of the show's trademarks.
The "negative" cast consisted of characters from a fictional town called Tacañón del Todo (Full Miserer). As the name of the town suggests, they were misers and didn't want the contestants to earn any money. They also were puritanical and disapproved of the secretaries' sexy clothing. The most important of these characters were Don Cicuta (Mr. Cicuta) and las Tacañonas (the Miser Ladies).
The question round
In the first part of the show, a secretary would hand each team of contestants a tray full of envelopes. The contestants were to choose one and give it to the host. The envelope contained a multiple-answer question which the host read to the contestants and a sample (for example: "Name some fruits like, for example, an apple."). The contestants then, after the host said "Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez" ("One, two, three... respond again"), had to repeat the given example, and then give as many answers to this question as they could within 45 seconds.
Contestants could not repeat an answer that had already been given, and had to take turns answering. Additionally, the rules encouraged contestants to be as specific as possible (for instance, if a contestant answered "berries" to the above question, then they could not count more specific versions, such as "strawberry" or "blueberry" toward their answer total). Additional rules were added for some questions. When contestants gave a mistaken or repeated answer, a member of the negative cast stopped the clock immediately and the contestants' 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 he or she got stuck. Contestants were given a certain amount of money for each correct answer.
There were three questions for each couple with an increasing level of difficulty. In the show's early seasons, answering the first question correctly gave the contestants 25 pesetas for each correct answer. Then a machine gave a random amount that varied over time. Answering the second question correctly would give the contestants the amount won in the first question for each correct answer. Similarly, the third question's awards would build on the second. When all the questions were done, the couple with the most money became champions and returned the following week. The other two couples went on to the second part of the show.
The Elimination round
The elimination round was a physical test that changed each week according to that week'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 one with the highest amount of liquid they carried to their jar, or try 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 of them, etc. 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 amount 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 half of the third season, the losers in 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. During the seventies and most of the eighties, it was presented as a board game, usually involving the use of giant dices or Trivial Pursuit like games, where moving the tab to certain box 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. Each board game was dedicated to the puppet of the show, and a home version of these games were commercially released so that people could play at home to the same games. From the last weeks of the fifth season onward, a change was made in the style of the games. They were no longer typical board games but luck games attached to certain sponsor. The games attached to sponsors were more simple in their rules (usually simply choosing some numbers or letters from the sponsor's name), but the potential prizes were drastically increased. Many times the winners of the consolation game eventually won a much better prize than the ones who had won the elimination round.
Board games (1976−1986)
- La Ruperta Fantasma (The Ghost Ruperta) (1976–1977): It followed the rules of Battleship. There was a grid with lines and columns identified by letters and numbers. The contestants had to choose a spot from the grid. It could contain a "slip", a "sneak pumpkin" or the "Ghost Ruperta". Getting in a "slip" gave the contestants a question. If they answered correctly they gained 1.000 pesetas and went on playing, if they failed, the game was over. The "sneak pumpkin" opened all the spots around the sneak. There was a jackpot starting in 25.000 pesetas that was increased 25.000 more each week if it was not won. The "Ghost Ruperta" made the contestants the winners of the jackpot, whatever it was. There was only a single Ghost Ruperta on the whole grid, and the grid was not changed week by week until it was discovered.
- El juego de la Pera (The Pear Game) (1977–1978): It followed the rules of the Snakes and Ladders game. There was a jackpot similar to the previous one which would be to the contestants who reached the goal in the game.
- El juego de Botilde (Botilde Game) (1983–1984): It was starring Botilde, the Boot, and it was based on the Game of the Goose. The contestants had to bet all the money earned in the question round and they could increase or decrease it. The contestants had two giant dices, a traditional one from one to six and a special one which had the face of Botilde, a "x2" or a "-". Each contestant threw one die. The numbered one marked how many spaces the piece advanced. In the other one, if there appeared a Botilde, nothing happened, getting a "x2" meant advancing double length, and getting a "-" meant going backwards. There were some spaces with the face of Botilde on it, and falling in one made the piece jump to the next Botilde. The rest of the spaces each one had a different effect, some were positive, and some were negative, even involving automatic end of the game. Others had a question or a task to be performed, and failing meant the end of the game too. When the game was finished if it had not reached the goal, it was left on the spot it had finally landed and the contestants the following week would start from that space, unless specified otherwise. As in previous games, there was a jackpot that would be won by the couple reaching the goal.
- La carrera del Chollo (The Chollo Race) (1984–1985): It was also based on the Game of the Goose, including two innovations. There were two pieces, one for the contestants and the other one for a member of the audience chosen previously, and instead of dices, the contestants played with cards, which had numbers from one to six. Now the jackpot was increased 50.000 pesetas each week. If the winner was the member of the public, he gained a half of the jackpot. If the contestants were the winners, they gained the whole jackpot.
- El país del Antichollo (The Land of Antichollo) (1985–1986): Each contestant had a dice of his own. They had to cross the board from the right corner to the left one, and there was the Antichollo moving around the board. The spots were numbered from two to twelve, and each movement made the contestants answer a question or perform a task. Winning gave money to the contestants, and losing meant also losing money, but not disqualification unless they failed for a third time. When both contestants had played, they had to throw both dices in the name of the Antichollo. If at the number given by the dices there was a piece from one of the players, that player was disqualified and his piece removed from the board. Each piece that reached the goal meant winning a half of the jackpot.
Sponsor games (1986−2004)
- Juego de Cepsa (1986–1987) (The Cepsa Game): The five letters of the name of the sponsor Cepsa were hidden under five boards. The contestants had to realign the boards as they chose and then the letters were discovered. If the word C-E-P-S-A was read, the contestants earned ten million pesetas. If not, they gained 100.000 pesetas for each letter in the right place.
- Raspadita Competición Málaga (The Málaga Scratching Competition) (1987): There was a board with a road divided into rows, each with two or three scratch dots. A contestant was playing against a member of the public, one with the color red and the other with the color blue. The player in turn had to choose a dot and scratch it. Behind the scratch dots there were color dots, in red, blue and white. If the dot discovered was their color, they went on, if it was the opponent's color or white, they lost the turn. If it was white, the following player had to scratch on the same row to find his color. Otherwise, they played on the following round. Each player was allowed to fail twice and was disqualified on the third mistake. If one of the players reached the goal row and there they scratched and found their color, the prize was a brand new car, a Seat Málaga. If in the goal the player scratched the opponent's color, the car was for the opponent, even if disqualified. If at the goal they scratched the white spot, nobody got the prize.
- El uno de Galerías (The number one by Galerías) (1987): The sponsor was the disappeared department store Galerías Preciados. The letters of the word G-A-L-E-R-I-A-S had to be realigned by the contestants the way they wanted. Behind the letters there was a number one and seven zeros. When the letters were aligned, the numbers were discovered and the contestants would win the amount that could be read, which ranged from one peseta (if the result was 000000001) to 10.000.000 pesetas.
- Juego de Avecrem (1987) (The Avecrem Game): The sponsor was Gallina Blanca and Avecrem. There were seven red hens numbered from 1 to 7 and the contestants had to choose three numbers. Behind three of the numbers there were three white hens and the rest were red. If the contestants found the three white hens, they earned 10.000.000 pesetas, if they found two, they got half a million, and if only one, one hundred thousand.
- Juego de Cepsa Multigrado (The Cepsa Multigrado Game) (1987–1988): There were ten cans with the old design of the sponsor in white, each attached to a letter of the word M-U-L-T-I-G-R-A-D-O. They had to choose four letters. Behind the cans there could be another can with the old design or a can with the new design in black. There were four new cans. If they found the four of them, they earned 10.000.000 pesetas, if they got three, they got a million, if two, half a million, and if one, one hundred thousand.
- Juego de Vidal Sassoon (1991) (The Vidal Sassoon Game) Version 1: The sponsor was Vidal Sassoon Wash & Go. Behind the letters of the word V-I-D-A-L-S-A-S-S-O-O-N there could be bottles of the sponsor, bottles of ordinary shampoo, and bottles of hair conditioner. The contestants were playing in team with someone at home who had sent a letter with a label of any of the products from the Sponsor. In the letter, that person signaled three letters, and the contestants had to read them to discover what was behind them. If it was a Vidal Sassoon product, they earned 250.000 pesetas. If it was shampoo, 50.000 pesetas, and if hair conditioner, 25.000 pesetas. After that, the contestants themselves chose another letter with the same prize. Finished this part, one of the contestants could exchange 250.000 pesetas to push a button which would start a roulette with the words of the slogan rolling. If when the roulette stopped, the slogan "Lavar y listo" ("Wash & Go") could be read, they would earn 5 million pesetas. They had one try for each 250.000 pesetas they had earned previously, and they got 5 millions for each time they got the slogan. At the end, the final prize, a maximum of 20 million pesetas, was shared between the contestants and the viewer at home.
- Juego de Vidal Sassoon (1991–1992) (The Vidal Sassoon Game) Version 2: Under the letters of the word V-I-D-A-L-S-A-S-S-O-O-N there were four bottles of the sponsor, white bottles, and there was a spot with a bad pumpkin named Ruperta Malos Pelos (Bad Haired Ruperta). A viewer at home also sent a letter with a label from the sponsor, and chose three letters, which would be opened first, and then the contestants, if they wanted to take the risk, could choose another letter. If after the four letters were discovered, they found the four bottles of the sponsor, they earned 10 million pesetas. If they found three, they got 5 million pesetas. If two, 2.5 millions, and if one, one million. If they found the bad pumpkin, they lost everything they had earned before it appeared, and started from zero with the rest of the letters. As in the previous version, the prize was shared between the contestants and the viewer at home.
- Profiden (1992): The contestants were given eight definitions, and they had to answer with a word starting with a letter, in order, from the word P-R-O-F-I-D-E-N winning money for each correct answer up to more than 12 million pesetas.
- Ariel (1992–1993): The rules were similar to the previous game, only now with the letters U-L-T-R-A-C-O-L-O-R
- La ducha de los millones Litamin (A shower of millions by Litamin) (1993): Each player had to choose a bottle with a question that he read to their partner. If the partner answered, he or she had to read his own question which also had to be answered back. If both questions were answered correctly, that was a hit. Each hit gave them money up to ten million pesetas. If the question was wrongly answered, another bottle with a question had to be chosen and answered correctly to get the hit.
- La panadería Panrico (1993) (The Panrico Bakery): This game was developed week after week. Just for playing, the contestants got 100.000 pesetas. They had to choose questions contained in products from the sponsor which the host read to them. Each correct answered gave them a certain amount of points. At the end of the season, the couple with the highest amount of points earned 14 million pesetas.
- La casa de Ocaso (1993–1994) (The Ocaso House): The contestants had to choose a window or door from a small house. Opening it revealed a multiplication, from x1 to x10 which would be applied to the money they had got in the question round.
- El juego de Corn Flakes (2004) (The Corn Flakes Game): The letters C-O-R-N-F-L-A-K-E-S had the same letters behind them in the colors red or green. The players had to guess the color of each letter. For the first hit they earned 20 euros, and the following hits would duplicate the amount up to 12.000 euros
- El tazón de Corn Flakes (2004) (The Bowl of Corn Flakes): It was a physical task were the players had to find the letters of the word "CORN FLAKES" inside a giant bowl filled with "milk", each letter repeated three times. They had to find the different letters, then get out of the bowl and after sliding down a slide and going through a slippery path, place the letter in the spot. They could only take out of the bowl one letter each time, and there could only be one of the contestants in the bowl at a time; meanwhile the other one had to put his letter in position, if carrying any, and then wait until his partner got out of the bowl to get in. There was a time of three minutes. At the end, they got 500 euros for each letter in the spot, and if all the letters were in, the amount was multiplied by three making a maximum of 15.000 euros.
- El tazón de Puleva Max (2004) (The Bowl of Puleva Max): The game was identical to the previous one, only the letters changed, they were M-A-S-E-N-E-R-G-I-A. Now each letter gave them 300 euros and getting all of them multiplied the amount by two, making a total of 6000 euros.
The Auction
The longest and most well-known portion of the show was the auction. It usually began with a musical sketch related to the topic of the week where the secretaries sang and performed different choreographed dances on a set specifically designed according to the topic. There were also humour skits and performances by famous artists, as well as other surprises. After each performance was finished, an object related to the theme was taken to the table were the host and the contestants sat. 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 he stopped midway with a phrase that became iconic in Spain, "y hasta aquí puedo leer" ("and I can read only until this point").
This would continue until there were three objects on the table. But the contestants could only keep two, so they would have to discard one. When an item was discarded, the host would read the complete card, including the text beyond the point where he or she had stopped earlier, revealing a prize the contestants had passed up. The prizes ranged from cars, houses and trips to matches and bottles of laxative (a couple of contestants even won their own tombs on the cemetery they chose). The show went on like that, discarding objects and losing prizes, 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.
Some cards could contain more than one prize, many 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. An example of a card with this system is this one, from a 1991 show dedicated to the Stock exchange, found in a newspaper about the Great Crash: "In a program dedicated to the stock exchange, there could not fail to be a mention to the terrific fall of the american stock exchange in 1929, the famous Great Crash (Crack in Spanish) that sank economy in the United States...[end of clue]...The same way there had to be a reference to the Crash of 1929, in "Un, dos, tres", we are also forced to remember that in the past season, one of our puppets had exactly that name, El Crack... and there you've got it!...[pause]... El Crack was the negative puppet in our previous season. But, since in this season the symbol of negativity is monopolized by Ruperta, this Crack has no more mission than to serve as decoration in... This wonderful apartment!"[1]
Sometimes, however, an object's card would contain another game. In those games, the contestants could win different amounts of money or other prizes. The host was forced to reveal when an object had a game attached to it, but the rules of the game remained secret, even when it was discarded, because some games were recycled for future programs.
Even when they 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 prize could appear on the show, but there was a prize that had to appear in at least one of the objects: the show's puppet. There were different puppets through different seasons, normally associated with a booby prize. Sometimes, though, the puppet had extra prizes attached to it, so it was not always bad. There also were some seasons where there was a couple of puppets, one of them good and the other bad. In those seasons, winning the good puppet meant choosing any prize from that show, and winning the bad puppet meant going home only with the puppet. When there were a good and a bad puppet 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 show, 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 lie. He or she could refuse to answer, and also could not say all the true, that is, he could omit context or hide some valuable data, but everything he or she said had to be true. For example, the host could explain a game like this: "You have a lottery hype full of balls. You have to choose eight numbers from 1 to 12, and then you can extract up to 6 balls. The first extracted number that coincides with a number you chose earlier will be rewarded with 250.000 pesetas, and the following hits will each one multiply by 2 the money, meaning that you can win up to 8 million pesetas. But if the ball with the number 13 gets out, you will lose all your money. You can stop whenever you want." 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.[2]
Cast
Hosts
The show had six different hosts, including:
- Kiko Ledgard (1972–1973, 1976–1978)
- Mayra Gómez Kemp (1982–1988)
- Jordi Estadella (1991–1993)
- Miriam Díaz Aroca (1991–1993)
- José María Bachs (1993–1994)
- Luis Roderas (2004)
Jordi and Miriam hosted the show together as a couple.
Secretaries
Season 1 (1972–1973)
- Ana Ángeles García (accountant secretary)
- Maria Gustafson "Britt"[1][2]
- Ágatha Lys
- Pilar Pérez
- Yolanda Ríos
- Marisa Hernández "Maxia"
- Cira Rodríguez
- María Salerno (as Marta Monterrey)
- Aurora Claramunt
- Blanca Aguete (as Silvana Sandoval)
- Blanca Estrada
Season 2 (1976–1978)
- Victoria Abril (accountant secretary)
- María Casal
- María Duran
- Beatriz Escudero
- Raquel Torrent
- Meggy Schmidt
- Marian Flores
- Mª Teresa Villar
- Úrsula Grin
- Marta del Pino
- María Escudero
- Isabel Escudero
- Ivonne Gil
- Cristina Brodín
- Pilar Medina
- Silvia Aguilar
- June English
- Luisa Fernanda
- Patricia Solís
Season 3, Part 1 (1982–1983)
- Patricia Solís (accountant secretary)
- Irene Foster
- Alejandra Grepi
- Françoise Lacroix
- Rosalía Turnero
- Kim Marías
- Concha Lobón
Season 3, Part 2 (1983–1984)
- Silvia Marsó (accountant secretary)
- Kim Manning
- Gloria Fernández
- Frances Ondiviela (as Pat Ondiviela)
- Maite de Castro
- Ivanka Marfil
Season 4 (1984–1985)
- Lydia Bosch (accountant secretary)
- Kim Manning
- Gloria Fernández
- Naomi Unwin
- Mari Luz Lence
Season 5 (1985–1986)
- Lydia Bosch (accountant secretary)
- Kim Manning
- Gloria Fernández
- Naomi Unwin
- Nuria Carreras
Season 6 (1987–1988)
- Silvia Marsó (accountant secretary)
- Kim Manning (became accountant secretary after Silvia's departure)
- Victoria Vivas
- Isabel Serrano
- Jenny Hill
- Beverly Owen
- Nina Agustí
- Gloria Fernández
- Esther del Prado
- Ana Fernández
Season 7 (1991–1992)
- Miriam Díaz Aroca (host/accountant)
- María Abradelo
- Marta de Pablo
- Carolina Rodríguez
- Patricia Alcocer
- Elsa Berardengo
- Belén Ledesma
- Tiffany Smith
- Patricia López
- Margarita Hervás
Season 8 (1992–1993)
- Miriam Díaz Aroca (host/accountant)
- María Abradelo
- Marta de Pablo
- Carolina Rodríguez
- Mayte Navarrete
- Lucy Lovick
- Alejandra Cano
- Tiffany Smith
- Laura Yamaguchi
- Nieves Aparicio
- Gemma Balbás
- Patricia Rivas
Season 9 (1993–1994)
- Mayte Navarrete (accountant secretary)
- Diana Lázaro (accountant secretary)
- Carolina Rodríguez
- Alejandra Cano
- Lucy Lovick
- Nieves Aparicio
- Paula Vázquez
Season 10 (2004)
- Laura de la Calle (accountant secretary in Euros)
- Yolanda Aracil (accountant secretary in pesetas)
- Gloria Mezcúa
- Raquel Oliván
- Victoria Ampudia
- Nieves Aparicio
- Marta García
- Esther Sánchez
- Madga Aizpurua
Tacañón del Todo cast
1972–1973
- Don Cicuta: Valentín Tornos
- Arnaldo Cicutilla: Javier Pajares
- Remigio Cicutilla: Ignacio Pérez
1976–1978
- Professor Lápiz: Pedro Sempson
- Don Rácano: Francisco Cecilio
- Don Estrecho: Juan Tamariz
- Don Justo Rajatabla: Blaki
- Don Menudillo: Luis Lorenzo
1982–1988
- La Viuda de Poco: Paloma Hurtado
- La Seño: Teresa Hurtado
- Mari Puri: Fernanda Hurtado
- Eugenia Enchufols Deltot: Eugenia Roca
1991–1994
- Las Derrochonas: Las Hermanas Hurtado
- Tía Virtudes: Mercé Comes
- Tía Mª de la Purificación: Vicky Plana
2004
- Colonel McPhantom: Miguel Mugni
- Sergeant Kowalski: Esteban Allares / Rubén Espino
- General Antilivroff: Alberto Papa-Fragomen
- Dimitri: Roberto Mosca
Mascots
Ruperta, the Pumpkin (1976–1983, 1991–2004)
The first season featured no mascot as such, but the worst prize was usually symbolized by a pumpkin. Inspired on this, for the second season José Luis Moro drew and Narciso Ibáñez Serrador voiced a cartoon pumpkin named Ruperta that sang every week the show's theme song. Its presence was mandatory in the auction and, even though it usually was the worst prize of the night (just taking the pumpkin home), sometimes it hid other prizes, which could be equally bad or huge. For example, the biggest prize in the history of the show was hidden in Ruperta: a car, an apartment in Xàbia, a yacht and a check worth 5 million pesetas (€30,000). Ruperta bid farewell on May 13, 1983, and was replaced by other mascots for the rest of the 1980s, coming back in 1991 and staying until the end of the show in 2004.
Botilde, the Boot (1983–1984)
A week after Ruperta's farewell halfway through the third season, viewers were introduced to Botilde, an old boot playing on the old joke about fishermen who only got a boot while fishing. Its main difference with Ruperta was that Botilde was never physically brought to the auction table, only appearing in an animatronic version that would talk to Mayra and the contestants. Botilde only lasted until the end of the third season in 1984.
El Chollo and El Antichollo (1984–1986)
El Chollo ("The Bargain") was a pink, pear-shaped creature which wore top hat, leg warmers, a cape and a cane. Its animated version was often seen smoking cigars and with a cheerful smile. Unlike Ruperta and Botilde, Chollo was a positive mascot, and getting it on the auction gave contestants the possibility of choosing any other prize that had appeared that night. However, the idea of a positive mascot did not sit well with the viewers, so a negative counterpart was soon introduced in the form of Chollo's 'evil twin', El Antichollo. It was green and sported a sinister grin with vampire fangs. Getting it in the auction meant going home empty-handed. Every week during the auction, one of them would appear (sometimes even both). Their run on the show lasted until the end of the fifth season.
El Boom and El Crack (1987–1988)
These were the shortest-serving mascots of the show, appearing in the sixth season. Boom was an orange, pink-haired, frog-like creature which wore a brown tuxedo, boater hat and a cane. It always sported a wide, happy smile, and moved vigorously and cheerfully. For its part, Crack reminded of a green lizard, with barely four locks of hair. It wore a torn tuxedo and hat, always looked sad, and showed a great clumsiness. Their function in the auction was identical to Chollo and Antichollo before them: Boom gave the contestants the possibility of winning whichever prize they chose, while Crack meant leaving empty-handed.
In their introduction, they were described as two tramps who played their last coins in a slot machine. Boom won the jackpot, while Crack lost its coin. As a result of this, unlike Chollo and Antichollo, they being positive and negative was not a matter of good or evil; simply, Boom was lucky and Crack was not.
History
Season 1 (April 24, 1972–April 30, 1973)
The first season was the only one broadcast in black and white; TVE began broadcasting in colour one year later. The first season, which aired on Monday nights, lasted a full year. The director, who had achieved some acclaim with horror shows, decided to remove his name from the credits during the first 15 weeks, fearing that his reputation would be ruined by being associated with a game show. But when the show became a success, he began listing his name. In this season there were four couples of contestants instead of three, including the champions.
Season 2 (March 19, 1976–January 27, 1978)
After the end of the first season in 1973, there was a gap of three years while Chicho was filming his second and last movie Who Can Kill a Child?. After filming ended, Chicho started a new season of the show. The second season was the first recorded and broadcast in colour. Also it was the first season to be broadcast on Fridays, a tradition that continued until the show went off the air (with the exception of the sixth season).
For this season, the secretaries were replaced with new actresses wearing a sexier uniform – this was possible because censorship had been eased and it was no longer necessary to measure the length of the girls' dresses, as had been done in the first season. The leader of the secretaries this season was a 16-year-old Victoria Abril, who later became an international actress.
In the first chapter, Don Cicuta bid farewell to the audience (Valentin Tornos was already very ill and would eventually die months later) and new characters took over his role. These new characters, named Tacañones, would not reach the same success Don Cicuta had. They were Professor Lápiz, Don Rácano and Don Estrecho. Each of them had a part of Don Cicuta's personality. The first one would be the cultural character, the second one would be the miser character, and the third one would be the puritan character.
This season introduced the show's puppet character. In the previous season there was a pumpkin to symbolize the worst prize the show awarded. The pumpkin became a cartoon who sang the show theme each week. This singing pumpkin was named Ruperta, and after Don Cicuta's disappearance, it became the most famous trademark in the history of the show, staying for years. Until summer of 1977, there still were four couples of contestants. It was in September, 1977 when the number was downed to three couples.
Season 3 (August 20, 1982–April 13, 1984)
There was a four-year gap between the end of the second season and the beginning of the third. In 1980, the show's host, Kiko Ledgard, had near-lethal accident, and though he survived, the brain damage he sustained spelled the end of his entertainment career. Mayra Gómez Kemp, who had already worked on the show the previous season as a comedian actress, replaced him.
Since a woman was the host and was joined by girls as secretaries, the director decided that the negative part should also include some women. He hired a trio of comic actresses who became Las Tacañonas. They were so successful in their parts that they stayed in the show until 1994, the longest of any of the show's actors.
In the middle of the season, there was a major change in show's format. On May 13, 1983, the show announced that it would replace all of the secretaries with new actresses who were able to dance choreographed pieces. The following week, a new puppet, Botilde the boot, replaced Ruperta, and the new secretaries also came on board. They danced to songs from Fame and A Chorus Line.
With the change of format, a new type of contestants was introduced, the suffering contestants. They were a couple, just like the others, but with a very different purpose. They were called the suffering contestants, because they were locked in a separated room decorated like a dungeon, and there they would watch the auction from a screen, while the secretaries gave them information written in signboards about where the best prizes were hiding (sometimes, subtitles on screen informed the viewers about what the suffering contestants were reading). At the end of the auction, the suffering contestants would earn exactly the same prize the contestants earned, and they had to see some of the best prizes go unclaimed without being able to do anything about it. The suffering contestants would be present on the show until the 8th season in 1993.
Seasons 4 and 5 (November 9, 1984–May 3, 1985; October 4, 1985–March 28, 1986)
The fourth season would begin a few months after the end of the previous season. From this point on, a season would least only a few months, instead of years as had previously been the case. For the first time, some secretaries from the previous season were carried over into the new season.
Botilde was also replaced by a positive puppet, El Chollo. He was symbolic of the show's best prize: choosing any prize the contestants wanted from the auction. But viewers missed having a negative puppet, and so a new one was introduced, El Antichollo.
Some changes were introduced in the rules of the question round. For the first time a random amount given by a machine would be given for each correct answer to the first question. The first question would be exactly the same question for the three couples, and it would be based on the theme of the week. Couples would be introduced in the studio one by one, being locked away so that they could not hear the first question and answer in advantage. The second question would be a regular question like in previous seasons, and for the third question a new system was presented. Instead of a regular question, the host would read a statement, and then words that needed a match to be given, for example, if the statement was "Books and authors", the host said "El Quijote", and the contestants had to say "Cervantes", then the host said "Romeo and Juliet", and the contestants had to say "Shakespeare", and so on, until the contestants gave a wrong answer or the usual 45 seconds were over. This type of question was introduced from the British adaptation, 3-2-1.
In this season, the secretaries started singing as well as dancing. From this season until the end of the show, new lyrics were composed for each theme song adapted to its choreography. Some examples of songs from the fourth season include "The Continental" and "That's Entertainment!".
After the suffering contestants had been introduced the previous season, this season introduced the "suffering contestant at home". Before each show, a notary randomly assigned a number to each of the prizes appearing on it, writing them to a list, and then selected a letter similar to the ones sent by suffering contestants at the studio. The difference was that in this letter, they had to include a number within a circle as well as their phone number. Moments before the end of the auction, when there were the three final objects on the table, a secretary would bring the selected letter and a telephone to the host, and she would phone the suffering contestant at home while the auction contestants and the public had to be quiet. The number in the circle from the letter would point to the number the notary assigned to one of the prizes of the list, and this prize would be automatically won by the suffering contestant at home. The host would announce the prize if it had already been lost by the contestants, but if it still was on the table, she asked the suffering contestant to watch the end of the show, until the prize was revealed when the contestants lost or won it. The suffering contestant at home figure would last until season 6th in 1988.
The fifth season was a continuation of the fourth. The only major changes were to introduce a new secretary who was black and recovering the ordinary first question in the question round. For the first time, Chicho announced with great fanfare that this season would be the show's last, a tradition that went on at the end of each season afterwards. On this season, he would bury a coffin with elements and atrezzo of the show inside; a gloomy scene that became a classic on Spanish television.
Season 6 (April 6, 1987–January 8, 1988)
Even though the show was supposed to be over, the director was asked to do another season. New puppets were introduced for this season, El Boom and El Crack, with identical functions as their predecessors, El Chollo & El Antichollo. This season the show returned to Mondays, and achieved the highest ratings it had to date with nearly 25 million viewers, more than half of the Spanish population.
In this season, the rules of the question round were brought back to the original ones from seasons 1 to 3, only with the difference of letting the contestants choose on the third question a specific topic among four, which were "Art & Litherature", "Geography & History", "Sports, Games, & Shows", and "Science & Nature", and the envelopes would be in four piles so that they could choose the envelope from the preferred topic. This was removed the following season to recover the original increasing difficulty three questions.
During this season, international stars started appearing on the show, including the Swedish rock group Europe, the British singer Samantha Fox and the Italian singer Sabrina Salerno, who caused a scandal when one of her breasts slipped out of her dress during the show's Christmas special.
Again, it was announced that this season would be the show's last.
Season 7 (September 13, 1991–April 10, 1992)
After four years, the director was asked again to resurrect the show, and he agreed. He brought back Ruperta the pumpkin as the puppet of the show, as well as Las Hurtado, but with new characters called Las Derrochonas, the Squander Girls, nieces of the characters from the previous seasons.
The new hosts were Jordi Estadella and Miriam Díaz Aroca. Jordi would host the question round and the auction, and Miriam would be the accountant in the question round, host the elimination round and the consolation game, and sing and dance with the secretaries in the auction.
The secretaries recovered their trademark glasses lost in 1983, but they still sung and danced choreographed dances. Thanks to much bigger budgets driven by much more interest from advertisers, these choreographed pieces were performed among large sets. Prizes were also increased, with the base money being ten times bigger than in previous seasons.
The season finale was a special feature dedicated to the show's 20th anniversary, lasting three and a half hours and featuring actors and actresses from all th previous seasons.
Season 8 (October 2, 1992–July 9, 1993)
The eighth season was a continuation of the seventh. The same hosts and many of the secretaries returned. Las Hurtado also returned, but in 1993, with an economic crisis gripping the country, they became "Miser Ladies."
In this season, with the expansion of private channels, viewing figures slowly started declining.
Season 9 (November 19, 1993–April 8, 1994)
The ninth season started a few months later. A new host, Josep Maria Bachs, replaced Jordi and Miriam. One of Las Hurtado, Paloma, could not join the cast on the first months because she had been accidentally shot in the face weeks before the launch of the season and was recovering from the surgery. She was replaced by two actresses, Merce Comes and Vicky Plana, who joined the remaining Hurtado sisters, until Paloma returned in January, 1994, with great fanfare and the applause of all the public and members of the cast.
A major change was made on the rules. There would be only two questions instead of three, with a much higher base money for them. Also, in this season there were no champions, and the winners of the question round would be granted the right to buy their presence in the auction with the money they had earned. In the eliminatory round, the other two couples would compete to get the consolation game, where they could increase the money won in the question round. At the end of the auction, the only offer the host would give was to give back the contestants the money earned in the question round in exchange of the final prize. All these changes would only last for this season.
The last week of the show was dedicated to "The big boom". In that show, the sets were all symbolically blown up, putting a definitive end to the show. With the audience rating falling down this end was considered final.
Season 10 (January 9– June 11, 2004)
After more than a decade in hiatus, the show was again resurrected in 2004, but featured big changes, including all new sets and better decorations. A new team of young secretaries and a new host, Luis Roderas, appeared in this season. But the biggest change was the title, which was changed to "Un, dos, tres... a leer esta vez", ("One, two, three, reading this time"). This was done because each week's theme was changed to correspond to a book. The intent was to encourage viewers to read more; contestants had to read the book that was their show's theme in order to be able to answer questions properly. The eliminatory round was no longer a physical game, but a new question round, with more questions about the book. The musical numbers and sets were all dedicated to the book as well, and in the auction, on the first two programs, each object had a question about the book that had to be answered to keep the object on the table, or dismiss it if they failed.
For the first time in the show's history, the negative portion was not connected with Tacañón del Todo. The new negative characters – people who burned books – were inspired by Ray Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451.
This season marked also the first time that couples of contestants could comprise two men or two women. In the past seasons, only couples consisting of a man and a woman were allowed.
A collection of the books that appeared on the show was launched. People had to buy the books, where they could find a booklet with information about the book, the author and the time it was written, and a coupon to participate in the show, either as regular contestants, or by telephone if their letter was selected. On each show, the host telephoned two people, asked them a question about the book and gave them 15 seconds to answer, to win 500 euros if they hit, an amount rose to 1000 euros in subsequent programs when difficulty of the questions was heavily increased (on the first programs, all the answers were in the booklet, but when the prize was rose, to really encourage people to read, only by actually reading the book people could find the answer).
The season started with ratings of nearly 40 percent, but by the end of the season they were down to 16 percent. For the first time ever, the show was canceled before its final show. So far, this has proven to be the show's last season.
International versions
- United Kingdom: 3-2-1 hosted by Ted Rogers
- Portugal: Um, dois, tres hosted by Carlos Cruz, António Sala and Teresa Guilherme
- Germany: Die verflixte sieben hosted by Rudi Carell
- Netherlands: De 1-2-3 show hosted by Rudi Carell, Ted de Braak and Henny Huisman
- Belgium: De 1-2-3 show hosted by Walter Capiau