He had other ideas: in 2005, Entertainment Weekly reported that he wanted to pit black contestants against white ones.
"You have to be intuitive and strategic" to win the numerous competitions during the season, which pit the teams of contestants against each other, Mr. Kilmer-Purcell said.
Popular events are back, like the Translation Slam, which pits contestants against one another as they translate a single work into a different language, and the PEN Cabaret, with Ben Okri, winner of the Man Booker Prize; Ariel Dorfman; and Ms. Merchant.
The show sets contestants against one another to the end, with the five losers facing off against the one remaining contestant and trying to take away all the money he has earned.
Page D1 A GAIN FOR 'BIGGEST LOSER' For the contestants of "The Biggest Loser," the reality show that pits morbidly obese contestants against their appetites, the final battle is to change their relationship with food -- from the kitchen up.
Not content with ogling the flesh-cases they were meant to ignore, the judges are also undermining the voice-related aspect of the show by pitting contestants against each other in noisy, desperate sing-offs.
"The Biggest Loser," NBC's newest obnoxious reality show, pits teams of obese contestants against each other to see which group can drop the most weight the fastest, eliminating a member of the team that loses the least.
The other show being ordered by GSN is "The Chase," based on a popular British quiz show that pits four contestants against a cast member known as the Beast — a know-it-all who seeks to answer questions faster and more accurately than the contestants can.
At the other end of the spectrum is "American Gladiators" on NBC, a revival of a late-1980s compethaton that pits contestants against professional athletes in feats of strength, and "When Women Rule the World," a Fox series that features male contestants trying to survive in an environment ruled by women.
