BrainTeaser
BrainTeaser was a British game show based on the original Dutch format of Puzzeltijd (English: Puzzle Time). The show was broadcast live, with phone-in viewer puzzles being announced and played during the show in addition to the studio game. During its run from 5 August 2002 to 7 March 2007, it aired on Five Mondays to Fridays, usually for an hour around lunchtime, and was fronted by various presenters rotating with one another (most notably Alex Lovell, who was the only presenter to front the show for the entirety of its run). Beginning in August 2005, a version of the show that exclusively focused on viewer participation was broadcast in a four-hour long block on YooPlay TV (A joint-venture between Five and YooPlay) every day after the Five broadcast, as part of a thirteen-week trial.
| BrainTeaser | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Joop van den Ende (Endemol Holland) |
| Presented by | Alex Lovell Craig Stevens Jonny Gould Rachel Pierman |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 1122 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes 220 minutes (YooPlay version) |
| Production companies | Endemol UK Productions Midlands (2002-2004) Cheetah Television West (2004-2007) |
| Original release | |
| Network | Five YooPlay TV (2005-2006) |
| Release | 5 August 2002 – 7 March 2007 |
Channel 5 suspended the programme on 8 March 2007 after it was revealed that the production company, Cheetah Productions, had misled viewers regarding winners of the viewer puzzles (which were entered using a premium rate phone number). Actions included publishing fictional names and presenting a member of the production team as a 'winner'. On 26 June 2007, Channel 5 announced that the show had been cancelled after 1122 episodes after media regulator Ofcom fined the channel £300,000.