Penn & Teller: Fool Us



Penn & Teller: Fool Us is a British-American television programme. Its first two seasons were hosted by Jonathan Ross, and its third season by Alyson Hannigan. Fool Us was filmed at Fountain Studios in London, England (Season 1) and the Penn & Teller Theater in Las Vegas (Season 2 onward). Fool Us is a magic competition in which magicians perform tricks in front of American magician-comedian duo Penn & Teller. If Penn & Teller cannot figure out how a trick was done, the magician or magicians who performed it win a five-star trip to Las Vegas to perform as the opening act in Penn & Teller's world-famous show, also at the Rio Hotel & Casino.

It was announced on 28 June 2012 that ITV had cancelled the show, despite an averaging 4 million viewers, higher than the norm for the timeslot. After finding moderate ratings success in running the ITV-produced episodes during the summer of 2014, The CW ordered a second season of original episodes to air in 2015. The second season was a ratings hit for The CW, giving the network its highest ratings in that time slot compared to the previous 5 years. On 11 August 2015 the series was renewed for a third season by The CW. Season 3 premiered on 13 July 2016, now hosted by Alyson Hannigan. The fourth season premiered on July 13, 2017.

Production and format
The pilot of Fool Us was first commissioned by John Kaye Cooper, the controller of entertainment for ITV. In February 2011, it was announced that due to good viewing figures, a series of eight episodes had been commissioned, and would be produced by September Films and 1/17 Productions. The eight episodes were shot in a ten-day filming block, and began airing in June 2011.

Each episode starts off with the introduction stating the purpose of the series. Penn and Teller come out and take their seat towards centre stage, and hopeful magicians perform their acts in front of them with a live studio audience. After each performance, Penn and Teller privately confer and may examine any of the trick's props, while the host interviews the magicians. Penn and Teller then reveal if they know how the trick was performed, typically using cryptic language or writing down the method and presenting it privately to the magicians to confirm, as to avoid exposing the secrets behind the trick. If Penn and Teller are wrong, or cannot come up with how the trick was done, the magician wins the opportunity to later perform at one of Penn and Teller's Las Vegas shows. At the end of the episode, Penn and Teller perform a magic act of their own.

Episodes
Performers in yellow fooled Penn & Teller in the episode.

Reception
Readers of UKGameshows.com named it the second best new game show of 2011 in their "Hall of fame" poll.

International broadcast

 * In Australia, the show commenced airing on ABC1 each Saturday at 9:25 pm from 1 October 2011.
 * In New Zealand, the show commenced airing on ChoiceTV each Saturday at 7:30 pm from 28 April 2012.
 * The CW acquired the series for broadcast in the United States, where it premiered on 30 July 2014. The pilot episode was trimmed to one hour (including commercial breaks) for its CW airing.
 * The series has also been sold to BBC Entertainment in Scandinavia, Africa, and Latin America, to screen at a date yet to be announced.
 * The series has been aired in India by Comedy Central India.
 * In Canada, the series aired on Bite TV before it was rebranded to Makeful on 24 August 2015.
 * Channel 5 bought the UK rights to the second season and premiered it on 6 March 2016.
 * ViuTV aired the second season in Hong Kong on each Sunday from 8 January 2017.
 * Tr!ck aired the show in Russia.

US ratings
Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

International versions

 * In 2011 it was reported that the format had been sold to Ukraine broadcaster STB, who would produce a local version.
 * In 2012 the show was licensed to Israel's Channel 2. The show was renamed Mi Yapil Et Ha Master ("Who Can Fool The Master?"). Penn & Teller were asked to be the judging magicians but they had to decline due to other commitments. Max Maven took their place, and the winner of the show was mentalist Eran Biderman.