The Chicken or The Egg is the hit family prime time game show from VRT1 (Belgium). This entertaining and hilarious format sees four celebrity contestants embark upon a comedic journey through the years, under the guidance of the series host. With a focus on key events, music, culture, movies, politics, fashion and sports, the contestants are faced with a series of questions over five rounds. All questions can be answered by stating either ‘sooner’ or ‘later.’
For example:
Did Abba release Money, Money, Money ‘sooner’ or ‘later’ than Dire Straits released Money For Nothing?
Which dance film was released first, which one was released later? List them in chronological order: Dirty Dancing; Footloose; Grease.
Bob Geldof released the Band Aid song “Do They Know It’s Christmas” in 1984. When did “USA for Africa” release “We are The World”? Sooner or later than 1984?
Throughout the game play, the celebrity contestants discuss events that happened around the same time as the period in question, evoking memories for both those in the studio and the viewers at home.
After the elimination round, the contestant with the lowest score drops out, but the remaining contestants can buy him back to join their team through a fast-paced auction - the more players, the bigger the brain.
The Chicken or The Egg - the key is in the chronology!
The Belgian version for VRT1 first aired on Saturday 1st September 2012 at 9pm. It attracted 727,033 viewers with a 41.30% share for the opening episode. The ratings were the highest for any channel in Belgium with Canvas the closest competitor with 16.10% share. The show averaged a 30.54% share across all 13 episodes.
Season 2 of the Belgian version aired on Saturday 7th December 2013 at 9.30pm. Again the show delivered with impressive figures with 726,280 viewers and a 35.3% share for the opening episode. The second season topped the average share for the first season with a total average of 32.2%.
D8 in France commissioned an initial run of 4 episodes which first aired on Friday 18th April 2014. The show broke channel records attracting 1.4m viewers for the debut episode with a 6.4% share. The channel average was 2.8%.