Family Feud meets religious trivia in new U.K. quiz show
Last Updated: Saturday, June 21, 2008 | 3:26 PM ET
CBC News
Question: What's the new British game show aimed at promoting inter-faith tolerance and understanding?
Answer: Faith Off, a production that debuts Saturday on the Islam Channel, seen in Britain and in 30 other countries.
Hosted by Muslim comedian Jeff Mirza, the program combines familiar game-show standards like buzzers, bells and tension-building music with religious trivia aimed at the general public.
Each episode will feature two, four-person teams going head-to-head to answer trivia. Match-ups could pit, for instance, Jews against Muslims or Sikhs against Christians.
"I think Buddhists are the hardest to find," Faith Off creator and TV producer Abrar Hussain quipped to CBC News.
More seriously, however, Hussain is paying careful attention to the tone of the show, making sure it has religious humour without veering into making fun of religion, so that both contestants and viewers remain open to the concept.
After taping the first couple of shows, for instance, Hussain asked Mirza — a stand-up comic — to tone down some of his jokes.
"I didn't want people thinking this was purely an entertainment show. I didn't want people thinking this was some kind of circus … or exploitative," said Hussain, who has planned an inaugural eight-episode season for Faith Off.
Unless it becomes a smash success right away, the fledgling game show must make do with a tiny budget, which means a small set, low production values and no studio audience.
However, if the show takes off, Hussain dreams of staging a celebrity edition that will see teams of imams, priests and rabbis compete live before an audience of thousands at a London arena.
The game's humble aesthetics right now are beside the point, said one of the inaugural contestants, Alex Reiss.
"It's a great endeavour," Reiss said, adding that the goal is "to make sure we are dialoguing between the different faiths."
With files from Laura Lynch, The World at Six
