ElimiDate is an American reality television dating show in which one contestant chooses between four contestants of the opposite sex by eliminating them one by one in three rounds. On August 11, 2006, it was announced that the show would not be renewed for the 2006–07 season due to low ratings,^[1] and it went out of syndication after September 5, 2006.

The syndicated program premiered on 17 September 2001 and was produced by AND Syndicated Productions in association with Telepictures Productions, and distributed by Telepictures Distribution (2001–03) and Warner Bros. Television Distribution (2003–06). It was produced by Alex Duda. The narrator was Dale Inghram.

Nationwide in the United States, it was broadcast on cable late nights on Superstation WGN. ElimiDate was also available on AOL's free video-streaming channel, In2TV, until it was shut down.

The show was popular due to being designed to be aired around or past midnight, when its target audience was just coming home from being out or ending their studies for the evening. It developed a cult following of sorts among college students nationwide.^{[citation needed]}

Format

The reality television dating show features one contestant who chooses from four contestants of the opposite sex by eliminating them one by one in three rounds.^[2] The contestant (sometimes female, but usually male) meets their four dates one by one, and then gives their first impression in a confessional-style cut scene. The other four contestants then size each other up along with the contestant within their own confessional scenes.

The group of five is cut one-by-one each round, and in each round the group usually goes to a different place. The show starts out in the late afternoon at a public place (e.g. a city park or restaurant). Then, when there are only two suitors left, the setting moves to a hot tub or VIP area of a club, where sex acts may happen.

Typically, the contestants are very competitive and insult one another many times during an episode. There are rare cases of fighting, but "catty" bickering is the show's major draw. The extremity of some of the cattiness suggests handling and line-feeding from producers,^{[citation needed]} and contestants respond to these situations in interview sequences filmed after the fact. Most eliminations are preceded by some variation of the phrase I liked everybody but unfortunately the name of the game is "ElimiDate", so I have to make a cut. So I decided to cut.... Contestants who are cut have the opportunity to react to their dismissal. Many eliminated contestants, often visibly intoxicated, insult the contestant who eliminated them, claiming He/she wasn't my type, anyway.^{[citation needed]}

Initially, episodes rotated between Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City, but the program's popularity encouraged the producers to film episodes in other cities. Episodes were filmed in over three dozen cities, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Columbus, Little Rock, St. Paul, Jacksonville, Phoenix, Raleigh and Sacramento, and syndicators usually received strong support from affiliate stations to find contestants for the series within their cities through casting calls.^{[citation needed]}

ElimiDate Deluxe

A short-lived network version of ElimiDate, ElimiDate Deluxe, aired concurrently with the syndicated run on the WB from October 11 to October 25, 2001, but was dropped after two episodes because of poor ratings.

British version

In 2002, a short-lived British version aired on ITV, presented by former Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona. It generated some controversy when contestant Donovan Russell lodged a complaint with the Broadcasting Standards Commission alleging that the programme was "fixed" and contestants were told in advance who to pick. Although the complaint was not upheld, the series was dropped midway through its run.^{[citation needed]}