text: Format In its original conception, teams from Belgium, France, West Germany, and Italy competed each week in head-to-head competition between two cities or towns from two of the four competing countries. There would be sports events, but also studio-based quizzes each week. Eventually, all teams would have competed against each other and the teams with the highest cumulative points for each country from the series would meet in two semi-finals, with the two winners meeting in the final. The first series in 1965 ended in a tie between Belgian town Ciney and French town St. Amand. A similar format followed in the longer 1966 series, with more towns competing from each of the four countries.
  The more familiar format began in 1967, when teams from Great Britain and Switzerland joined the competition and towns only appeared once in the series heats, with each heat being hosted by one of the participant broadcasters in its country, culminating in a grand final. The quiz element was abandoned and the games became more comical (though none-the-less technically difficult), and began to be played in outlandish costumes (often large foam latex suits) with the contestants competing to complete bizarre tasks in funny games. The teams could not choose which of their members played each game. A draw was held to determine the game participants, who were then allowed to rehearse the game once ahead of the broadcast recording. Each of the teams received a score for each game, and the games were umpired by one or two "international" judges (supported by referees from the participant countries), with the winner of each heat being awarded a silver trophy. The two judges/referees who became synonymous with the series were Swiss nationals Gennaro Olivieri and Guido Pancaldi, who were together on the show from 1966 to 1982. Pancaldi returned for the revived series in 1988.