"DUEL," A NEW TOURNAMENT-STYLE GAME SHOW BASED ON SMARTS, SKILL AND STRATEGY, TO AIR DECEMBER 17-23 ON ABC

1 of 24 Contestants to Win More Than $1.5 Million

"Duel" -- A one-hour, high-stakes tournament-style game show to air over six nights with the final winner to get over $1.5 million, will premiere MONDAY, DECEMBER 17 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT) on ABC. The game show will air each night during the week (not Saturday) with the finale on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT). Mike Greenberg (ESPN's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" radio show) is host.

"Duel" will feature head-to-head matches with nerve rattling game play rewarding contestants who embrace shrewdness and manipulation to win. If contestants can react quickly under pressure and outsmart their opponents using strategy and deception, intellect and skill, they could walk away with a life-changing prize. One of the 24 contestants will win the jackpot.

In a cutting edge format � combining trivia challenges like those on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" with the strategy played in the "World Series of Poker" -- 24 contestants are given the chance to duel against one another in a mental and intellectual showdown that combines nail-biting trivia fun with the unfortunate reality that, if someone gets one question wrong � just one question � that player loses the match. The top four contestants qualify to �duel' for the guaranteed jackpot. Contestants in "Duel" have been chosen for their confidence and charisma, a love of trivia and an obsession for competition. These 24 people will become characters to root for (or against) during the six nights. Examples of contestants include The Marine Alligator Wrestler, The Lunch Lady, The Rocker, The Used Car Salesman, The Funeral Home Director, The Cab Driver, The Nurse and The Belly Dancer � the key being that not everything will be revealed about contestants' backgrounds before they choose their opponents in a duel.

The 24 contestants are:

Tammy Brown Allen/"The College Administrator" (Winston-Salem, NC)
David Bauman/"The Author" (Burlington, WI)
Ashlee Register/"The Nurse" (Port St. Lucie, FL)
Jim Boulgarides/"The Fire Captain" (El Segundo, CA)
Paul Cales/"The Carpenter" (Chicago, IL)
Ken Danberry/"The Alligator Wrestler" (Orlando, FL)
Monica Durazo/"The Student" (Tucson, AZ)
Robert Elswick II/"The Used Car Salesman" (Canada, KY)
Sue Mullan/"The Internet Censor" (Seattle, WA)
Fritz Gheen/"The Umpire" (Philadelphia, PA)
Tom Haviland/"The Air Force Major" (Marion, OH)
Emily Hendriks/"The Belly Dancer" (Boston, MA)
Karla Jackson/"The Lunch Lady" (Woodland Hills, CA)
Denise Carter/"The Attorney" (Colorado Springs, CO)
Johnny Martin/"The Rocker" (Norwalk, CA)
Stephen Lenett/"The Cab Driver" (Brooklyn, NY)
Pat Santucci/"The Software Engineer" (Dayton, OH)
Robert Walker/"The Telemarketer" (Chicago, IL)
Julie Tan/"The Homemaker" (Walnut Creek, CA)
Ann Umlauf/"The Litigation Assistant" (Williamstown, MA)
Kimberley Wells/"The Public Relations Executive" (Brockville, Ontario, Canada)
Sheri Adkins/"The Funeral Home Owner" (Enon, OH)
Laura Nickerson/"The Stuntwoman" (San Jose, CA)
Marco Berrios/"The ATM Tech" (Westbury, NY)

An online game of "Duel" will also launch on December 17 at ABC.com. Online gamers can choose to either play against the computer or challenge other players' duels from around the country.

Diet Pepsi Max is a key sponsor of the television show and the online game.

"Duel" is broadcast with Spanish subtitles via secondary closed captioning. A TV parental guideline will be assigned closer to airdate.

Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun are executive producers for BermanBraun; Chris Cowan, Jean Michel Michenaud and Charles Duncombe are executive producers, R.A. Clark is co-executive producer for Rocket Science Laboratories; David Rosconval and Francis Vacher are executive producers for French TV.

Nightly results for "Duel" will be posted at www.duel.abc.com