The article explores impoliteness in the TV quiz show "The Weakest Link" and how it can be entertaining. The researchers redefine impoliteness and analyze how the show's structure maximizes face-damage potential. They focus on sarcasm, mimicry, and prosody in the discourse, showing how these elements contribute to impoliteness. The study also considers whether the context of the quiz show neutralizes impoliteness, finding that impolite signals often overshadow the context, leading to offense where it shouldn't theoretically occur.