Boris Alexandrovich Kryuk. Born on August 18, 1966 in Moscow. Russian TV presenter, TV director, general producer of the TV game “What? Where? When?".

Father - Alexander Kryuk.

Mother - (born December 5, 1945), graduated from the Leningrad Pedagogical Institute named after N.K. Krupskaya and the Institute of Advanced Training for Television and Radio Workers at the USSR State Television and Radio. Since 1968, she worked in the Youth Edition of the Central Television and Radio of the USSR in the “Auction” program, general producer of JSC “Igra”, vice-president of the International Association of Clubs “What? Where? When?".

Boris's parents were classmates and got married as students in their third year at the institute. Divorced in 1970.

Stepfather - (born Kalmanovich; 1930-2001), Soviet and Russian TV presenter, theater director, author and host of the game show “What? Where? When?”, Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Voroshilov appeared in the life of Boris Kryuk when he was 4 years old. He was much older than his mother; for Voroshilov’s sake, she left her first husband.

From an early age he often visited his stepfather's studio. For 10 years, during each live broadcast, he worked in the announcer's room next to Vladimir Voroshilov.

In 1977, in the game “What? Where? When?" For the first time, the spinning top began to “select” letters from TV viewers laid out on the gaming table (before that, it “selected” the player who would answer the question). The first question of the game that the top “chose” was Boris’s question: the question was a chess problem. He received a prize - the book “Eureka”.

He even managed to come up with creative ideas: 12-year-old Boris came up with the rule “Losing experts leave the club forever.” He worked as an assistant director, later held the position of music editor, and supervised the musical breaks in the game “What? Where? When?".

About cooperation with his stepfather, Boris said: “But you don’t need to think that he considered me a brilliant child who understood television programs better than professionals. He was just always interested in people who think differently from him.”

Boris Kryuk, Natalia Stetsenko and Vladimir Voroshilov

Graduated from music school with a degree in guitar. In his youth he was fond of bard songs and sang well with the guitar.

In 1989 he graduated from Moscow State Technical University. Bauman, receiving the profession of design engineer. However, he did not work in his specialty - he got a job with his famous stepfather on TV, and became an employee of the Youth Editorial Office of Central Television.

In 1990, Voroshilov decided to film "Brain Ring" and entrusted this to Boris Kryuk and director Nikolai Vostokov. They had to organize the turnkey program themselves. Koyuk recalled: “I was so exhausted and spent so many nights without sleep that one day I passed out right at the planning meeting in a room where 15 people were arguing, shouting over each other!.. It was a utopia to think that three beginners could completely make a program, and the master will simply come and sit in the presenter’s chair. As a result, when Voroshilov arrived at the studio shortly before the start of filming, it turned out that everything urgently needed to be redone and we spent an unforgettable two days!”

From January 13, 1991 to 1999, he co-hosted the once popular romantic TV show "Love at first sight". In 1993-1999 he was also the program director.

According to the rules of the “Love at First Sight” show, three girls and three young men meet for the first time in the program’s studio, where they answer the presenters’ tricky questions. After they have managed to get an idea about each of the participants, the presenters offer to vote. Girls and young men must choose a pair by pressing buttons, and the computer determines whether the pairs match. Matched pairs go to different restaurants. On the second day, the couples return to the studio to answer the host’s questions at the second stage of the game about how a young man or girl would behave in a given life situation. For each correct answer, the pair is given one “shot” on the computer. Each “shot” is given four seconds. For each hit in the “heart” the couple is awarded a prize. Among the “hearts” was also hidden the main prize - “Romantic Journey”.

Boris Kryuk and Alla Volkova - Love at first sight

On March 10, 2001, Vladimir Voroshilov died in Peredelkino, in the program "What? Where? When?" he was replaced by Boris Kryuk. At first, Vladimir Voroshilov sounded in the game - Boris Hook's voice was distorted on the computer. The details were hidden from the public. Voroshilov’s cousin came to the set so that experts would think that he was the one running the game.

Later, Boris Kryuk admitted that he hosts the program “What? Where? When?" exactly him.

Boris Kryuk, as before and Vladimir Voroshilov, have repeatedly emphasized that, unlike many other television intellectual games, such as “Own Game”, “Brain Ring” and others, “What? Where? When?" is a game not for knowledge and erudition, but for intelligence and reasoning skills. Most of the questions in the game are designed in such a way that even the most erudite experts cannot know the correct answer initially, but in almost all questions the correct answer can be thought of within a minute of discussion. Even among experts who give early answers, as a rule, the experts themselves cite a chain of reasoning that they quickly carried out and were able to give the correct answer.

First Deputy general director television company "Igra-TV".

Vice-President of the International Association of Clubs “What? Where? When?".

Boris Kryuk in the program "Evening Urgant"

Boris Kryuk's height: 185 centimeters.

Personal life of Boris Kryuk:

Was married twice.

First wife- Inna, a microbiologist by profession. We got married in 1990.

The marriage produced a son, Mikhail, and a daughter, Alexandra.

He lived with his first wife for 10 years, and after the divorce he took part in raising the children.

Son Mikhail inherited the mathematical abilities of Boris Kryuk, studied well at school, then graduated from the University of Edinburgh, became an economist, and lives in Scotland.

The eldest daughter Alexandra was a copy of her father from childhood. From 7 to 14 years old she studied at theater studio. She studied at the university in London, specializing in media - making stories for radio and television, writing articles. Lives in England.

Second wife- Anna Antonyuk, economist.

The couple had daughters Alexandra and Varvara. As Hook explained, he named his two daughters Alexandra for the following reason: “I have a “terrible” story with Sasha: both Sasha’s grandmothers, Sasha’s great-grandmother, Sasha’s great-grandfather... And when Inna and I had a daughter, we named her in honor of all of them ... Anya, my second wife, also always dreamed of naming her daughter Sasha and, of course, I agreed.”

Varya is Hook’s only child, who is very interested in “What? Where? When?".

TV projects of Boris Kryuk:

"What? Where? When?"
"Love at first sight"
"Brain Ring"


In 1989 he graduated from Moscow State Technical University. Bauman. By profession - design engineer.

First Deputy General Director of the Igra-TV Television Company.

Vice-President of the International Association of Clubs “What? Where? When?".

What? Where? When?

In the game “What? Where? When?" only his voice is heard. In the first time after Voroshilov’s death, the editors hid the host of the program from both viewers and experts: his voice was distorted using a computer, Voroshilov’s cousin came to the site (experts thought that he was hosting the Game).

But later Hook revealed his identity, and his last name began to appear in the credits. So far, Hook has aired twice - on October 26, 2007 and December 27, 2008.

Despite the fact that Kryuk has been the host of the program only since 2001, he took part in the preparation of more than 100 games - he first got into the announcer's room back in school age. While still in school and college, he worked on the “What? Where? When?" as an assistant director, director, author, music editor. For 10 years, during each live broadcast, he worked in the announcer's room next to Vladimir Voroshilov.

Best of the day

"What? Where? When?" broadcast in live. Boris Kryuk himself notes that in last years game “What? Where? When?" became, on the one hand, more commercialized, and on the other, more emotional and more spectacular. At the same time, the game has not lost its intellectual excitement, and the refereeing style of B. Kryuk also caused repeated criticism from television viewers.

In the winter of 1991, Russian television viewers saw on their screens the uninhibited game show “Love at First Sight” - the Russian version of the English television game Love at first sight. Its hosts were the smiling and thorough Boris Kryuk.

Even then, the country noticed that this round-faced, burly man with glasses could joke and improvise in front of the camera superbly. But few people knew that the charming Hook specialized more in mind games than in romantic shows. A year before the release of this program, he developed a script for a youth tournament of minds called “Brain Ring” and was to become its host. As a teenager, Boris Kryuk, next to Vladimir Voroshilov, lived in the host’s cabin at the famous intellectual casino “What? Where? When?". At the beginning of the new millennium, he became the host of this most exciting and exciting television program.

Something from the biography

Kryuk Boris Aleksandrovich was born in the summer of 1966 in Moscow. He was, as he himself says, a sort of quiet person with big eyes and a curly head. One day on the street, Boris’s grandmother, who was already proud of her grandson, was respectfully told that her boy had a “Leninist head.” Parents trusted their child and never conducted personal searches or biased interrogations. The boy's life schedule was free.

Mom dreamed that Borya would study to become a doctor, but he chose a technical university, although, as he admits, he was always a pure humanitarian. It’s just that the literature teacher, who gave bad marks for independent thinking, completely discouraged me from taking up humanities subjects. After graduating from school, Kryuk entered the university. Bauman, was educated as an engineer. Boris left the technical profession immediately after. Now it is obvious that he was destined to work in the bowels of a television studio, where he spent his entire conscious childhood.

Smart casino croupier

His parents (TV director) and Alexander Kryuk (builder) separated when Boris was about four years old. Mom married again - to Vladimir Voroshilov, an “inconvenient” and brilliant director who, like her, worked on television. Together they came up with the game “What? Where? When?”, which appeared on silver screens in the fall of 1975. Voroshilov remained incognito for a long time; viewers and program participants heard only his voice. This became a kind of highlight of the program, although it was dictated by censorship considerations of the television management. When in 2001, after Voroshilov’s death, the voice of an invisible announcer was heard from the presenter’s room, everyone was stunned: the similarity in timbre and manner of playing was striking. So Boris Kryuk became the successor and author of the program. Photos and recordings of the program, where he is visible in the frame, appeared later - in 2008.

Childhood on the other side of the screen

Little Boris witnessed the filming and, in some places, took part in the most popular Soviet programs: “You Can Do It” (at the age of 4), “Come on, guys” (at the age of 5). At the age of 10, he played on the side of television viewers in “What? Where? When?" (his question fell to the experts in the very first game). At the age of 12, he came up with a rule to exclude the losing team from the club. As a student, Boris Kryuk worked as an assistant director on this program. In 1989, Boris became a full-time employee of the Youth Editorial Office of Central Television, and then became the first deputy general director of the Igra-TV Television Company and vice-president of the International Association of Clubs “What? Where? When?”, where he is the deputy of his mother Natalya Ivanovna. When asked about cronyism, Hook cites the Fords and the Rockefellers as examples and notes that business dynasties around the world succeed precisely because their members can rely on each other for everything.

Mysterious voice

The first broadcasts of “What? Where? When?" after Voroshilov they looked like a detective story. Hook, as everyone was used to, came to the shoot in jeans and a sweater, and scurried around among the people until the very beginning, preparing the studio for the broadcast. At this time, a stranger in a black tuxedo (this was Vladimir Yakovlevich’s cousin) was brought to the television studio in Voroshilov’s Jaguar, and he immediately headed to the announcer’s room. At the very last moment before the game, Boris came there. The hoax was supported by a computer proposed by Konstantin Ernst. All this was necessary in order not to disrupt the psychological mood of the experts before the game. It wasn’t long before viewers of the TV show learned that the real presenter was Boris Kryuk.

Personal life

Fans of the show “Love at First Sight” immediately married two attractive presenters - Volkova and Kryuk. But their relationship was a business one, moreover, Hook was already married to microbiologist Inna. Boris and Inna have two children - Mikhail and Alexandra. The second time Hook married Anna Antonyuk, from this marriage he has two daughters - Alexandra and Varvara.

In addition to mental competitions, Boris Kryuk is passionate about football, which only helps him improve the intellectual show, the horse of which he has long and successfully saddled.

On television you don’t often see programs of such a level as the intellectual casino “What? Where? When?” His games have consistently attracted interest for many decades. But even among intellectuals there are scandals and intrigues.

On March 5, 1950, Boris Oskarovich Burda, bard, connoisseur, and culinary specialist, was born. Among his other hobbies is visiting nudist beaches. Some members of the intellectual club "What? Where? When?" They have an explosive temperament, are distinguished by strange preferences, and sometimes even break the law. Gag ring, bare chest, strippers, verbal altercations and accusations of rape... We present to your attention the most high-profile scandals and intrigues of an intelligent casino.


Boris Burda owes increased media attention to his unusual hobby: going to a nudist beach.


“I was brought to my current beach almost twenty years ago. Then adherents of yoga, Eastern teachings, poets and creative people in general gathered there,” the expert recalled in an interview.


“It was indecent to behave differently from everyone else... Over time, I got so accustomed to the beach that they began to attract me to perform public duties. Sometimes some idiot from the provinces comes to the beach with a video camera. And he starts asking: where is the general, where is Prosecutor, where is Burda?"


Burda also said that at the beginning of his career as an “expert” he was subjected to real discrimination from the presenter. “Unfortunately, from the very beginning Voroshilov tried to pass me off as a person who knows a lot, but is very poor at thinking...


...Once at a press conference he was asked what intelligence is. He said something for a long time, and then suddenly pointed his finger at me and said: “In general, Boris, erudition interferes with intellect.” A year later, there is another press conference... Voroshilov is asked what is the difference between a simply educated person and a player in “What? Where? When?” And the grandfather answers again: the difference is like between Dvinyatin and Burda."


But members of the intellectual club Andrei Kozlov and Rovshan Askerov became famous for their explosive temperaments. One day they got into a verbal altercation right during a television broadcast of the game of the team that won the Crystal Atom prize.


Askerov furiously claimed that he saw Kozlov give a hint to the players at the table, after which, as an answer to the question, a version was given that was not even discussed at the table.


“Mr. presenter, there was a hint and it’s open. I will not remain silent under any circumstances. Mr. Kozlov, everyone else, and even me, saw it when you said the word “books”. It was, have the courage to admit,” said Rovshan Askerov.


The presenter did not see this, since the game managers did not pay attention to it, and therefore could not judge the dispute.


Kozlov called Askerov a scoundrel and compared him to the tiger from the sketch by Gennady Khazanov, who was not reported to. “And I won’t be silent here either. Rovshan, you’re a scoundrel. What can I do, you’re a scoundrel. Rovshan is just jealous that the guys are playing and he’s not. Rovshan, I won’t talk to you anymore,” Kozlov said.


Shortly before this, Askerov had a row with Alexander Druz, the most recognizable “expert”. The stumbling block in this conflict was the tomato, the question about which Askerov’s team answered.


The players were given two salads - fruit and vegetable - and a tomato. They were asked to explain how British journalist Miles Kington used these dishes to explain the difference between knowledge and wisdom.


The presenter considered Alena Blinova’s answer incorrect, but still awarded the team a point. Many experts present were outraged by this decision.


The friend even stated that Askerov, who came to Blinova’s defense, lost his reputation in front of millions of viewers, to which he retorted: “A friend can go to hell!”


“I don’t care at all about the opinion of Master Alexander Abramovich Druz regarding my reputation, because my opinion regarding his reputation is that he has no reputation at all. So what? I don’t care at all! The person who changed the answer for the sake of a point has no right to me say nothing at all. I saw their opinion in the grave!” - he said.


Askerov had a conflict with Maxim Potashev last year, but not during the game, but on Facebook. Rovshan posted a post in which he expressed his displeasure that the program “What? Where? When?” not broadcast live.


At the same time, the “expert” addressed his claims to Maxim Potashev, to which the latter hastened to respond in the comments.


Maxim did not mince words.


Team captain Alena Povysheva attracted everyone's attention not with her scandalous behavior, but with her original decoration.


Alena appeared on the show wearing a leather jewelry reminiscent of a gag ring for BDSM.


Internet users found similar accessories in sex shops. In BDSM, they are put on the head, and the ring is placed in the mouth to prevent the jaw from closing.


A lot of memes and comments about this appeared on the network: “Alena Povysheva was in such a hurry to the game “What? Where? When?" that I didn’t have time to take off my BDSM choker."


Another scandal erupted around political views player Ilya Novikov, a lawyer involved in the case of Nadezhda Savchenko.


The host and producer of the show, Boris Kryuk, in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets, said that the player had to make a choice in this case.


"With all my good attitude to Ilya, he had to choose first what was more important for him - the Club or political career, and then deal with Savchenko. Understand, if you defend Savchenko and you are a “ChGK” player, then it means that “ChGK” is also for Savchenko. "ChGK" is out of politics. And if you decide to get involved in politics, you need to say: thank you, I will do this,” Hook commented.


After this conflict, Novikov really did not participate in the spring series of games, but this was explained by the fact that he did not have the opportunity.


Singer Ani Lorak, who represented Ukraine at Eurovision in 2008, also performed in front of “experts” during a break in the program.


The performance was not without embarrassment: Anya’s lush breasts jumped out of her tight dress, which pleased both the audience and the players of the “What? Where? When?” club.


In another episode of "What? Where? When?" a couple of dancers performed a candid dance to Serge Gainsbourg’s hit “Je t’aime… moi non plus” in front of connoisseurs.


Moreover, the brave dancers had to perform the number at a temperature of almost -20°C, which can be seen from the steam emanating from the stripper’s mouth


When the “musical break” was close to completion, the girl exposed her breasts in front of the unsuspecting “experts.”


The intellectual club players demonstrated a variety of reactions.


In 2007, the court sentenced the player "What? Where? When?" Georgiy Zharkov to 4.5 years of suspended imprisonment.


According to the prosecution, Zharkov raped a 19-year-old resident of Nizhny Novgorod, who suffered from mental retardation.


The “expert” met a guy looking for an overnight stay at the Vladimirsky station and invited him to his apartment.


There, Georgy kept the guy locked up for several days, forcing him to perform oral sex.


In the end, the young man managed to escape through the balcony of the tenth floor, making a rope out of clothes and bed linen, but fell around the fifth. Fortunately, he did not receive serious injuries from the fall.


Georgy Zharkov himself never admitted his guilt. On February 28, 2016, the “expert” died after an illness.


In the 90s, in addition to "What? Where? When?" the same “experts” participated in another similar show called “Brain Ring”.


It was in one of the episodes of the program that the emotional Rovshan Askerov truly lost his temper for the first time when the presenter counted his essentially correct answers as incorrect.


Askerov literally “barked” at Andrei Kozlov, and young Anatoly Wasserman also came under his arm.


At the same time, a certain magnificent lady from the team tried to stop him with Askerov’s kisses. It was after this release that it became clear to everyone that it was better not to mess with Rovshan.


But the legendary presenter "What? Where? When?" In the 70s, Vladimir Voroshilov hosted a program called “Auction,” in which Soviet goods were “promoted.”


In one of the episodes, the Minister of the Fishing Industry Ishkov personally rolled an amber necklace into a tin of crabs and promised that tomorrow this can would appear on one of the shelves.


All the canned crab was sold out the next morning, but the then guardian of morality, Mikhail Suslov, was outraged by this episode: the program was closed, and Voroshilov was fired, forbidden to appear on television for a long time.

In a year it will be 40 years since the creation of the legendary program. This intellectual TV game made famous many residents of Russia and the CIS countries. It was invented by Vladimir Voroshilov and Natalia Stetsenko.

September 4, 1975 is officially considered the birthday of the game “What? Where? When?". On this day, the “Family Quiz “What?” was aired for the first time. Where? When?". Two teams took part in the program - the Ivanov family and the Kuznetsov family from Moscow.

P. I. Tchaikovsky ( Queen of Spades) - Aria: “What is our life? A game!" (Hermann)

The program was filmed in parts - first visiting one family, and then visiting another. Each team was asked 11 questions. The two stories were combined into one using photographs from the family albums of the Ivanovs and Kuznetsovs. 1 program was aired.

In 1976, the game “What? Where? When?" has already changed a lot and received the name “television youth club”. True, the first release of the game was led not by Vladimir Voroshilov, but by Alexander Maslyakov, who later revived the KVN project.

The first players were MSU students, who talked loudly and smoked while discussing the issue; there was no minute limit; everyone played for themselves, and not in a team.

Students from several faculties of Moscow State University took part in the recording of the 1976 program. In 1976, a top appeared in the game. There had not yet been a minute of discussion. Participants in the game answered questions immediately, without preparation. Each participant played for himself.

The arrow of the top chose the person who would answer the viewer’s question. In the 70s and 80s, the prizes in the game were books. The book prizes were presented by Tamara Vladimirovna Vishnyakova, a member of the Presidium of the All-Union Society of Book Lovers. Answered the question - get a prize - a book. Answer seven questions and receive the main prize - a set of books.

Richard Strauss - Also sprach Zarathustra (Start of the game)

The first questions were invented by V. Voroshilov himself and the program’s editorial team, since the “team of TV viewers” ​​did not yet exist, and later, when the game became popular, they began to accept questions from TV viewers.

It is known that bags of letters arrived every day, each of which had to be answered, the best questions selected, the accuracy of the facts presented checked, edited, prepared, if necessary, the necessary items.

The players' answers were evaluated by members of the honorary jury - academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences O.V. Baroyan, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences V.O. Goldansky, writer D.S. Danin. On December 24, 1977, the game finally took its final form: a spinning top showing a question and a one-minute time limit for discussing the question.

In 1977, its first symbol, Fomka the Owl, appeared in the game. For more than 20 years, the program's director of photography was Alexander Fuks.

In the same year, the broadcast was moved behind the scenes. Among the new voice-over presenters were Vladimir Voroshilov and employees of the youth editorial office of the Central Television, journalists Andrei Menshikov and Svetlana Berdnikova, as well as geologist Zoya Arapova.

Vladimir Voroshilov was the main presenter of the game, the other voices played a supporting role - they voiced letters from viewers. Incredible facts about known things.

James Last - Ra-ta-ta (Black Box)

Who was broadcasting the program “on the other side of the screen” remained a mystery to TV viewers for a long time. And Vladimir Voroshilov’s “nickname” “Incognito from Ostankino” was firmly established. The name of the game host will be heard for the first time on April 23, 1980, when the broadcast ends with the words: “The broadcast was hosted by Vladimir Voroshilov.”

Dixieland Albert Melkonov - Wild Horse (Volchyok)

In 1977, for the first time, the spinning top pointed to viewers' letters rather than to the responding player. A minute of discussion appears in the game. Each correct answer brings a prize-book to the general fund of the game participants. If the club members lost the question, the entire six players changed.
In 1977, the club began a tradition of awarding a prize to a TV viewer for the best question.

Initially, there was no special name for players, but in 1979 the term “adept” appeared. Now this word has become familiar to describe the participants in the game, and the club is called the “club of experts.”

For several years, the game “What? Where? When?" was one of the few programs on Soviet television where you could see clips of popular foreign performers.

In 1982, the form of the game was finally determined. A new rule has been introduced: the game continues until six points. Until this moment, the score of the game was always different - as many questions were asked as the timing allowed. The field is the presenter’s “branded” phrase: “The score is 0:0. TV viewers versus experts. First round."

Since 1990, all games of the elite television club “What? Where? When?" take place in the Hunting Lodge in Neskuchny Garden.
On December 30, 2000, Vladimir Yakovlevich Voroshilov played his last game. On March 10, 2001, Vladimir Yakovlevich passed away. The 2001 Summer Series was dedicated to his memory.

Program “What? Where? When?" has been awarded the TEFI television award more than once: in 1997 in the category “ Entertainment"; in 2001 in the “Television Game” category, and its author and first presenter Vladimir Voroshilov was posthumously awarded the prize “For personal contribution to the development of domestic television”, the prize “Best Operator”, also posthumously, was awarded to Alexander Fuchs.