In the first-ever behind-the-scenes account of the taping of the NBC hit, Savage, 37, reveals the show's dirty little secrets.

"You're encouraged to trash Anne," admits Savage, who lives in Las vegas.  "And you're supposed to slam fellow contestants once she dismisses you as 'the weakest link.'" "They want fear, hostility, humiliation. And that's what they get - even if it is all so stage-managed."  But producers don't want guest getting too hostile toward Robinson.  Players are warned to never look the host, 56, directly in the eyes, he says.

"Your basically fodder for the game show," reveals the blonde bachelor, who owns an Internet clothing company, TyeDyeU.com.
"Anne can and does chew you up, then spit you out."  Savage, who got axed halfway through "Link," says he'll never forget getting zinged by the host.  When he was asked, "In business, what woman has been the chief executive of Playboy International since 1988?" he replied: "Rosie O'Donnell."  To which Robinson zapped him with: "Which village is missing its idiot?"

"I could hear the audience laughing.  I thought: 'Wow, this babe makes Don Rickles seen like a pussycat,'" Savage says.

Right from the start the show's atmosphere is scary, he admits.  The contestants are brought on stage 15 minutes before airtime and are left to stand there, nervously sweating.  The audience is dressed in all black and before you walk out on set, it's about as much fun as a funeral," he says. "A producer orders 'Silence!' and the eight contestants are left sweating as the floor man lectures the audience." Then swirling lights fill the stage at NBC's Burbank studios and, clad in black, Anne marches out, Savage reveals.  He says that the hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention when the frosty host barked: "This is The Weakest Link, and this is the last time you will see me smile."

Savage says the audience was ordered not to clap for correct answers, but to cackle as loud as they could when the players goofed or if Robinson rattled someone's cage.  During those instructions, one of his group started whimpering and was close to tears!  But Savage confesses that Robinson's dominatrix-like demeanor turned him on.  After he was voted out, he was taken to the show's rant and rave room to comment.  He says he told them: "She was the older woman I've always fantasized about."

Although his remark was cut from the show that aired April 30, he's convinced the ice maiden has a heart. "Before I left, she flashed me her trademark wink and a very sexy smile," he says.  "At that point I only had one weakest link - my knees!"