Ordinary Gweilo

I think that “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” started on British TV after I fled the country, so I have never fully understood the hysteria that seemed to accompany the show.

For some reason it caught the public imagination, and not just amongst the normal couch potatoes who watch ITV game shows, but amongst a large part of the population.  Almost everyone thought they had a chance to win (maybe not the million pounds but at least a few thousand), with the result that vast numbers of people called the (premium rate) numbers to try and get on the show. 

Someone even trying cheating, but it was done so badly that he got caught and never got the money (his wife was very upset that he drew attention to himself by winning the top prize, rather than settling for a more modest prize). Now there are local versions of the show all over the world, including Hong Kong, but the initial hysteria has died down in most countries.  However, the guy who devised the format (previously a traffic reporter on a local radio station in London) must now be very rich after selling the format many times over.

One novel feature of the show is that you can “call a friend” for help if you get stuck with a question you can answer. Needless to say, the definition of friend may be stretched somewhat to find the person who is most likely to know the answer, but I hadn’t realized that there were professionals who could help out! Now the producers of the Croatian version have banned a gentleman who has apparently been the “friend” for virtually every contestant who appeared on the show – and only got one answer wrong!  He charges a small fee, but obviously the contestants felt that it was worthwhile, and now the producers have got tired of paying out so much prize money. 

I have to admit that I have never quite had the depth of general knowledge to be a good quiz contestant.  I did once take part in a quiz team, but I was more a squad member than one of the stars.  As I recall, we finished as runners-up and won a large quantity of cans of some undrinkable beer – which most of us then took to parties and abandoned.

I vaguely know a couple of people who are experts in quizzes, and who managed to appear on a succession of different TV quiz shows in the UK.  However, most of the shows offered only modest prizes – the glory of appearing on TV was apparently enough.  Now people cheat and hire experts to help them out.