The Chase

[malagabob]

Question. What letter added to unstable gives a town in Bedfordshire.
Contestant Umm Umm Milton Keynes.

[tonyav]

LOL, what a Dunstable !.

[elliemay1]

It's obviously easy when you're watching at home.

[malagabob]

But it wasnt a proposition for Einstein. He could have said pass.

[bibblebub]

but he wasn't stupid, it was just one of those times when one's mind gets distracted from what is being asked

[Caribeing]

That's the type of question needs a little thinking about quick fire questions do produce some silly answers!

[tonyav]

Didn't put any dosh in his / her pouch then.

[Cloverjo]

TBH, I didn't know there was a town called Dunstable in Bedfordshire. In that situation, I suppose the person was just trying to think of a town in Bedfordshire and got confused in slight panic.

[Hopkirk]

This made me laugh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_dDTU0whwg

[sir.prize]

A question to the Chaser. ''A speed gun is used by which emergency service''. Somewhat easier than those given to the contestants.

[Ellipsis]

On Family Fortunes (1980) ...

Bob Monkhouse: "Name something blue..."
Contestant: "My cardigan"
Monkhouse (nonplussed): "Let's see if it's up there!"
UH UUUHHHH!

[pixie373]

I liked the Family Fortunes-
"Name an animal in a nursery rhyme"
"Andy Pandy"

[Hopkirk]

Sir Prize, there are two sets of questions.

The contestants choose set A or B, and the Chaser gets the other set.

The contestants could have had the speed gun question.

[grumpy01]

I know the contestants choose set A or B but didn't know the Chaser got the other set.

[Hopkirk]

Ah, well, I always assumed he or she did.

Now you have me worried.

[Hopkirk]

This is a cut and paste from Wikipedia (do you trust it to be accurate?)

"To start, they choose between two sets of questions: set A and set B. If they choose set A, they answer that set of questions and The Chaser answers the set B questions, and the same vice versa"

[jim360]

There are two sets of questions for the final chase, and the Chaser gets the one the team didn't pick. You can usually always find a seriously easy question, and a seriously hard one, in any set. Picking the easiest one from set A and the hardest from set B is not a fair comparison at all.

Feel a bit sorry for the contestant mentioned in OP -- poor person probably didn't hear the question properly, or did and then promptly forgot the start and only paid attention to "town in Bedfordshire". Under time pressure your mind can work in all sorts of hilarious ways -- my own experience was the sudden and bizarre inability to work out the answer to 1,000 divided by 2! I can guarantee you that, under any other circumstance, I'd have got the answer almost instantly -- but as soon as the clock starts ticking then the pressure can stop you from thinking clearly.

[ichkeria]

Milton Keynes isn't even in Bedfordshire ...

[ummmm]

No..it's Buckinghamshire.

[elliemay1]

I don't think it's fair being critical of his answer. It's a very fast moving round and there isn't much time to think.