The Chase

[horselady]

Does anyone else get really irritated by quiz contestants who claim that they don't know the answer to something because of their age? Girl on The Chase last night, when asked a question about a Prime Minister in the 1950's said "John Major" when Ben Sheppard laughed she then said "I'm only young" It's the same when they say "oh that's before my time" Grrrr!!!

[Sqad]

No that doesn't bother me as anyone under the age of 30 years, either on the Chase or Eggheads, always tend to use that excuse. Inf fact one can usually guess the outcome of the program by assessing the age of the constituents.

What does announce me is the continual reply..."You are quite capable of the £50,000, but take the £5,000, as we need you back here."

That sends me bananas......if they are quite capable of the £50,000, surely it is better to get back with that amount rather than the £5,000.

I am getting a bit bored with the Chase.

[jim360]

There are some elements of the Chase that are a bit irritating, to be sure -- the debate over which amount of money to take is just a waste of time, really. I would have made my decision which amount to go for before even seeing the options (the middle one, always). But at least they ask a decent amount of questions and the speed rounds are great fun, I find, as I enjoy paced buzzer quizzing.

The age thing, though. I think it depends rather on the topic. If it is a popular culture question then it will depend again on how famous the band or show was, but many cultural aspects of the 70s or 80s stayed there and in those cases "it was before my time" is actually a fairly reasonable excuse. There's plenty of stuff to listen to in modern times to keep track of and it might depend on the channels you watch, radio stations you tune into, etc etc., as to whether you have a chance of recognising the B side of a less-famous song by some group only briefly popular in 1967 if you weren't alive at the time.

Politics is a bit different, but then again there is a case for it. It's about what is or feels relevant to you. For some, the politics of the 50s and 60s is likely to be as relevant to them as 19th century Prime Ministers are to older people (ie, not very -- go on, who came after Peel's second term?).

Age is half an excuse, although there are some seriously good young quizzers around if you'd care to go looking. The problem is that they aren't always so likely to appear on cash-related quiz shows.

[mallyh]

does ben sheppard host the chase now ?

[Sqad]

Who's Ben Sheppard?

[jim360]

Ben Shephard* is the host for Tipping Point.

Bradley Walsh is the host of the Chase, at least in the UK version. I like him as a host.

[ummmm]

It's still hosted by Bradly Walsh...

[Sqad]

Yes, Bradley Walsh is a good host as are the "Chasers."

[Peter Pedant]

I am carp at Footie and pop


so I allow them not to know any history or geog

I did have a shock when two lads admitted they had no idea that the British were in India for 200 y ( clearly they werent wearing turbans or niqabs ) and then said he had only done 'the English in Ireland' as a history subject

[Dodger666]

I think the point of "Does Ben Shepard host The Chase now" is because that particular question, and answer, was asked by Ben Shepard to a contestant on Tipping Point yesterday not The Chase.

[mallyh]

thankyou Dodger all is clear now x

[jim360]

Tipping Point isn't even a serious quiz show. I'd bet that most people who took quizzing even half seriously wouldn't go on it if you paid them the prize upfront.

[Cloverjo]

I mentioned this on another thread here recently, but I'll repeat it here. A question on Tipping Point was about a famous engineer who designed Paddington Station. Even if you don't know the answer you'd surely guess at Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The contestants looked clueless even when told the answer. Yes, it was "before their time". It was before my time as well, but why hadn't they heard of him?

[viv41]

Yes it does annoy me horselady. And I think it annoys the presenter sometimes too as you can tell by the look on their faces ! Why enter a general knowledge quiz if your general knowledge is restricted to your age group ??

[jim360]

I wouldn't immediately have thought of Brunel but if he were the option in a multiple-choice I might have gone for him. All the same, stock answers like that I can find a bit annoying as it's sort of on the borderline between luck and actual knowledge. Rather like how any question on Uni Challenge starting "which French Philosopher and Mathematician" is always Descartes even before you've heard the actual question.

People go on TV shows to be on TV, mainly.

[-SharonA-]

This happens a lot on Pointless too. A contestant will say "I was not born then" or they will say "this is before my time" Duh!!

[Ken4155]

All contestants will have gone through the audition process and it would be a tad silly of the producers if they didn't put one or two 'thickos' in each team of 4. That way they almost ensure that they are only giving money away every 4th or 5th episode.

[mikey4444]

If you want to see really thick people on TV quiz shows, you can do no better than the Saturday Lottery program. You know that there is a jewel of a reply coming when the contestant starts by saying :::

"Well Dale, geography is not my specialist subject "

Change "geography" for pretty much anything else that isn't pop music, celebrity gossip, or any other trivia !

Someone mentioned on here recently that a contestant of some program was asked where venison came from and she answered baby horses !

[Sipowicz]

^^^^^^
Venice?

[mikey4444]

Cloverjo......that is the trouble with a lot of people these days, especially the youngsters. If it happened before they were born, they just don't have a clue. They seem to know quite a bit about a very narrow range of subjects......the concept of General Knowledge just doesn't seem to mean anything these days.

What are they teaching them in schools ?

[mikey4444]

Sipowicz...right frst time !