Pointless... Today....i Do Despair...

[janzman]

Third year medical student..


Question...Name any country whose name comes between 'North' and 'South' alphabetically.


Answer...Trinidad and Tobago

dear oh dear....

[Stephen_G]

Oman!

*** Slaps forehead and makes duh sound ***

[grumpy01]

Further to this,In the final they let the one couple off with Blerot for Bleriot and on another show said that they couldn’t accept an answer that was adjusted I.e. Tamsin Outhwaite after mis pronounced it as Tasmin Outhwaite.

[JimF]

A woman on today's Chase claimed never to have heard of Salvador Dali.

[Sam1960]

Still chuckle at the pointless answer a few years back .....
Who was assassinated in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald (J.R)

[Dodger666]

I think you may find the Scotland would have been an incorrect answer. In Pointless country answers generally have to be members of the UN in their own right. Scotland is part of the UK(at the moment)

[dannyk13]

People who are specialists in, or studying for, a particular subject are often not very good at general knowledge.

[Prudie]

True however I would expect a medical student to have gone through a good education including high grade A levels before they start specialising.. In this case mind you I would put it down to nerves.

[dannyk13]

Prudie, he might have high grade A-levels in subjects other than geography.

[Prudie]

Well I doubt many of us grown-ups on this thread have an A level in geography either. We can still answer the question.

[Cloverjo]

I think the student in the OP just forgot about the alphabetic requirement in the question.

Geography - as taught nowadays - isn’t about countries and where they are. It’s more of a social science than learning of facts.

[Jackdaw33]

He probably thought between North and South America, in which case his answer would be correct.

[sddsddean]

Have a go at it janzman before you scoff. When I did it I said to myself "if a country question comes up, see if Comoros, Kazakstan or Kyrgystan fits" as they (at that time) were nearly always pointless. In the final round and totally forgot!!! Luckily my brother thought of Panama...which won us £20,000!!

[Cloverjo]

I remember that, ssd. Is that the highest win ever?
So easy to forget things in the studio. You see many people say ‘My mind’s gone blank.’ when trying desperately to think of something.

Out of interest, what’s it like on the show? Is it a good day out? Do Zander and Rich interact with the contestants?

[gness]

Wow! That was you, SD!! Well done...three great answers! Hope you both enjoyed your winnings....x

[sddsddean]

There have been 2 bigger jackpots. A couple of months after us, someone got £20,250 and biggest to date is £24,750 on 8/3/13.
Quick prece of what we did. At the time, it was filmed at TV Centre, Wood Lane (now defunct). We were put up in a hotel for the night then next morning after brekkie, to TV Centre at about 0930. Next few hours were reading the rules, checking wardrobe, doing make up nattering to other contestants. They film 3 a day, so about 24 contestants in the green room! Had lunch and first show at 1430 (not us). They have to wait and see how many new people they need for each show due to you being given 2 chances. About 1530 (they record them quick!) told we'd be on the next one. You know how they say they draw lots for position...well the oldest in each couple draws the starting position number, oldest draws first. So went up to get miked up and whilst there, Claire (one of our adversaries!) told us it was quite a high jackpot. They don't tell you what it is, so they can get your 'surprised' look on camera! We thought it would be about 7 or 8K. . On to set and Xander and Richard walk to all the podiums and wish us all luck. This is the only time (apart from through the show) we saw or talked to them. Then on with the show. When they said its £19750, I whispered to Mart "We've got to win this". I would guess the 45 min show was filmed in just over an hour; like I said, they're quick! So we win and have to go back to the green room to get our stuff. Told on the way not to say that we had won (thats not easy!). One lady asked how we got on in the final. I just said we could have had a better question! Picked up our stuff and went off to get the train home. Thats about it...except for 4 weeks later having £10,000 paid into my bank account!

[Cloverjo]

Great info, sd. I love a quiz so would like to have a go. I’ve downloaded the form, but I’d hate to be like the contestant that is the subject of this OP and say something daft.

[goodgoalie]

You should try 15-to-1, Jo - you only get about 3 or 4 seconds to answer. Rather concentrates the mind!

[Cloverjo]

My husband was on 15 to 1 about 20 years ago, gg. He went out on a question about the price of a tv licence. Oh dear :(
I find that show quite boring now.

[gness]

That's interesting, SD.....thank you...often wondered how the bits we don't see work.

Huge admiration for you to keep a straight face and say you could have had a better question! Bet you love your brother even more now... ;-)

[Tilly2]

I am surprised that Richard and Alexander don't come into the Green Room and mingle a bit, before the recording starts.