Why Do Stupid People Go On Game Shows?

[tandh]

i don't understand it, i would never go on one as i know i won't know the answers, but some people do and they never buzz in, or they do and then say i don't know.... whhhhhhyyyyyyyy???

[sandyRoe]

Being in a studio makes a lot of difference. I was sitting in a bar with workmates and 15-to-1 was on the tv. I answered most of the questions and somebody said you must have seen this before. That would have been some trick, memorizing the answers on a show I'd seen once.
I applied for a place on the show and only managed to get one question right. It's sometimes harder than it seems.

[ummmm]

I went blank when I was asked how to spell my name once and mine is name that I'm asked how to spell every time I say it (although I don't know why, it's really easy to spell)

[EDDIE51]

The answer is very simple.Stupid people are on game shows because the TV companies choose them to be on. They want stupid people who give daft answers to provide entertainment for viewers. If you want to see a real quiz show you watch 'University Challenge' or 'Mastermind'.

[silliemillie]

I likeMark on the Chase.

I saw him on another program (about diet, nothing to do with competition) and he came across really nice, seeing him with his family made him seem more human if you know what I mean.

I have liked hum ever since.

[silliemillie]

Also agree with EDDIE, producers alway throw a few 'thick' ones in just for the viewers entertainment. Also to make us at home think 'I could go on that, I answered more questions than him'.

Programs like Mastermind are for the more serious amongst us.

[maggiebee]

I'm part of a quiz team and locally we do very well. However, put in front of a camera with all the lights, pressure etc I'm not so sure.

[dannyk13]

Cupido4
Cupes, if you want to see The Beast get some wrong answers you should watch The Chase USA.

[mikey4444]

Its often been said, on threads like this, that people just want to get on the Telly.

But why would anyone want the whole nation to see how thick they are ? Who would want to make a fool of themselves in public ?

In my local Co-op, there is table which sells second-hand books, and I nearly always have a look, to see if anything is worth paying 50p for, and often there is. But on Sunday morning, I got chatting with a woman of my own age and I said I was always on the look-out for Agatha Christie books.

"Who's he" she said ?

I asked her if she thought somebody called Agatha could be a man, and she said she hadn't heard of the author before !

A candidate for a prime-time TV quiz show perhaps !

[jim360]

Yeah, Fifteen to One isn't a proper quiz show, it's just for total losers.

Part of it is down to luck, too. You can know absolutely loads about things that never come up. Or, worse, know all the answers to the questions other people were asked. And then people don't always evaluate their knowledge correctly, or misjudge the difference between answering from the sofa and from the podium.

But anyway, why should only people who are supremely good at quizzes (we're talking Chaser standard) be on TV shows? Even Uni Challenge is about entertainment more than it is about quizzing. That almost demands some level of variety in standards. And besides, people enjoy moaning about the thick people.

[Ken4155]

The tv companies put 'thick people' on their quiz shows to make some on AB feel superior:-)

[dannyk13]

A few years ago I was a contestant on a quiz show(Winner Take All).Before being accepted for the show I was interviewed and handed a book of fifty general knowledge questions which I had to answer.Apart from the show I was on I watched all the series and there were no dummies appearing.

[Mamyalynne]

I could never be so arrogant to call someone 'thick' or 'stupid' because under pressure on a TV Show they don't know something that is obvious to me - I may be amazed they didn't know it but that's all.

Nerves counts for an awful lot and of course some of the shows mentioned people go on purely for the chance to win big and not the kudos of being deemed intelligent to the rest of us.

[Ken4155]

I auditioned for Sale Of The Century some years ago, answered about 2/3 of the questions asked, getting only 3 incorrect and leaving just 1/3 for the other 2 contestants, another male and a female. I wasn't called back but the female was.

[Peter Pedant]

Jim it doesnt seem like you enjoyed 15 - 1
I did in 1999
and I dont recollect an IQ test

the idea of the contestants is that they enjoy themselves
rather than they are modern day Einsteins
( jim I agree is likely to be both ...)

[horseshoes]

I hate it when a contestant says "it was before my time"....... yes, it's called history!