'Mastermind’ contestant to get third chance at title

Press, 11 September 1985, Page 8

'Mastermind’ contestant to get third chance at title

By

STAN DARLING

A Christchurch man will get a third chance to win the New Zealand “Mastermind” title after an error this year dropped him from the competition. Mr Max Cryer, the television show’s producer, said that Mr Guy Brown, a D.S.I.R. forensic scientist, would be given the chance to reappear in 1986 “with a completely clean slate” because of the error seen by some viewers during the heat which screened on Sunday evening. If he had been given credit for one general information question, Mr Brown would have tied with the eventual winner, and would have won the heat because over all he had fewer passes and wrong answers. Mr Brown said yesterday that he would relish the chance to appear again, although he could not say for certain whether he would take Mr Cryer up on his offer. Before reviewing the programme tape, Mr Cryer did not think that Mr Brown had a case. In spite of the error — Mr Brown correctly named the Band-Aid song as “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” but was told the title was “Don’t They Know It’s Christmas?” — Mr Cryer thought that Mr Brown had the same number of passes and more wrong answers than Mr Richard Cording, the Kaiapoi contestant. He said that all contestants on the present “Mastermind” series were having a second go, and realised that it was their last chance. Mr Brown’s reappearance would be a special dispensation because of the mistake which prevented a tie. Mr Cryer said that it would be impossible for Mr

Brown to be slotted back into the “Mastermind” contest this year. Mr Brown had suggested that he might be included in the final as an extra contestant. “I don’t want to do anything that would be unfair to the other people,” he said, but he wanted fair play for himself. “It is with great embarrassment and the deepest regret that we face the fact that something has gone wrong,” said Mr Cryer. There had also been telephone complaints saying that the woman competitor had been treated harshly because she was a woman. Mr Cryer said it would be logistically impossible to include a fifth contestant in a 29-minute final. The programme time would have to be extended. At the same time, the finalists could complain about a contestant who had not gone through the semifinals. “I acknowledge that Mr Brown was mistreated,” he said. “It is a thorny problem. He is an experienced and excellent contestant.” He emphasised that “Mastermind” was a sport, and luck played a part in it. Mr Brown did not mention the error until questioned about it. A friend of his had complained to a radio talkback show on Monday. “I have maintained a dignified silence,” he said. “None of the protest has been generated by me. Richard Cording is a friend of mine, and I don’t want to be seen to be doing him down because they (the programme) were incompetent.” Mr Cording had been given the benefit of the doubt for two answers he had got wrong, but Mr Brown said he was not protesting about that.

Mr Cording, who works at the Canterbury Public Library, has already been in his semi-final. The result of that will not be disclosed until the programme is screened. He said yesterday that he could have contested an answer that would have given him a clear win in the heat, but had not questioned it in the pressure of the moment. He would have had 27 points if he had been given

credit for a correct answer in his specialist subject, the literary life of Oscar Wilde. He was asked in which magazine an essay, “The Soul of Man Under Socialism,” was published. He. answered that it was “The Fortnighly Review,” but the programme host said it had been “Blackwoods.” Mr Cording did not have to go far in the library to find a volume to show that his answer was correct.