Don't set quiz questions when you have dodgy eyesight!
In 1997 I was working at Butlins. I worked on a twice daily live cable TV show that was broadcast to all the chalets and caravans on the campsite. I did everything except present the show, so I was the cameraman, vision mixer, sound and lighting guy etc.1 week we were given a load of toys to use as prizes. Rob the presenter asked me to come up with an easy question that all the kids would know the answer to.
I was in the newsagents, and saw a Barney The Dinosaur comic. That would be my question, 'What colour is Barney?' Rob read out the question that night and we waited until Friday, the closing date, while the answers came in.Friday morning, and Rob says to me, 'We've had a load of entries, but according to the answer you have given me, they are all wrong! Are you sure Barney is pink?' Well with my dodgy eyesight, he looked pink to me! And I will swear to this day that the comic makers must have been scrimping on the ink and had watered it down.I decided to be stubborn, stick to my guns and bluff it out! 'Yes Rob, he's definately pink. They are just kids, what do they know'So competition time arrives and Rob says 'Nobody won the prizes, Barney is pink and we did not receive a single correct entry. Now for a cartoon.'While the cartoon was on, we became aware of a commotion in the office outside the studio. When the cartoon finished, we quickly went into a pre-recorded interview with Bobby Davro and went outside to see what was going on. There was about a dozen holidaymakers kicking off because we had given the wrong answer out on the air. I had spikey hair at the time and 1 Irish woman called me a 'cheating hedgehog' who was 'trying to keep all of the toys for himself'Now I must confess that I DID swipe a Noddy alarm clock that I still use to wake me up of a morning, but I had made a genuine colour blind mistake!1 of the campers had even brought along her 5 year old daughter and her Barney stuffed toy, who was indeed purple. We brought the little girl and her Barney doll on the show, I apologised profusely, and we gave her all of the toys.Butlins TV was taken off the air at the end of that season.
I was in the newsagents, and saw a Barney The Dinosaur comic. That would be my question, 'What colour is Barney?' Rob read out the question that night and we waited until Friday, the closing date, while the answers came in.Friday morning, and Rob says to me, 'We've had a load of entries, but according to the answer you have given me, they are all wrong! Are you sure Barney is pink?' Well with my dodgy eyesight, he looked pink to me! And I will swear to this day that the comic makers must have been scrimping on the ink and had watered it down.I decided to be stubborn, stick to my guns and bluff it out! 'Yes Rob, he's definately pink. They are just kids, what do they know'So competition time arrives and Rob says 'Nobody won the prizes, Barney is pink and we did not receive a single correct entry. Now for a cartoon.'While the cartoon was on, we became aware of a commotion in the office outside the studio. When the cartoon finished, we quickly went into a pre-recorded interview with Bobby Davro and went outside to see what was going on. There was about a dozen holidaymakers kicking off because we had given the wrong answer out on the air. I had spikey hair at the time and 1 Irish woman called me a 'cheating hedgehog' who was 'trying to keep all of the toys for himself'Now I must confess that I DID swipe a Noddy alarm clock that I still use to wake me up of a morning, but I had made a genuine colour blind mistake!1 of the campers had even brought along her 5 year old daughter and her Barney stuffed toy, who was indeed purple. We brought the little girl and her Barney doll on the show, I apologised profusely, and we gave her all of the toys.Butlins TV was taken off the air at the end of that season.
posted by GUS at 1:07 PM
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