Gavin Chipper wrote:... redacted ...
I've actually just used the "report" function for, I believe, the first time on this forum. It is simply not on to accuse somebody of cheating on such flimsy (well, no) evidence. You have no idea if he was deciding between a risky seven or eight (that he had written down, since he didn't declare "not written down" at any point) and decided to go with the six, either because he deemed his longer word just too risky, or in case John had seen a phantom letter (which he'd already done in round one) or his word was invalid for some other reason. Tactical play like that is well within the bounds of the rules.
We're fortunate in this case, of course, that we have a body of evidence of what an upstanding, honest character Matt is (qv Lee, who just slags off other players. And cheats). For example, in his autobiography, Matt selflessly details how he once spent the first minute or thirty seconds of a match desperately trying to kick the ball out of play so he could win a large monetary "time of first throw-in" wager at the bookies. Confessing to a crime
he wasn't even accused of - I'm not sure I can think of something which better demonstrates his honesty.
John was a tough opponent though (which should put paid to the ridiculous notion that the producers rigged his draw), and while Matt was definitely below the standard of his first two games I think even playing at that level it would have been very difficult for him to progress. I remember being exceptionally fatigued by my fourth game, and was fortunate not to lose it. Maybe when Matt is invited back on (hopefully within the year), they could look at possibly changing the filming schedule slightly (e.g. fewer games per day, or pad out the last couple of slots with specials) to avoid this happening again.
