c4countdown

The BBC are really scraping the bottom of the barrel in their search for contestants on The Weakest link.The standard in yesterdays show was absolutely abysmal. These are just some of the wrong answers ( I'm not even mentioning all the simple answers that were just passed.

"What county cricket team plays its home games at the Rose bowl in Southampton?" Essex

"Which Spanish city lends its name to the title of Rossinis opera The Barber of.....?" Madrid

"Complete the title of Shakespeares play The Taming of the......?" Beast

"The Marshall Plan was an American aid program in the 1940s to help in the economic recovery of ....?" Ethiopia

" What C is the result of the action of Hydrochloric acid on metals?" Calcium

"What B is the term for a mobile tank used to distribute clean water during a water shortage?" Water tank

"The German offensive in late 1944 in the Ardennes in Belgium became known as the Battle of the....?" Boyne

"What A is the name given to the legendary Snowman said to inhabit the Himalayas?" Yeti

"What B was the name given to an early type of aeroplane which had two sets of wings, one above the other?" Boeing

..... and best of all:

""Man in Black" was the title of the autobiography of which American Country singer?" Dolly Parton

Most of these answers came in later rounds, ( I only started watching in round 3, I dread to think what the first 2 were like) by which time the really stupid ones are supposedly weeded out. Can't see this running for another series if this is the standard of contestants they're getting. Like I said those were just some of the wrong answers. A lot of the passes made my jaw drop as well. The total prize money came to £950 which I think was one of the lowest ever.

Out of interest, have you ever been on a quiz show?

I didn't know all of them.

The best wrong answers from quiz shows that I've heard were from a radio phone in show. The question was "How many teams take part in Tri-Nations tournament". The first person answers 2. The question gets passed to the next caller who you can make out has been laughing just before they came to phone, presumably, you would think, at the ineptitude of the previous answer. But then they give the answer 4. It was unbelievable.

Some good ones if seen on the weakest link though were;

Q:Who does Commissioner Gordon ring on his red telephone when Gotham City is in danger? A: Tony Blair.

Q:Which famous rock star died in 1977? A: Led Zeppelin.

I think you are being unfair Liam. I wouldn't expect many people to know the answer to all of them at all. In fact it's even worse stood in that spotlight on a show like that when your mind freezes (it's a cliche I know but it needs saying again). I got a question wrong about a dibber used in a game to cross out numbers. Clearly Bingo but for some reason my brain was thinking "card games" so I answer cribbage. Easily done. The first question you posted about the Rose Bowl I think is very understandable people not knowing that. And the Marshall Plan one.

Liam Tiernan wrote:The BBC are really scraping the bottom of the barrel in their search for contestants on The Weakest link.The standard in yesterdays show was absolutely abysmal. [...] Can't see this running for another series if this is the standard of contestants they're getting.

Leaving aside the issue of the difference between answering questions watching the show at home and answering questions under pressure in the studio, this seems like a rather hysterical overreaction to the presence of some weak contestants on one show. There have always been some WL games with weaker teams than others (£950 is far from being the lowest prize fund ever, thread title notwithstanding) and, unless you can point to clear evidence of some kind of downward trend, your conclusion that this is now typical of the standard is nothing but Daily Mail-style sensationalism.

Oh, and if we're citing hilariously dumb answers on the show... I've mentioned my all-time favourite on here before but it's worth repeating:

Anne: The ancient road known as Watling Street, which forms part of what is now the A5, was originally built by which civilisation?

Contestant: Apes?

Phil Reynolds wrote: Anne: The ancient road known as Watling Street, which forms part of what is now the A5, was originally built by which civilisation?

Contestant: Apes?

Ahaha. (By the way, you have a good memory.)

By the way Liam, I think you're overlooking the fact that Anne Robinson quite often mumbles or fluffs the questions, and then scowls angrily if anyone asks her to repeat.

Charlie Reams wrote:By the way Liam, I think you're overlooking the fact that Anne Robinson quite often mumbles or fluffs the questions, and then scowls angrily if anyone asks her to repeat.

I remember one from years ago when Anne Robinson appeared to ask "How many Rs are there in three days?" Contestant said one, but the answer was 72. Took me a few seconds to work out what happened there.

Ryan Taylor wrote:I think you are being unfair Liam. I wouldn't expect many people to know the answer to all of them at all..................... The first question you posted about the Rose Bowl I think is very understandable people not knowing that. And the Marshall Plan one.

I would have thought most of those were fairly basic General Knowledge questions that anybody going on a TV quiz show would be expected to know, but maybe that's just me. I'd expect most English people to know, for instance, that Southampton is in Hampshire.

Michael Wallace wrote:
Out of interest, have you ever been on a quiz show?

No, partly because I know I'm not good at thinking under pressure.

Phil Reynolds wrote:
this seems like a rather hysterical overreaction to the presence of some weak contestants on one show. There have always been some WL games with weaker teams than others

Maybe, but the standard almost across the board (with one exception, the woman who won in the end) was cringe-inducing. Ive certainly never seen one as bad as that before.

Charlie Reams wrote:
By the way Liam, I think you're overlooking the fact that Anne Robinson quite often mumbles or fluffs the questions, and then scowls angrily if anyone asks her to repeat.

Fair point. I hadn't noticed that since it's all a mumble to me anyway without subtitles.

Liam Tiernan wrote:

Ryan Taylor wrote:I think you are being unfair Liam. I wouldn't expect many people to know the answer to all of them at all..................... The first question you posted about the Rose Bowl I think is very understandable people not knowing that. And the Marshall Plan one.

I would have thought most of those were fairly basic General Knowledge questions that anybody going on a TV quiz show would be expected to know, but maybe that's just me. I'd expect most English people to know, for instance, that Southampton is in Hampshire.

I only know because I'm heavily into cricket (except that pointless 50 over stuff obviously). I know roughly where most major towns/cities are, but don't really care about what county they're in - it's generally useless information. I think a lot of people wouldn't even know where many of the major towns/cities are - particularly southerners who think if they go past Watford they'll fall off the edge of the earth.

Craig Beevers wrote:

Liam Tiernan wrote:

Ryan Taylor wrote:I think you are being unfair Liam. I wouldn't expect many people to know the answer to all of them at all..................... The first question you posted about the Rose Bowl I think is very understandable people not knowing that. And the Marshall Plan one.

I would have thought most of those were fairly basic General Knowledge questions that anybody going on a TV quiz show would be expected to know, but maybe that's just me. I'd expect most English people to know, for instance, that Southampton is in Hampshire.

I only know because I'm heavily into cricket (except that pointless 50 over stuff obviously). I know roughly where most major towns/cities are, but don't really care about what county they're in - it's generally useless information. I think a lot of people wouldn't even know where many of the major towns/cities are - particularly southerners who think if they go past Watford they'll fall off the edge of the earth.

Good point. Even though we laugh a lot at the American for their complete ignorance to geography, I'm pretty sure most peoples British geography is equally appalling (me included). I wouldn't have known that Southampton was in Hampshire, I'd have only got it from the Rose Bowl bit.

Ryan Taylor wrote:I wouldn't have known that Southampton was in Hampshire

Ditto. I'm trying to find the name of the cognitive bias where people tend to overestimate how well known something is because they know it (and vice-versa), but am failing. Anyone else know it?

Michael Wallace wrote:

Ryan Taylor wrote:I wouldn't have known that Southampton was in Hampshire

Ditto. I'm trying to find the name of the cognitive bias where people tend to overestimate how well known something is because they know it (and vice-versa), but am failing. Anyone else know it?

Didn't know there was a specific term for that Michael. I'd like to know what it is myself. So then I can call people stupid for not knowing what it is.

Mark James wrote:

Michael Wallace wrote:

Ryan Taylor wrote:I wouldn't have known that Southampton was in Hampshire

Ditto. I'm trying to find the name of the cognitive bias where people tend to overestimate how well known something is because they know it (and vice-versa), but am failing. Anyone else know it?

Didn't know there was a specific term for that Michael. I'd like to know what it is myself. So then I can call people stupid for not knowing what it is.

Ditto. I reckon Charlie might be along and know. He knows stuff like that. In fact, he probably thinks it's common knowledge.

Ryan Taylor wrote:

Mark James wrote:

Michael Wallace wrote:I'm trying to find the name of the cognitive bias where people tend to overestimate how well known something is because they know it (and vice-versa), but am failing. Anyone else know it?

Didn't know there was a specific term for that Michael. I'd like to know what it is myself. So then I can call people stupid for not knowing what it is.

Ditto. I reckon Charlie might be along and know. He knows stuff like that. In fact, he probably thinks it's common knowledge.

(Very good Ry!)

I was also sure Charlie had pulled it out before, against me and Phil when we claimed that CAFETIERE was a pretty common word and all you shits who didn't know it were dumb.
But he didn't give the name of the term, just explained it. It popped up again when me and MW described Jeff's use of the word "fingering" without realising the sexual overtones as a "CAFETIERE moment", but again, no direct name of the term.

Wikipedia has a big list - psychological projection bias is by far the closest but seems more to describe the assumption of others' feelings based on your own rather than their knowledge.

Matt Morrison wrote: CAFETIERE was a pretty common word and all you shits who didn't know it were dumb.

This.

Ryan Taylor wrote: Good point. Even though we laugh a lot at the American for their complete ignorance to geography, I'm pretty sure most peoples British geography is equally appalling (me included). I wouldn't have known that Southampton was in Hampshire, I'd have only got it from the Rose Bowl bit.

I think the joke with Americans is that they don't know any geography outside the US, which is certainly true in my experience. They're pretty good on home geography, better than the English about England anyway.

PS I don't know the name of that thing either.

Is it not just an example of the Kruger-Dunning effect?

Lesley Hines wrote:Is it not just an example of the Kruger-Dunning effect?

Dunning-Kruger is the effect where people who are really bad think they are good. This is more like people who know/are good at a certain thing assume that everyone else knows/is good at the same thing, and likewise for things they don't know/are bad at. It's quite hard to Google for something abstract like that, I may have to talk to a psychologist. (I know some members of this forum have been advising this for years.)

Charlie Reams wrote:

Lesley Hines wrote:Is it not just an example of the Kruger-Dunning effect?

Dunning-Kruger is the effect where people who are really bad think they are good. This is more like people who know/are good at a certain thing assume that everyone else knows/is good at the same thing, and likewise for things they don't know/are bad at. It's quite hard to Google for something abstract like that, I may have to talk to a psychologist. (I know some members of this forum have been advising this for years.)

But also it says (in the Wikipedia article) "Competent individuals falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding."

Gavin Chipper wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote:

Lesley Hines wrote:Is it not just an example of the Kruger-Dunning effect?

Dunning-Kruger is the effect where people who are really bad think they are good. This is more like people who know/are good at a certain thing assume that everyone else knows/is good at the same thing, and likewise for things they don't know/are bad at. It's quite hard to Google for something abstract like that, I may have to talk to a psychologist. (I know some members of this forum have been advising this for years.)

But also it says (in the Wikipedia article) "Competent individuals falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding."

Yeah, that's the kinda thing. It was observed in tests that the top-quartile participants underestimated how good they were, as well as the incompetent grossly over-estimating their abilities. In the original paper there's a nice wee bit about "the burden of expertise", stating "Specifically, top-quartile participants appear to have fallen prey to a false-consensus effect (Ross et al, 1977). Simply put, these participants assumed that because they performed so well, their peers must have performed well likewise. This would have led top-quartile participants to underestimate their comparative abilities (i.e., how their general ability and test performance compare with that of their peers), but not their absolute abilities (i.e., their raw score on the test)."

In fact, having just re-read that I think the name for it's the false-consensus effect. Or maybe a combination of both of them.

Edit: I'd've put that in the original post, but I figured you'd know what I meant

Weak last night, yes - but what I liked was Anne R ripping apart the creepy lying bastard of a vicar who said he had not voted strategicaly in voting off the strongest link leaving him against the weakest ever. Every time he spoke she said 'that's a lie' then 'that's another lie' and (I think) 'that's 6 lies you have just told'. She even asked him if he ever preached about honesty and he said he was only human. Worth watching just for that.