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Introduction: Game On

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2013

Su Holmes
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
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Summary

In the summer of 2005, Big Brother was enjoying its sixth series in the UK. In one edition, the voice-over explains how the time is ‘3:21 pm, and the housemates are playing a quiz game in the garden’. Housemate Derek beams ‘Welcome to “Quizmaster” on a sunny afternoon’ (addressing both his fellow contestants and the home audience). Having elected himself as host and question-master, Derek promptly splits the remaining housemates into two teams, and then explains the rules of the game. Questions will cover a range of subjects and ‘on certain questions, there will be no conferring’. With the ‘contestants’ arranged in two teams on the grass, Derek presents the first question to Team One (‘Which attack caused America to go to war with Germany?’). At this point Kemal – a highly vociferous and flamboyant housemate – starts to laugh and chat, already impatient with the game. Derek swiftly interjects: ‘If you're going to talk you can go back [inside]… do you understand?’ Following Kemal's interruption, Team One asks to hear the question again. ‘The rules are that the question will not be repeated,’ Derek insists, and then bolsters his decision by explaining: ‘The secret of learning is to shut up’. Kemal retorts: ‘Well, nobody would tune into this [quiz] show, as it's all about you. [Viewers] … want the “drama” of winning, not a boring history class’ (2 June 2005).

Type
Chapter
Information
The Quiz Show , pp. 1 - 10
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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