Hello!

Just a quick update this week, with a couple of items of curiosity, and not one – but TWO – exciting announcements of what’s coming up here in the next few weeks.

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Firstly, a brand new game show with a difference. For quite a while now, I’ve subscribed to the Freakonomics podcast – it’s a really interesting weekly podcast – the brainchild of a couple of economists – that uses the principles of Economics to “Explore The Hidden Side Of Everything!”

A couple of weeks ago, they produced the first episode of an audio Game Show called Tell Me Something I Don’t Know. It’s all about obscure knowledge. It was a live event, and the audience were the stars, competing to impress a panel of judges with the most interesting, unusual and useful facts they could muster. It’s not your average game show – there were no valuable, fabulous prizes or mountains of cash to be won… but I do recommend it if you’re a curious person, eager to learn new obscure facts about the world around us. You can learn a bit more about it here, and you can also download the 1 hour and 3 minute mp3 of the show – completely free – right here. 

I also stumbled across a great Game Show-related article this week that I just had to share with you. It’s by Lynnette Walczak, and it’s called Little-Known Facts About TV Game Shows + Winning Tips From Game Show Contestants.

This is really worth a read – there are loads of interesting facts (Did you know that on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, the [D] option has never been the correct answer to the Million Dollar question?), and some great personal stories from those who’ve been on the shows and lived to tell the tale. At the bottom of the page, there’s also a bunch of great links for further reading. Although it looks like it might be a couple of years old, there’s still a LOT of great information here. So, if you have half an hour or so free at some stage, you really could do a lot worse than visiting this page!

And finally, from our ‘Coming Soon’ department…

My next EXCLUSIVE interview for www.howtowingameshows.com is with the distinguished Game Show producer Pam Barnes. Pam’s multi award-winning career spans decades, and she’s produced some of the most successful light entertainment, comedy and special event television that’s ever been seen in Australia. But in addition to that, she’s also been the producer of a number of hit game shows: Sale of The Century, The X Factor, Australia’s Got Talent and The Singing Bee, to name a few. Pam was also instrumental in developing an original game show format – The Einstein Factor –  which went on to enjoy a very successful run on the ABC for a number of years. She currently produces the Ten Network’s very successful revival of the classic Family Feud. My discussion with Pam was fascinating – it’s packed with lots of interesting insights from the other side of the camera, as well as heaps of invaluable tips for anyone wanting to be a contestant on the juggernaut that is Family Feud, so you won’t want to miss it!

And coming soon after that, I’ve also scored an exclusive interview with 26-year-old Alex Dusek, who recently won over $300,000 on Australia’s Million Dollar Minute, making him one of the show’s biggest winning champions. I’m really looking forward to chatting to this young buck of a Game Show Champ; finding out how he did it, hearing his tips, hints, and advice, and discussing the ways in which things have changed since in the game show champion world in recent years.

And if you have any questions that you’d like to ask Alex, this is your chance. But you’ll need to get in quick – I’m interviewing him very soon! If you have a question that you’d like me to aks him, either leave a comment on this post, or email me, at stephen@howtowingameshows.com

Until next week, then!