SH: When did you record your particular episode of Millionaire Hot Seat?

JF: My episode was postponed from an initial late January record, to Mon 18th of Feb 2019.

SH: And when did your episode air, and what was it like keeping your BIG SECRET in the meantime?

JF: I was initially told the episode would air sometime in May… then about two weeks prior, I was emailed and told the episode would air 30th April. The BIG SECRET was a delightful torment haha… I wanted to shout it from the roof sometimes. But after telling my wife, we decided to keep it a complete surprise. We even kept it from our kids. They knew I had gone on the show, but at the time we just told our kids we had won $1000, to put them off the scent.

So we cunningly decided to have a special surprise watching party for our family and friends. It was actually a lot of fun to have this big “secret”. Family and friends were all bamboozled, and it was quite hilarious, particularly in the week leading up to the surprise. All the theories our friends and family had, some thought we were pregnant, some thought we were moving overseas. Good fun.

So it was hilarious to watch their reactions when I finally turned on the telly to the show live, and shared the excitement with them all. I even filmed their priceless reactions. And so nice to share the night with the nearest and dearest.

SH: That’s brilliant, Judd. Well played! I’d love to know about the preparation you did for your appearance on the show. When did you start preparing (assuming you did!), and can you talk us through what you did?

JF: I guess I feel like I’ve been preparing all my life. I’ve always had a lot of random general knowledge stuck in my brain; useless information like the fact that there are 336 dimples on a golf ball. I don’t even know why that stuff sticks, but finally it’s come in handy!

I have always enjoyed watching quiz shows, and my father and brothers all have the same kind of brain full of useless info. We grew up with quiz shows, my earliest TV memories are watching good old Tony Barber and Delvene Delaney, with “Pete Smith speaking”!

I’ve also always enjoyed a good doco, even from a young age. Dad was a school teacher and he loved buying books – thousands of them – so I ended up reading lots as a kid, including reading the old family encyclopaedias… Don’t judge me, we didn’t have a TV in primary school ! 🙄

A number of years ago I learnt some good memory techniques for learning lists.

So in the weeks before my episode, I read a book on how to win game shows by your good self, where you talked about your preparations for years, and was immediately intimidated that I hadn’t learnt anywhere near enough! I frantically went online and memorised a number of lists; prime ministers, presidents, kings, key dates. I also played a number of trivia games on my iPhone every spare second I had, including a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire app, to just keep trying to fill the brain with as much of that useless information as possible.

Though not a regular Hot Seat viewer these days, it has niggled me for a while… as every time I did watch it, I would get three quarters of the questions right.

I understand there is a lot of luck involved in being in the right chair at the right time, but with a high IQ and good general knowledge, I figured I’ve got just as much chance as the next person.