SH: I understand that Hot Seat tapes six episodes on each record day… before we get down to the nitty-gritty of your particular game, Judd, can you talk a bit about the studio experience itself?
What surprised you about the way the day was run?
What did you notice about other contestants, and the way they handled it?
How did you manage your energy levels?
Were there any elements of the show itself – such as the studio audience, the host Eddie McGuire, the speed of proceedings, or even the physicality of the set, the brightness of the lights, the loudness of the music – that surprised you?

JF: Having done a lot of TV work in my singing career, the whole studio lights stuff didn’t faze me at all. You soon realise that it’s all smoke and mirrors, and that TV sets always look smaller in real life.

They provided a light lunch and some snacks for the audience during the show.

All the waiting contestants became the audience for the other shows. There was very little turnaround time between each of the three episodes recorded before lunch; basically they move the new contestants’ audience partners into the stand directly behind the contestants chairs as they are filing the new contestants into the stage and it all starts again. It was hard to even duck out to the toilet once the machine was rolling! They don’t pause very long for ad breaks and so just fire from one segment to the next almost straight away; it’s all very fast-paced.

The lady seated beside me on the show was super nervous. She had flown in from Perth the night before. I felt for her and tried to make a few light-hearted jokes to relax her. But she settled down and actually won the ‘Fastest Finger First’ section, so she walked away with the $1000 cheque. Some of the other contestants in my episode were also clearly nervous.

I did feel quite sorry for the other contestants; it’s a long day to get maybe one question that just happens to be the curly one, out of your field, and bang, you are going home to Perth with nothing. I was also fortunate that my episode was the second one recorded on the day, so I got to watch episode one, which helped me settle… and then I basically got to relax for the rest of the day! I felt for those episode 1 contestants (with no warm up to watch), and also for the last two episodes’ contestants; having to nervously wait all day must have been torture.

I will also add the importance of being calm and relaxed will definitely help you think clearly. If you are a meditation type or religious praying type, I think that will all definitely give you something to fall back on in the heat.

For me my faith definitely helped me have a quiet confidence. Now, this may all sound bizarre, and maybe even far-fetched… but if you want to honestly know how I felt emotionally, this is how it went down for me. I had had a very, very rough few weeks prior to the show. My house had been broken into, my wife had been in hospital, my kids had been going through school bullying issues, and I’d had a business deal go sour with a “friend”. He was trying to take a project from me that I had been working on for three years.

I was quite emotionally distressed on multiple levels, to the point that I actually reached out to an old Christian lady who a friend had recommended. She’s a fired-up, old school type preacher lady, who wouldn’t back down to a giant. I was actually so distressed at the time that I felt like a spiritual attack was happening to me; on my finances, on my family… so I told this lady my story, and I asked her to pray for me. She prayed this prayer – for me and my family – that gave me goosebumps on my goosebumps.

That was on the Friday prior to the Monday record, and at that point, I suddenly had an incredible peace about the whole show. There is no other rational reason for it – I should have been peaking – but I can only say I suddenly just had this strange sensation that I was going to win. It may sound bizarre, but that’s how I felt. It was like everything was going to some divine plan.

On the day of the record, I walked into the studio to see my name in seat #1. Perfect; that was just what I’d hoped for, as it would give me the best chance at passing early and getting a second bite at the big money questions. As we sat down for the ‘Fastest Finger First’ section, the lady beside me was shaking, but I just felt completely calm, like it was all “meant to be”.

In fact, even in the very first ‘Fastest Finger’ question, my stylus pen didn’t register on the iPad when I clicked on the answer. I ended up clicking a few times before it actually locked in the answer, immediately putting me in last place, but I still had this crazy calm feeling that even starting in last place didn’t matter, because I was still going to win a main prize.

Now sure that all sounds like coincidence now, and it’s really completely unexplainable scientifically, but I can only be honest with what was going on internally. I just had this unexplainable internal confidence come over me. After that insane few weeks, and after that prayer, my mind was just so calm and able to think so clearly and logically, and for every question that came up, I could calmly and peacefully work out the answer, almost like it was in slow motion.

I just knew I was going to win. It was almost surreal, that’s the only way I can explain it.

So I can only suggest that your readers do whatever they can to achieve that spiritual internal calm and that divine peace, because with all the crap of the previous weeks, let’s just say I had every reason in the world not to be calm at all.