Welcome back.

When we left off last week, Mark was just about to tell me about his first experience as a game show contestant…

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MH: I was in Year Six, so I must have been 11 years old. it was a show called Super 6 which was on Foxtel;  it was a kids’ game show.

* Here’s a sample of Super 6 that I found on YouTube. Unfortunately, it’s not Mark’s episode, but you get the idea..

MH: I obviously watched a lot of kids game shows as well. Including A*mazing, which I firmly believe should be brought back as an adult game show; I think it would be really smart of a network to pick up A*mazing and do an adult version capitalising on the generation who grew up on that because it was so beloved. And I know that (the show’s host) James Sherry did have a Facebook page a few years ago called ‘Bring Back A*mazing‘…. Sorry, I’m getting distracted. You can see how nerdy I am about this sort of stuff! 

SH: No, I love it! You’ve come to the right place! 

MH: So I was on this show called Super 6 which was hosted by Scott McRae who had been the host of Vidiot after Eden Gaha, if I’ve got my timeline correct… So my school submitted some entries and I got through. I was on a team of six and I had to do a quiz round which was on the buzzer. I won my round, which meant that another team member had to do a challenge to win 50 bonus points And her challenge was that she had to eat SAO biscuits and then whistle, within 45 seconds 

SH: Which is very difficult, because they’re so dry…. 

MH: … And she didn’t go so well so we didn’t win. But I do remember that each episode had a Celebrity Umpire. And for our episode, the Celebrity Umpire was ‘Vulcan’ from Gladiators!

SH: Wow! 

MH: Which was thrilling and terrifying. Because we were told not to speak during the recording and for some reason I started up a conversation with one of my teammates… and ‘Vulcan’ glared at me, put his finger to his lips and gave me the death stare, as if to say “SHUT UP!” That shook me to my 11 year old core.

SH: (LAUGHING) Yeah, that would have you waking up screaming.  

MH: (LAUGHING) Yeah. So that was my experience of quiz shows, although I was in the audience for a taping of Randling. But I guess I watched pretty much everything that was in the genre that was on television, now that I think about it. Win Roy & HG’s Money…

SH: Which I think was based on Win Ben Stein’s Money, wasn’t it?

 MH: Yes it was.

SH: So you’re a long time game show fan – apart from your appearance on Super 6, were you ever attempted to be a game show contestant again?

MH: Not really; I’m very interested in the things that I’m interested in, but I don’t have a great broad general knowledge. BUT… I am about to go and do an episode as a contestant on Celebrity Mastermind. 

SH: Oh, fantastic!

MH: So I will hopefully be good at my chosen topic, but once it opens up to general knowledge I will, no doubt, crash and burn. 

SH: That’s the spirit.

MH: (LAUGHING) Yeah! 

SH: What’s your special subject? 

MH: ‘The musicals of Stephen Sondheim from 1957 – 1987’.

SH: Wow – 30 years!

MH: Yes, which is pretty much the bulk of his output. But I did want to narrow it down a bit to make it easier for the question writers. But I’m pretty happy to be asked anything about him. 

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And, as luck would have it, Mark’s episode of Celebrity Mastermind actually just aired here in Australia on Saturday (14/03), and (NOT EXACTLY A SPOILER ALERT) let’s just say the show hasn’t seen the last of him… 

In case you missed it, you can watch it right now, right here, on SBS On Demand. 

See you next week!

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