That’s Russell in the glasses, bottom right!

Hello and welcome to Part II of my chat with 1993 Sale of the Century Grand Champion Russell Cheek. When we left off last week, Russell was leading up to the one killer piece of advice he gave me when I was preparing to go on Sale of the Century…

============ RC: I told you about all my processes for winning, because I decided very early on I wanted to win too. I was playing the long game; I wanted to win that money. I was a sporadically employed actor, and our great band, The Castanet Club, had just broken up after ten years together. Ten years in which we’d managed to live hand-to-mouth, just by doing the band.

And by the way, anyone who’s reading this might like to go and have a look at The Castanet Club: A Movie You Can Dance To. We actually made a feature length film of our band with real money. And it’s still very entertaining and daggy today.

SH: Where can we see that?

RC: You go to the Ronin Films website (https://www.roninfilms.com.au/feature/2790/castanet-club.html), because it’s a Ronin Films production. And I think you get to stream the film for something like $5.28… And you can buy it for $33.64 (at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/castanetclub)

SH: Okay.

RC: But it’s worth a look on a big telly, turned way up loud. It’s very good, and you see all our marvellous characters. But we did not even have the shirt on our back when the band broke up. So I was thinking, ‘how am I going to ever make a living’? So I was determined to win Sale of the Century. I did a lot of psychological prep. I don’t know if you remember or not, but when I was at high school in Newcastle, for the Year 11 high school students in the Newcastle area they had a television quiz show called BHP High School Quiz. And like yourself, I’d always had a good general knowledge. And I went on that show, which meant every couple of weeks you had to go up to Mosbri Crescent up in Newcastle and go into this big, cold, dank television studio and do at least one episode of this particular show. I can’t remember how many you needed to win the whole thing, but it was a lot. But because it was a knockout competition and I was a bit of a dark horse, I ended up winning it! The experience of winning was fabulous, but that only lasted for a second. I had many, many weeks of feeling that hideous pressure and tension of going on that show.

And after I won it, I said “I will never put myself under this kind of pressure again in my whole life,” because I just loathed it so much. And it took another 24 years and countenancing abject poverty before I actually got over that feeling, and was able to sign up for Sale of the Century! But getting back to the point, the thing you’ll remember that I advised you to do… what I used to do, I used to record Sale of the Century every single night it was on, but I would not watch the show. The next morning, I’d play back the VHS tape, and I would use the ‘Pause’ button to buzz in to make sure that I got ahead. I got in ahead of every other person that I was playing against. And I was a real Mussolini with the scorecard; I never cheated. I kept an absolute, dyed-in-the-wool, honest score of myself versus the opponents on the telly. And the great thing was that at home, on the couch, I never lost! So I knew I was a chance. But, of course, I had to prepare myself psychologically. Do you remember that, by the way?

SH: Yes, and that advice was gold! It’s absolute genius. I swore by that, and I pass that on to everyone who ever asks, because that is… well, maybe not a ‘secret weapon’, but certainly the next best thing. It’s amazing. But I would say that any tips or hints that I used, or took advantage of, or learned from you or from others… they’re all ideas that are available to anyone who has a bit of nous while they’re watching the show; anyone who watches the show observantly and intelligently. But, boy oh boy, that remote control idea is a real leapfrogging technique, to give you an edge.

RC: Yeah, it’s the game-breaker, isn’t it? That’s the game-breaker, because being an actor, of course, I always believe in rehearsal. Rehearsal plus spontaneity.

SH: Indeed.

RC: And the closest you can get to rehearsing what’s going to happen on the day of that quiz is using the pause button as your buzzer. The pause button was my buzzer. After pausing the tape, I had to answer the question within three seconds or I was up the creek.

SH: Absolutely brilliant. Thank you.

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Yes, if you’re preparing to go on any buzzer-based quiz show, I highly, highly recommend this remote control preparation technique. AND, in a theory I developed later on, when chatting to another big winner, Alex Dusek… If you’re able to play back the show at a faster-than-normal speed, maybe try that too! That way, when you get in to the studio for the record, the pace of the questions will seem more leisurely than what you’re used to training with, and that may give you an edge. Well, that’s my theory anyway.

See you back here next Tuesday, when Russell reveals how he invested his winnings, back in 1993… and what that investment is worth now! 

Until then, then!