Blair’s big moment on ‘Temptation’ – June 11, 2007.

Hello and welcome to the penultimate instalment of my chat with two-time quiz show champ Blair Martin. Winning over $600,000 in cash and prizes is obviously a life-changing moment for anyone. Which begs the question…

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SH: Blair, can you imagine how your life would have been different if you hadn’t had your big win in 2007?

BM: Yeah, absolutely; I know exactly what would have happened. I would have certainly not gone overseas in 2008. I certainly wouldn’t have visited Paris. I wouldn’t have visited Geneva. I wouldn’t have visited certain other parts. If things had honestly kept going the way they were, I would have finally got to visit Ireland, but that would have been through a work tour. But of course I didn’t know in 2007 that those things were going to happen. I would have eventually gone overseas, but would I have gone to Copenhagen and swum in the World Outgames of 2009? A lot of people talk about setting intentions, manifesting things or whatever. And in 2006, I saw video of my swimming club mates going to the Montreal Outgames and the Chicago Gay Games and I went, “Wow, I really want to do that!” Because that was my first year of becoming a swimming nut; 2006. I had black line fever; swimming really meant a lot to me. And I was going to the gym and all that sort of stuff. So yeah, midlife crisis, definitely. Maybe one of those events I would have got to… Or maybe none of them. I really do believe that what the Temptation win gave me wasn’t just so much the financial ability to do things like this; it also changed my mentality, to say “These things can happen! You can do this!”

SH: Yeah. Two things I’ve noticed in this series of chats with other big winners are: One, these are very happy memories, and two, we can surprise ourselves. There’s a great quote – from, I think, Thomas Edison – that says, “if we did all the things we were truly capable of, we would astound ourselves.”

BM: Yes. Yes. “If I push myself a bit further, remarkable things can happen.”

SH: Amazing, miraculous things can happen! And this is once-in-a-lifetime stuff we’re talking about here. The last person I spoke to was a young fellow called Alex Dusek, who won $307,000 on Million Dollar Minute when he was 26 years old. And he said, “I will take that to my grave. I will look back on that in times to come and just think, what an enormous, momentous, standing-at-the-top-of-the-mountain triumphant moment that was.”

BM: Yeah. Also, I must tell you I attended the World Masters Games in Sydney 16 years ago, and (Temptation host) Ed Phillips was the emcee of the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium!

SH: Cool!

BM: And that was my first year on Facebook, and I tagged Ed on Twitter, when Twitter used to be reasonable. And he came back and said to me “Why haven’t you put in your bio about your Temptation win?” So I reformatted my little bio to mention, “dual quiz show champ”

SH: Right, right. Because you should!

BM: I also had to put another tag in there in 2019, because I had a starring role for five minutes on Q+A. Virginia Trioli was guest-hosting a live program from the Brisbane Powerhouse and I asked a question about the toleration of racist views in various political parties. Anyway, I got tagged by people as “Epic Beard Man”.

SH: “Epic Beard Man”? Wow.

BM: Epic Beard Man. And I got people saying, “I want this man to narrate the story of my life”. “Can we get this man to do all of this stuff?” And then the trolls were on there too saying, “Oh, paid actor”. And I said, “I can tell you one thing – the ABC certainly haven’t paid me!” But I had to put that in. So I am still “Epic Beard Man” to some people. But back then, my beard was six years shorter than it is now. So what is this?

SH: “More Epic Beard Man”?

BM: Yeah.

SH: “Greater Epic Beard Man”? “Even More Epic Beard Man”? “World-Shatteringly Epic Beard Man”?

This is the beard we’re talking about.

BM: Something like that, yes. People say “you should shave it off”, and I say “No, no, no, no! Not when I can charge the fees that I can charge to be Santa Claus. Trust me”.

Santa!

And again, I think this is where I’ve got to; a stage in my life. I’m comfortable that I’m not as fit as I was. But I still do exercise. I walk a heck of a lot, occasionally go swimming. But my focus is different.

SH: Yeah.

BM: It really hurts, Stephen, when I hear my 89-year-old mother say “Well, just remember you’re over 60 now. You’re not as young as you used to be.”

SH: Getting shade from a nearly 90-year-old! But you’re not the same person you were in times gone by. And none of us are.

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And that concept pops up a lot in these chats with Big Winners; none of them are the same people they were when they won. But they all, without exception, look upon their Big Wins as very positive life-changing moments, as real Sliding Doors-type forks in the road. I know for a fact my life would have been vastly different if I hadn’t had my Big Win. And nowhere near as great as it has been so far (knock on wood)… I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – thank you, Temptation!

Join me back here next Tuesday, as I wrap up my four-part chat with Blair. See you then!