Hello, and welcome to the second instalment of our guest post from UK game show winner George Long! If you missed last week’s post, you can find it here. When we left off, it was 1989, and George was sitting in the (UK) Sale of the Century auditorium nervously awaiting his chance to shine as a contestant. The first of the five shows to be recorded that day was about to begin, and it featured a very intimidating carry-over champion…
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GL: But the carry-over champion was quickly dismissed and a new one elevated to his place. Then, on the day’s second episode, the same thing happened. I’d already noticed the conversations between Katie and Kerry, nodding towards the ‘sacrificial lambs’! The winner of show two was a former Mastermind contestant, who plainly thought he would walk the whole thing. I was horrified that I was selected to go up against him in show three, but I soon took my place on the studio floor… my nose heavily powdered! I was nervous. I was terrified. I was intimidated by ‘Mr Mastermind‘; he had psyched us all out. As he sat in the champ’s seat, the lady contestant and I waited behind the door with an escort each to await (host) Peter Marshall‘s banter and jokes with the hostess Maria Rice Mundy.
‘Sale of the Century’ host Peter Marshall.
‘Sale of the Century’ hostess Maria Mundy Rice
It all went fast – VERY fast – from there. My nose came in for some stick, of course. I bought every ‘Gift Shop’ prize going (which, I hadn’t realised, kept my score competitive) with Peter spotting my mercenary nature very quickly – ‘give him some cash and no matter how awful it is, George will buy it!’ I was in a good lead when we got to the final 60 seconds and I ended with a very healthy win. I was particularly good at anticipation and the ‘Fame Game’ questions. ‘Mr Mastermind‘ scowled and had a face like a slapped arse.
I was in my stride now and when my second episode came along (show 4 of the record day), I won by 100 points, with a score of 132! One of the two ladies I was up against had said her little boy would love the wooden aeroplane I had bought in one of the ‘Gift Shop’s. Hers it was at the end of the show, and, to be even-handed, I gifted a silver hairbrush dressing table set I had also bought to the other lady.
What I didn’t know at this stage was that (producer) Kerry and (contestant coordinator) Katie were impressed. Not only did I smile a lot, not only was I quick-witted and quick on the buzzer, but I also gave prizes away to my opponents. Nobody had ever done the latter. Peter was already calling me “George Smiley”. My third, fourth and fifth shows carried on in the same vein with lots of ‘Gift Shop’ purchases, ‘Fame Game’ wins and huge scores.
In George’s fourth show, he was up against Isabelle Heward (centre), who would later go on to win UK ‘Mastermind’!
My injured nose became an issue when I won my third show (show 5 of the record day). The director pointed out that the next recording would be two weeks from now, and my nose would likely have healed by then. Concerns that this might confuse the viewers dissipated when we realised that, from their perspective, I’d won my third show on a Friday and would return for my fourth show on the Monday. We simply said my nose had healed nicely over the weekend. Problem solved.
George’s injured nose is visible here.
The production team occasionally slipped a higher calibre contestant in to give me a run for my money (literally!). My fifth show was one such occasion, but again I ran up a huge score.
When my sixth and final show came about, I was going for the car, for which I needed to have accumulated a grand total of 585 pounds/points across my entire time on the show. I was nervous as there was a lot at stake, and I got a few answers wrong by jumping in too early. At the beginning of the final 60-second round, I was one point behind! In the end, I shouldn’t have worried, though; I stormed through to win by one point, and drove off into the sunset in a lovely Citroen AX.
My (old) car had been choc-a-bloc with prizes after each show, and I finally DID end up staying with my friend in London after the win, and gave her a lovely shopping bike I’d won… which she used for years!
After my big win, I appeared in the local newspaper with publicity photos…
From the pages of ‘The Southern Evening Echo’.
… and often got stopped in the street. Soon enough though, my five minutes of fame was over. I returned to my retail manager’s job in Bournemouth, was a bit of a company celebrity, and my normal life continued.
Or so I thought…
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And on that cliffhanger, we’ll leave George’s game show adventures there for the time being. I’d like to thank George so much again for sharing his memories, his stories and his photos with me… and of with you.
And if YOU happen to have a game show-related tale to tell, don’t be shy – my door is always open. Just drop me a line at Stephen@HowToWinGameShows.com, and let’s start a conversation!
Until next time, cheers!
Stephen,
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