It’s been really great chatting to Brydon about his new book The Quiz Masters, but as I wind up our interview this week, I thought I’d ask him about what’s up ahead…
========================= SH: And what about plans for the future? Is The Chase Australia just going to keep on going and going?
BC: Oh, man, I hope so. We film in Sydney now. The show moved there while Melbourne was in its big lockdowns in 2020. We filmed Beat the Chasers in Sydney and then they decided to have the regular show there as well.
You mentioned earlier the time we have to put in… and we do have to put in the time to study, but the actual time of filming is not all that much. Because there’ll be a few weeks here and there. And my involvement is three days at a time, but then I’ll have big chunks of time when I’m off as well. Which I guess is the case with any TV show, really. So, it’s good that I can still spend most of my time with my kids and my wife. A lot of the other work I do, I work from home. So, it’s the sort of job that really allows me to still have quality time outside of it.
SH: Nice. Now Brydon, I must say I did really love the epilogue of your book. I love how you talk about being lucky and about you feel you’ve won “the lottery of life”, which enables you to do all this stuff.
BC: Oh, absolutely.
SH: I thought it was a really lovely way to round the book off. But didn’t you get any photos of the quiz masters you were interviewing while you were out there talking to them?
BC: Well, I intended to, at the start. I got one of Cary (Young, Sale of the Century Grand Champion) but I ended up doing most of the interviews over the phone, because, you know, that was during COVID time. So, I would have liked to have had some photos in the book. But just the practicalities of the way I ultimately had to do most of the interviews, that just didn’t work out. But I found it so fascinating talking to all these all these people, as I’m sure you do with your blog! It’s getting inside the mind of somebody who’s won a million dollars like Martin Flood or Lisa Paton on Million Dollar Minute, who essentially lost the chance to win a million dollars. In her case, I was fascinated by how philosophical about it she was, because she hadn’t really gone in with any expectations. It was very sort of “c’est la vie”. Whereas if that was me, I would have handled it very differently, because I would’ve put all this pressure on myself to win it. I just found it really interesting to talk to all these people – and Cary Young – and to learn the lengths that some of them went to, to train for these shows. I know you’ve interviewed Martin Flood…
SH: Sure have. He was one of the first people I interviewed for the blog.
BC: Yeah, I mean, he literally studied Millionaire – the actual show, not just questions – for five years.
SH: Yes. And his confidence was just off the charts.
BC: Oh, absolutely.
SH: He just had this bulletproof mindset… which I found a bit superhuman, really.
BC: Yeah. Absolutely. So I just felt there were a lot of fascinating stories in this area.
SH: And characters!
BC: Yeah, a lot of this stuff is just so, so interesting if you delve into it a little bit.
SH: It sure is, and you do a great job of exploring all of that in the book.
BC: Thank you.
SH: Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today, Brydon, and I wish you all the very best for the next season of The Chase Australia!
BC: Thanks Stephen, my pleasure. As I said in my email to you, back at the start, longtime reader, first time contact!
==================================================================And I’m so glad that Brydon and I did finally get a chance to chat! Once again, I’d like to thank Brydon for his time, his co-operation and his candour in our interview. I’ll sign off now by reminding you that Brydon’s book The Quiz Masters is available now at all good bookstores (and possibly also at some disreputable ones, I don’t know)…
And, if you’re in Australia, you can catch him at 5:00 weeknights on The Seven Network on The Chase Australia. Or on their 7+ catchup service, right here.
I’ll see you back here next time…
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