George Long is ‘Going For Gold’! Part 1 of 2

Posted on 17/02/2026 by Stephen

Hello and welcome to the next game show adventure in the life of our Guest Blogger George Long! When we concluded last week’s instalment, George had just become a Sale of the Century Grand Champion, and after basking in the afterglow of his win, and newfound celebrity, he’d returned to his former life. But the game show gods weren’t quite finished with George just yet…

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After my 420 minutes of fame, I settled back into my old life. At their annual conference, my employer included a quiz in honour of me, I was promoted to Regional Manager, and life looked good. Then Grundy’s came knocking again to say they’d love to have me as a question writer for Going for Gold – so off I went to meet Kerry Bunce at their offices just down from the London Studios. Naturally, I chose to drive on the afternoon of the second biggest storm of the twentieth century – trees uprooting before my very eyes, tiles blowing off roofs… When I finally made it to London, they said they’d been worried I wouldn’t make it; glass panels at Waterloo station round the corner were falling onto the platforms, forcing the station’s closure. Fate was with me when I chose not to get the train that day!

The Grundy’s offer was great, and I would be starting in early January 1990. I resigned from my job, and turned up as agreed. I was shocked by how casual it all was; Kerry had asked another person, Mark Nodes, to join the team and we were assigned to a little attic space laden with reference books and laptops.

The cheerful ‘Going For Gold’ behind-the-scenes gang: Question writer George Long, contestant co-ordinator Bill Burdis, contestant co-ordinator Steve Purvis and question writer Mark Noades

I had a VERY specific task. The show was very important to the BBC as it aired at 1:30 PM, after the lunchtime news and before Neighbours at 1:55 PM. The timing had to be exact! Quite hard for a show where the formula was ‘flexible’ as some rounds dragged on longer than others. It had already been on air for four seasons before I arrived and I was fully aware that the semi-finals and finals were rather overladen with middle-aged male contestants from the four British home nations and the Irish Republic. That in itself was not the issue; the issue was they all wore grey suits and red ties. Many were called Nigel or Keith! (Apologies to any Nigels and Keiths reading this). We had added some new countries to the standard mix; France, Spain, Italy, Hungary and Czechoslovakia (as it was then known). The contestant coordinators visited about eight countries and interviewed and photographed the contestants there, giving them the same Grundy’s quiz that I had done in London, just over a year before.

My brief was clear – we needed to ensure that we had more female contestants in the semis and finals. We plainly had to be scrupulously fair at all times as the client was the BBC. In the past, there had been lots of questions on sports and I’d worked out that this often favoured the men. Kerry and I discussed my strategy and we went to the contestant coordinators with our plans – they would look for ladies with confidence and exciting stories but leave the rest to chance. In the meantime, I introduced more “Who am I?” questions and – in the round where subjects could be chosen – questions on food and drink, on fashion, and on movies with a female slant, such as romcoms. Our female European question advisor thought it a little sexist, but she got my drift. It was her job to go through all the episodes and find questions which the Europeans would have no hope with. One example was The Sound of Music; in German-speaking countries (where it was not a great hit) it was called Die von Trapp Familie, and in Italy it was called Tutti Insieme Appassionatamente (All Together, Passionately)! Questions such as this had to be rewritten or dropped.

We had to collate 74 episodes to be recorded in June – quite a task for two new writers. Our database contained various downloads from other laptops so we had major dramas with repeat questions. I devised a way of ensuring that duplicates were identified when the ‘Enter’ key was pressed – and every question was then tagged with year and episode. This became very important after the recordings because if we had not used them they could be untagged!

My plan worked like a dream. As soon as the recordings started, we started to get very equal Europe/British Isles and Male/Female splits. It was FUN. I was the adjudicator upstairs in the control box, operating the ‘traffic light system’ after each answer, for host Henry Kelly in the studio.

‘Going For Gold’ host Henry Kelly

Red light = “wrong”, green light = “correct”, yellow light = “more information, please.”

I was also responsible for handing the set of questions for the next round to the relevant console for the host. For the last ‘Head-To-Head’ round, where two contestants played off until one got to nine points, my job became the most important of all. I had to make sure the show came in on time. I would often have to add harder questions, or remove easy ones (which would have meant the show ended too early). It was very hard to be scrupulously fair. Generally, the questions stayed in their original positions and chance had to play its part. The show carried on through the heats, the semis and the final itself. And at the end of that year we had a final of four women (from Spain, France, Northern Ireland and France) and four men (two from Scotland, one from Italy and one from Belgium). We couldn’t have asked for a better mix! The final was between Belgium (male) and Northern Ireland (female) so everyone was happy. The viewers could root for the Brits and the impartial viewers would be happy too. There were two attractive French girls in the last eight as well, so I’m sure there were lots of young male students getting very excited – the show was compulsory viewing at British Universities.

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Join us back here next Tuesday when George starts work on his second season of Going For Gold in an expanded role, and shares more of his exclusive behind-the-scenes anecdotes and reminiscences. Until then, then!

Guest post from game show winner George Long – Part 2

Posted on 10/02/2026 by Stephen

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,

Guest post from game show winner George Long – Part 1

Posted on 03/02/2026 by Stephen

George Long.

Hello, and welcome to our latest multi-part guest post!

And today it comes from English expat George Long, who wrote to me telling me of his game show-related adventures in the 1980s and beyond. George successfully parlayed his first appearance (and – spoiler alert – WIN) as a contestant into various roles on the other side of the camera, so his particular game show story is certainly a multifaceted one. But before we dive into all the details, I wanted George to tell us all a little bit about himself…

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GL: Born in Manchester in 1957, I’ve always been bookish and artistic. At school I had a Saturday job at my local library – methodical, erudite and such fun. I was put on the reference library desk at lunchtime. At Lancaster University, I studied German and French, before working in my first job as a bilingual commodity broker in London.

I then had a great career with a furniture and homewares store between 1981 and 1988 before beginning my association with (game show production company) Grundy’s.

After winning Sale of the Century, I became Grundy Productions’ chief question writer for Going for Gold, Jeopardy! and Press Your Luck, and later, I was a production assistant – and contestant coordinator – for Sale of the Century. I then worked for Burns & Porter: the UK’s biggest pub quiz operator.

In the meantime, my application for migration to Australia was going on. I had a friend in Brisbane who thought I would prefer it to Sydney… so to Brisbane I went, and never left! I’m creative, I enjoy interiors and collectables, and I have two dogs – Albert and Buddy.

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Some great qualifications there, I’m sure you’ll agree, for George to share with us. But it was while George was working at that furniture and homewares store back in the 80s that his game show journey began. So take it away, George!

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GL: After a friend challenged me to apply to appear on a new show called Going for Gold saying “You’d better apply! It might shut you up once and for all”… I did.

A few months later, I joined hundreds of other people at the auditions in a huge theatre in London’s Regent Street. The audition comprised two tests, each of 50 questions. After the first 50, we all swapped papers with our neighbours and they were marked. Anybody who scored less than 20 was asked to skulk out quietly! A fair few did. Then the second set of questions was asked, and our previous scores were added to our new scores. Anyone with an average lower than 20 was asked to depart. My average was 42. Then, after a long process of interviews and Polaroid photographs being taken, we went upon our way. I returned to my retail management career, never expecting to hear back from Reg Grundy Productions.

However, some time later, the production team contacted me, inviting me to appear on the show Keynotes, where three contestants worked together to answer musical questions. I had seen it and didn’t like it; the prizes weren’t worth having! I politely declined, again thinking I’d never hear back from them.

A few months later, though, they rang me again and asked if I’d consider appearing on Sale of the Century, which was being launched on the new satellite channel Sky One. “We think you could win a car!”, they said. “Yeah right,” I thought sarcastically.

And yet…

I received the invitation with instructions to report to London Studios, (where most chat shows and specials are filmed in the UK) at 7:00 on a Sunday morning. Our travel expenses would be paid and meals would be provided.

I’d decided to stay with a friend in London the night before, and as I went to leave my house, I saw the handle of my pressure cooker askew on top of the kitchen cupboard. I straightened it, turned to leave… and was knocked to the floor as it fell off the top shelf and hit me square in the face! I wasn’t knocked out; just stunned, but there was a lot of blood and the little flap above the nostril was hanging slightly loose! ‘Oh dear,’ I thought. ‘My first TV appearance and I look like someone who’s just gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson.’

I checked with the local hospital and they said if I came in, they’d be obliged to stitch it and it would scar. They suggested I staunch the bleeding, push it back in and dress it, securing it with tape. After cancelling my evening stay in London, I did just that.

At the studios the next day, all we contestants were issued with tokens for the refreshment machines, given a dressing room for our five outfits (so home viewers didn’t realise one week’s episodes were filmed in one day) and shown the studio, before our on-camera rehearsal. After lunch, we sat in the audience’s front two rows in our outfits, ready for 2 PM.

By this stage, my nose was already a cause for concern, as under the heat of the studio lights, the makeup had started to evaporate! Despite this, they decided to allow me to compete.

As the day’s recording began, there was a carry-over champion who we were all in awe of. The contestant coordinator Katie Taylor (who would later become Head of Light Entertainment for the BBC) and producer Kerry Bunce selected the ‘sacrificial lambs’ for the first show…

‘Sale of the Century’ producer Kerry Bunce.

Katie Taylor. Then: ‘Sale of the Century’ contestant coordinator. Later: Head of BBC Light Entertainment!

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And that’s where we’ll leave it for next week. Join us back here next Tuesday, as George’s Sale of the Century run begins, and we discover exactly how “sacrificial” those lambs really were…

(ANSWER: Not very.)

See you then!

And it was 19 years ago for Blair Martin! Part IV

Posted on 27/01/2026 by Stephen

Blair at radio station 4ZZZ

Hello and welcome to the final part of my chat with Blair Martin, who won ‘The Lot’ on Temptation in 2007! When we left off last week, Blair and I were reflecting that over the years, we all change; that none of us are the same person now that we were ten or twenty years ago…

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BM: No, none of us. And over the last decade, I have become a leader in my community; I’ve become a mentor. One of the young announcers at 4ZZZ – who I’ve actually never met, I met him through a zoom call – does a program that’s all pre-recorded and it’s their digital station that I look after, and I’ve been mentoring him in that way. And his dad sent me a message recently because his son was applying for a regional community grant, and he wondered if I’d write a letter of recommendation. So I sat and wrote about 700 or 800 words and sent it off. And he was quite emotional about the way I phrased the letter. He said, “you have no idea what this means. And you have been so generous and we so appreciate you”, and I’ve gone, “Yeah, that’s what I’m here to do”. And if this is what I do for the next ten years, that’s what I do. If something else is meant to happen, then that will become apparent.

SH: Yeah, if you can pass on what you’ve learned, and do it in kind and enlightened way, that’s a pretty good thing to be doing. And also you learn from young people.

BM: I learn from young people all the time and I totally agree. I totally agree. But there’s also this other thing; I need to be an advocate for people of my age, but also my community, because in my community and age, we don’t have them. The people that may have been my mentors are very few in number. And my age group is perhaps not as heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS as the generation up from me; the people born in the 1950s, late 1940s. I was born in the early 60s, but yeah, we still suffered as well. And I am very aware of this. A couple of years ago, I hosted a podcast series that trained home carers, as now there are people who live with HIV/AIDS who are at an age where they have home carers. They asked me to do it because, yes, I’m a radio host. And where are the people advocating for people like myself, who are now over the age of 60? As an older gay man, I’m in a minority within a minority now. And so I’ll see where that goes, what that body of representation does. But I’m very aware that I have to do that.

SH: Of course, yes. And so would you say that the win on Temptation – Sorry, I keep going back to that.

BM: No, no, no, no. That’s the nature of our conversation.

SH: I was going to say that most people I’ve spoken to say, “I’m thankful for…” I know that with my winnings, we bought this house. Well, we didn’t actually buy all of this house, but a fair chunk of it.

BM: Yeah.

SH: And with your winnings, it sounds to me like you’ve travelled to all sorts of different –

BM: I totally agree. And there have been places I have been, I still remember quite distinctly, being beside Lake Geneva in September 2009. And just saying, “I am so grateful for this. Thank you for this opportunity to do this”. I did help other people a little bit along the way.; there were there were a couple of people who I assisted. One was David Bermingham – a dear, wonderful doyen of theatre and arts here in Brisbane who’s now sadly no longer with us. I thought I was helping him anonymously, but I gave myself away at an event I was doing to promote my business. I put this quote up on a screen… And it was the same quote I’d anonymously sent to David, along with some money to help him. And he said to me later, “So, it was you!”

SH: Well Blair, I’ve really enjoyed all the places our conversation has gone. Is there anything that’s sprung to mind that I haven’t thought to ask you about your Big Win and the impact it’s had over the last 19 years?

BM: I suppose the thing that’s still there is when people find out and then see me at a quiz night somewhere, they go, “Well, no wonder you’ve done well.” And I’m like, “Yeah, but, come on – that was 19 years ago!” And I’ve got a feeling it’s harder now in World Quizzing because there’s so much information from so many sources now in The Hot 100 that World Quizzing puts out every month. If I get 60 out of 100, I’m thinking, ‘oh, that’s not too bad’. A lot of it, though, is like training for a race. The more you do, the better you become. We all have different knowledge, we all have different things. I think you we should just rejoice in the fact that we’re above ground, we’re not in it.

SH: That we’re living and breathing!

BM: And for most people, you’re not living in a country or a city or a region where a drone is going to kill you tomorrow. And you are blessed because of that. So do something to make it possible that everyone can live like that. That’s your role in life.

SH: That is an inspirational thought to finish on. Thank you.

BM: And I also want to say that intelligence is having an open mind, not a vacant one.

SH: That’s good. I will quote you on that!

BM: Please do. Along with your job in life is – if you’re living a privileged existence, your job is to make sure everyone else is.

SH: Hear, hear. Wise words.

BM: It’s lovely to see you, Stephen. You really are a wonderful person. And you have a brilliant, brilliant career. And I admire you greatly.

SH: Oh, thank you so much, Blair – what a lovely thing to say! Thank you. I’ve really enjoyed chatting to you today.

BM: Well, anytime you need it, I’m around. Take care. Bye bye.

SH: See you. Bye bye.

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And on that lovely positive note, it only remains for me to thank Blair so much once again for so generously sharing his time and all his reflections. I really enjoyed our conversation, and may Blair’s final inspirational words carry us all onward and upward through 2026!

And I look forward to seeing you back here next time…

And it was 19 years ago for Blair Martin! Part III

Posted on 20/01/2026 by Stephen

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!

And it was 19 years ago for Blair Martin! Part II

Posted on 13/01/2026 by Stephen

‘Temptation’ host Ed Phillips shakes Blair’s hand after the Big Win in 2007.

Hello, and welcome back to my four-part interview with 2007 Temptation Grand Champion Blair Martin! When we left off last week, I’d just asked Blair if he now considered himself officially retired as a quiz show contestant…

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BM: I haven’t applied for any other quiz shows since then. However, one quiz show came asking me. It was The Chase. They asked me, would I test as a Chaser?

SH: Oh, right!

BM: And I’ve always felt that if I’d done better in my audition, which was just answering 20 questions over the phone…

SH: Oh, okay.

BM: … but it didn’t work. And then Beat the Chasers came and headhunted me, partly because I had drifted into serious quizzing.

SH: Okay.

BM: It’s a very different world, and that’s how I first met Issa Schultz. Even when I met him, I thought, ‘aren’t you familiar’? And it was because he was on Sale of the Century, in the latter years of Sale, when he was still at high school! So we met through the Pan Pacific Masters Games, which were every two years, then became every year. And Quizzing Australia is the national body for quizzes associated with World Quizzing in London. And various famous names are part of all that. Anyone who has watched Eggheads or The Chase in the United Kingdom or the United States will know these absolute legends of quizzing. Anyhow, I got into serious quizzing, and won a couple of gold medals for quizzing over about three years. So my quizzing life has ended up in that world. People have said, “Why don’t you go on Hard Quiz?” And I’m like, ‘Well, that’d be fun, but I really don’t know what my special subject would be’, because a lot of them have already been used. Mastermind‘s the same. But if SBS isn’t going to pay for my airfares and accommodation, I ain’t coming. I don’t have an ongoing income stream in my life. And so I’m sorry, if you want me to be a contestant, you pay for it. So being a part of the serious quizzing thing has meant I picked up some Queensland quiz championships. Whenever Issa has not played – I must say it’s in the years when Issa doesn’t play – I’m the Queensland champion… So next year, I’m due again! And the internet gave us online quizzing through the pandemic. And I have spent the last five years being a part of this online quiz community.

SH: That’s great. You mentioned before about taking the opportunity after Temptation to travel and see the world…

BM: Yes.

SH: And did you did you also use the prize money for things other than travel?

BM: Because I did a lot of character work – which I still do now – I ended up developing about 36 different characters. So I invested in those. I have a beautiful Henry VIII outfit, because I did him for a little while in an improvised bawdy banquet style show, with King Henry VIII looking for his next wife… So I just ploughed that into the stuff that I thought was going to help develop me. But life doesn’t always go that way. And things didn’t always go the way I wanted. And in the last half dozen years, it hasn’t been as fantastic for me in that way. And I’m having to learn a different way of living. And I don’t know exactly what the next set of stages are.

SH: I see.

BM: But I certainly know at the moment, the months of October, November, December, I’m in high demand. I have created a very real (Santa Claus) character. And I have testimonials from parents saying how their child has responded. And they have said, “even I am questioning whether you’re real”!

SH: That’s great!

BM: It’s very much that Miracle on 34th Street thing; very much the Kris Kringle character saying, “As far as I’m concerned, I’m real”. Because I am using the skills that I have as an actor. I can have a conversation with anybody.

He looks very real to me!

SH: Yes.

BM: And I can make them believe. So I know at this part of my life – I’m 64 this year – this is a different stage of my life now. And I have different goals. Will I travel again overseas? Maybe. I got very fortunate between 2015 and 2018. Not that it was Temptation money, because there wasn’t much of it left by that point. But I have lanyards that tell me I’m a radio journalist! I don’t have a journalism degree, but the European Broadcasting Union and the Eurovision Song Contest believe that I’m a radio journalist.

SH: Hooray!

BM: So from 2015 to 2018, I went to four Eurovision Song Contests, as a radio journalist.

And I’m interviewing acts, and I’m going to wonderful parts of the world. I went to Vienna, Stockholm, Kiev and Lisbon. And all of those, maybe apart from Stockholm, were cities I didn’t think I’d ever get to. And to me, that’s a fantastic thing!

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Sure is! I love Eurovision, and actually attending the contest one year is most definitely on my bucket list… But Blair’s certainly beat me to it! Join us back here next week, when Blair outlines how his life would have been different if he’d never had his Big Win…

See you then!

And it was 19 years ago for Blair Martin! Part I

Posted on 06/01/2026 by Stephen

Blair’s very definitive big winning moment on ‘Temptation’ in 2007… Look at those score margins!

Hello, Happy New Year, and welcome to my first multi-part interview for 2026! If you’re a regular visitor here, you’ll know that over the last few months, I’ve been reconnecting with some game show Big Winners, and asking what lasting impacts their Big Wins have had on their lives in the years since they happened. And today I’m happy to welcome 2007 Temptation Grand Champion Blair Martin, who walked away from the show with $603,002 of cash and prizes!

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SH: Hello, Blair! How are you?

BM: I’m doing well.

SH: Thank you for making the time to do this.

BM: My pleasure. My pleasure.

SH: Now, the genesis of all this was my realization that it’s been 20 years since I had my win on Temptation…

BM: Yes, that’s right.

SH: … And I wrote a little blog post about what it meant to me in the longer term, and I thought, ‘I wonder how other people in this very rare situation feel about this?’

BM: It is a rare situation, it is.

SH: Yeah! And you won Temptation in 2007 – taking home $603,002 of cash and prizes – and I spoke to you for the site 11 years ago now, in 2015.

BM: Yes. When I didn’t have a beard, and I didn’t have long hair and all of that… and Zoom didn’t exist!

Blair Martin, in pre-Zoom (and pre-beard!) times…

… And the Blair Martin of today!

SH: No, that’s right. We did it by Skype!

BM: I remember Skype.

SH: RIP Skype.

BM: Yes, RIP Skype.

SH: And back then, obviously, your win was fresher… but now, in 2026, it’s 19 years ago!

BM: Yeah.

SH: So, I’m curious to learn what sort of lasting differences it’s made, if any, for you. But first, can you remind us of what immediate impact your Big Win made on your relationships at the time, in 2007? On friends, family, partner?

BM: Well, at the time I was single and I still am.

SH: Okay.

BM: Two years later, I met someone, and for a little while there in 2009, there were quite a few nasty comments – never said to me, I’ve always found that interesting, but to him – that he was only in it for the money.

SH: Oh, no. I’m sorry to hear that.

BM: And I thought, ‘Well, I’m hardly dripping in millions!’ If you’re talking about keeping someone in an over-the-top lifestyle, well, no, never was. So that was one thing…

SH: Right.

BM: And for my family – which was my parents and my younger brother – not so much. I don’t think he really thought terribly much of it. But my parents said, “Oh, good. You’ll be fairly stable now”. But what I wanted to do was experience the things I had waited maybe 20 years of my life to do, which was to get out of Australia. At that point, I had only ever used my passport three times. But I didn’t really have any plans to go anywhere immediately after the win. But from May 2008, I was like, “I am going to go to the places I want to visit; to go and see and do the things I have always wanted to do.” So I did!

SH: How liberating! That’s great.

BM: And that happened for about two or three years. And I was doing this in a much older capacity than most people would. Most people would have travelled away from their country of birth at a very young age. I never did that. I didn’t have the ability or the opportunity to do that.

SH: Right. May I ask how old you were when you won Temptation?

BM: I would have been 44, not quite 45. So I had been through a bit of life experience before that. And I don’t know if this came up in our earlier conversation, but I’d had an emotional heartbreak. And after that, I made a lot of lifestyle changes, very sudden ones. And around that time, I was out to dinner with friends and one of them said, “I’m going up to Channel 9 tomorrow to audition for Temptation.“ And I said, “Oh, I’ve applied for that, but I haven’t been notified”. But I knew how these things work; you can just rock up, because they never check. And if you turn up and get through the test set of questions, then you get interviewed. And that was a bit of fun. I basically said, “I gate-crashed today”, and they said, “Oh, that’s fine.” So that was one of the things I did around that time: I told myself, “you are worthwhile, you actually have something”. And another one was doing the Story Bridge Adventure Climb, which began in 2005. And I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m an agoraphobic, and it’s 86 metres from the top to the bottom! But I did it. I went, ‘No, I’ve got to do this,’ because as I said, I just thought ‘I’ve got to change’. And so I got on that climb. I did it. It was exhilarating. I’d changed the way I saw things. And then, nine months later, I’m on Temptation! So there was a series of things happening.

SH: You were reinventing yourself, by the sound of things.

BM: I did. Yeah.

SH: Earlier this afternoon, I watched your final episode of Temptation, and you even referred to the Story Bridge. You made a parallel with that climb and with your journey on Temptation; “just taking it one step at a time, one step at a time”.

BM: Yeah. I haven’t seen it for quite a long time, but to me, it was an experience that had to be lived. I wanted to get everything out of it. And my idea when I was on there was, ‘Yes, I’m me and I’m playing a game, but I’m also Blair Martin, the actor. And I’m also aware of what my role is here. I have a job to do.’

SH: Right. And you mentioned that your attitude was, ‘Oh well, I’m not going to be here again. I might as well suck the marrow out of it’. I’m curious; since Temptation, have you done much more quizzing? Or are you officially “retired” as a quiz show champion? I know I am.

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For Blair’s answer to this question – and many more! – be sure to revisit us here at HowToWinGameShows.com next Tuesday afternoon…

Until then, then!

Happy New Year, from HowToWinGameShows.com!

Posted on 31/12/2025 by Stephen

Yes, I agree with the smoking, drinking baby in a Top Hat. A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and your loved ones. I hope that your 2026 is full of excitement, adventure, happiness and love.

And, if you happen to be going on a game show at some stage in then next 365 days, then I also hope your 2026 is full of cash and FABULOUS PRIZES!!!!

As you do.

Thank you so much, as always, for your support in 2025, and I look forward to bringing you more fun (and hopefully helpful) game show-related stuff in 2026!

I’ll see you back here on Tuesday for the first post of the year!

Cheers,

Stephen.

Oh, look – the baby’s now got a balloon and a ‘Happy New Year’ sash, and is flying around the sky on a cloud. Fair enough.

Merry Christmas from HowToWinGameShows.com!

Posted on 24/12/2025 by Stephen

Well, it’s that time of year again – time for the annual Season’s Greetings post from HowToWinGameShows.com.

And as we approach the end of a year that sometimes feels like it’s had more downs than ups, I just want to thank you so much for your continued interest in – and support of – this little hobby of mine. When I tentatively started this blog twelve and a half years ago, I had no idea whether there’d be enough content to keep it going for a year… let alone an entire decade!* And that’s largely thanks to you, and to the wider game show community. So whether I’ve interviewed you at some point, whether you’ve contributed a guest post, or whether you’ve made me aware of some game show-related news or tidbit that had previously passed me by, which I could then share with everyone…

Thank you.

It feels good to bring people together here. People who share a common interest in – and a passion for – game shows, in all their forms. I love that this place has become a forum, and a venue for likeminded game show fans to get together, to be seen and heard.

And speaking of being seen and heard, I’m excited to bring you our next multi-part guest post in the new year. And if you’re considering writing a guest post about YOUR game show adventures, don’t be shy – my virtual door is always open. Just drop me an email at stephen@howtowingameshows.com and let’s start a conversation!

And now, as I sign off, please allow me to wish you and yours a very safe happy peaceful festive season, full of laughter and love.

The very warmest Christmas wishes to you, from me… and a couple of old friends.

Love,

Stephen

Photo by Greg Elms Photography (gregelms.com)

* Oh, and an eBook as well!

… And it was 11 years ago for Alex Dusek! Part V: The Conclusion

Posted on 23/12/2025 by Stephen

Here’s an example of Alex being comfortable in the ‘Million Dollar Minute’ environment in 2014… Although I’m fairly sure that’s just a cardboard cut-out of host Simon Reeve, and not the genuine article.

Hello and welcome to the final part of my chat with big game show winner Alex Dusek! When we left off last week, we were talking about the theory that actors tend to do well on game shows because they’re comfortable being in the spotlight…

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SH: But you also seemed to be very comfortable on your appearances on Million Dollar Minute. You didn’t seem to be intimidated, you seemed to lean into it and really enjoy it.

AD: I would often think back to that because I’m an awkward person. In person, I don’t really know what to say to people, but then when I was in front of camera, I felt very comfortable. And I don’t know why that was. I really enjoyed being on camera and it relaxed me in a way. And I remember in the green room, there were lots of intelligent people that were really good with the questions that I remembered from the testing, but then they’d get to the studio and they didn’t really handle the lights or didn’t handle the moment.

SH: Now Alex, we ‘re coming to the end of our time together, but I’ve loved chatting to you today. And I’m noticing that throughout these stories one of the common themes is that there are just such happy memories. And like you say, it’s a life highlight, isn’t it? I mean, this doesn’t happen every day.

AD: No, you’ve really got to remember that you’re in a very exclusive club of being able to do this. For me, I sometimes forget about it… And then I remember, “Oh, wait – I was on Million Dollar Minute 10 years ago! That great thing happened!” And then you sort of forget it for a few months, and it does just keep coming back. It’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Alex these days.

And there were certainly little lucky things along the way. When getting on the show, I was lucky in that I came in when the previous episode, the Carryover Champ had just either lost or taken the money. So I came in as one of three fresh people. So that was lucky. And then I remember the first taping that I went to, I didn’t get picked.

I was just in the green room all day, and there was a lady at the end who’d been on Sale of the Century, and she was giving me advice; “if you get a question wrong, it’s like catching a ball. If you drop it, don’t worry, just catch the next ball. Just stay very objective about it”.

And then the next time I came back for a potential to be picked for the show, I was a lot more settled. I was a lot more relaxed.

And if I’d been picked that day, it might’ve all panned out differently. I do remember that the whole time on that show, I was always looking for who the person was who was going to be the real threat. And every episode, you’d be in the green room, two new people would come in and you’d think, is this the time? Is this the one? Is this them? And it didn’t ever seem to be them… until finally when I was departing and I went to the green room to grab my bag, they brought two people in and there was one guy in a salmon shirt. He shook my hand and was very agreeable. And that turned out to be Pierre Sutcliffe, who was excellent and ended up being a $500,000 winner. And he was the one; he was the threat that I had have been looking for the whole time. So I missed him by an episode.

SH: It sounds like all sorts of things just fell into place for you and all contributed to that wonderful win! And on that note, our time’s running short, so I might just wrap it up there. Thank you so much, Alex!

AD: 100%. Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure.

SH: Cheers, Alex. No thank you! Bye.

AD: Bye.

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Once again, I’d like to thank Alex for his time, and for sharing all his memories – and all his updates – with me. It really was a sensational win that he had back in 2014, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke.

I’ll be seeing you again soon, for the next one of these checking-in-with-game-show-big-winners-after-quite-a-while-to-see-what-long-lasting-differences-their-win-has-made-to-their-lives interviews.

Until then, then!