Quiz Trippers - Over and Out

Well, thanks for all your good wishes over the French trip. I honestly did have a great time, thanks. OK - a little while ago I caught up with the last episode of Quiz Trippers. The final quiz took place in Moffat, a charming Borders town. This, and again, I remind everyone that we, the audience, like the participants, are very much at the mercy of the editors here, seemed to be a much more straightforward general knowledge quiz, and a much gentler one as well. Once again, the team featured well in the early rounds, although no prizes for missing that the singer whose real first names were Harry Lillis was Bing Crosby. Which reminds me of a joke – what’s the difference between Bing Crosby and Walt Disney , no , never mind.

Well, once again the prospect of a tie break reared its ugly head – but no, wait, it was a tie break for 2nd place. Our girls and boys had done it. Yet never mind that. Who would win the money as the MVQ ? Well, as it happened it was Alan, but being a decent, all-round good chap he shared it equally with the others. Top man.

As for the series – well, I don’t know how Jen, Alan or Lauren felt about things, but I know that both Aud and Kevin have said that they were unhappy with the way that the show was edited. If you go over to Daniel Fullard’s blog The Quiz Addict – link amongst my recommended links – you’ll find, as I did , links to Aud’s blog, and Kevin’s wall on Facebook. I can quite appreciate that they weren’t happy, although that is the thing with television – do think twice before going on it, because you have no control over the editing. As for the rest of us, the viewing public – well. As I always do with a new quiz show, I have canvassed opinion among my non-quizzing friends and colleagues – and none of them have an opinion at all about the show because they haven’t watched it. Amongst quizzers I know, the fact is that people tend to have quite strong feelings about the show, almost all of which are negative. Which doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the end of it. Me ? I stick by what I said before. I took it as a fairly light and inconsequential show, the watching of which was a pleasant enough way to pass half an hour.

Its certainly not perfect, though. The problem I would see with the show is that it falls between two stools - its not really a quiz show , but it doesn't quite give you the full on reality show experience a la The Coach Trip either. That’s it really.

Still, you never know. Just in case the producers are thinking of giving it another series, I have a few free suggestions for you. Few successful – or not very successful – quiz shows nowadays start a second series without having made a few tweaks. Here’s what you could do : -

• You have two teams in two different camper vans, which both play against each other , as well as the local teams each night. Ah , real rivalry, and possibly a little more drama and excitement – you never know.
• Each night, after the quiz, both teams would have to swap a member of their teams. Team A would have to pick a member of team Bs, and team B’s a member of team A’s. That way you have the excitement of a proper nightly vote, not the half hearted nonsense of this show’s.
• For heaven’s sake, show us the questions. There’s no reason why you couldn’t run through them very very quickly at the start of the round so people can play at home, then highlight the way the teams try to answer them. Perhaps you could put the questions up on the website each night too.
* I'd ditch the Biggmeister's v/o as well. It sticks a little in the craw when you hear him pouring scorn over someone answering a question wrongly when you know that the chances are extremely high that Biggins would have got it wrong himself. If you must have a voiceover, then get Dave Lamb, or someone ( anyone ) else. I'll do it for you if the price is right. ( Yes, I would sell my quizzing soul, dear readers, and the price would be a lot less than you'd expect, too. )

I have some other ideas, and you already have my email address from the first series, so guys, if you want to talk to me about it, you know where to find me.