Look, I had a lovely time in Dublin and New York, really lovely. So maybe a sense of wellbeing and benevolence is just a hangover from my trip. But what the hell, it if means I’m not mean towards The Answer Run for the sake of being mean then so much the better.
“The Answer Run” is a new TV quiz in the four pm slot. It’s
a very simple game, which is not necessarily
a bad thing. Three teams begin round one. Host Jason Manford asks a
general knowledge question and the first team to buzz in correctly gets to play
and has the choice of three categories to answer from. Now, within the category
they are given a list of things, and two options. So for example vintage
children’s TV might give the options Bill and Ben. A list of things comes up on
the screen one after another, and the teams have to swipe them to either Bill
or Ben. So for example, President Clinton would go to Bill, while Big London
Bell would go to Ben. If the setters are reading this, don’t worry guys, you can
have that for free. Each item has a monetary value determined by how difficult
it is. Put it in the right place and the money is added to the score – put it
in the wrong place and money is taken away.
All three teams play rounds one and two. The game play in
round two is very similar, however the items each have two monetary values, one
being twice the other. So, if you’re certain you swipe it on the higher value
and earn more money. If you’re not certain then you swipe the lower value and
it means that if you’re wrong you lose less. At the end of the round the couple
with least money in their pot are eliminated.
Round three is different. The items still have the two
values. One team starts swiping, but as soon as they get one wrong, control
passes to the other team. Tactics are vital since the large amounts of money –
some of the items are potentially worth £1000 – mean that a healthy lead after
round 2 can quickly be wiped out. As
before, the couple with the lower total at the end of the round are eliminated.
So to the final. No amounts if money are attached to the
items this time. The final couple plays to take home the money they have put in
their prize pot during the first three rounds. Its all about bars. Correct answers
put one gold bar onto their stack. The couple must build a stack of 8 gold
bars. Ah, but if they place one item in the wrong side – if they swipe a Bill into
a Ben – he their stack is wiped out ad he clock continues to wind down. If they
complete a stack of 8 then the clock stops and the money is theirs. If the
clock stops and they have a stack of 4-7 bars then they take home half of the
total. If they don’t have a stack of at least 4 then they leave with nowt.
BBC are giving this quiz every chance of success by making
it the lead in to the powerhouse of Pointless. Earlier in the afternoon BBC2 is
showing repeats of Bridge of Lies, an afternoon quiz I really like, and if I’m
honest I’m not sure the Answer Run has quite the legs of this show. On the
positive side, the game play has plenty of play along at home potential. That’s
its big strength. On the negative side, there’s too much banter between host and
couples for my liking. You know me. I’m a misanthrope and I just don’t care
about the contestants’ lives. I’m not interested. The only thing that does interest
me is how well they answer the questions and play the game. I mean, I
understand why they do this in the show. The host is Jason Manford, and why
have a comedian of his stature as host if you’re not going to give him an
opportunity to use his skills? Personally, I preferred him presenting
Unbeatable a couple of years ago.
Well, there it is. If you take each item on the different
lists as a separate question then you do get through a lot on The Answer Run.
The tweak which would improve the show for me would be to cut down the banter,
but for the reasons I’ve just outlined above they’re not going to do that. I’ve
watched every edition of the show so far and I’d guess that’s a kind of recommendation
of sorts.
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