- although not malicious, I hope. Having watched a team with a couple of of useful quizzers in it take the money on "Revenge of the Egghead" this evening, I thought I'd have a nose around and see what people are saying about the show on various online forums. Most of it is not complimentary to be honest. Still, that's neither here nor there for the purposes of this post. What I was intrigued about was a significant number of references to the ideas that - a) C.J. is apparently rejoining the Eggheads in the next series, starting in the early summer - b) a new female Egghead called Lisa Thiel will be taking the place of Daphne Fowler.
Well, we knew that Daphne retired last season. Apparently Lisa Thiel (I don't know if this is the musician Lisa Thiel, or just someone sharing the same name) took part in "Revenge . . . " and caught the producers' eye. Well, there you go. I don't know if this is gospel, or just rumour, but that's what they do say.
I don't often watch the show, so that probably means I haven't got a right to comment, and of course you must always feel free to disagree with anything I say. But if this is true, well, that will mean that we're up to 8 Eggheads, unless they are pushing one out. Which they shouldn't do - the 3 remaining originals - Judith, Chris and Kevin have been loyal to the show from the start, so they should stay. Barry and Pat won their places on the show fair and square. CJ wanted to move on, and my mate Dave was brought in to replace him, which he did well, and so he doesn't deserve to go. Yet 8 of them - it's getting to the stage where they could do a rugby union style substitution of half a team during the second half.
I do wonder about the choice of Lisa Thiel as well. Now I honestly can't comment on her ability as a quizzer, because I know nothing about it. For all I know she might be the sensation of the grand prix scene. But I don't think so. If they were looking for a 'like for like' - ie - female and excellent - replacement for Daphne, then I can think of quite a few names they could have approached. Maybe they did, and were rebuffed. I doubt it, though. Are they perhaps thinking - well, adding Barry and Pat, then replacing CJ with Dave certainly strengthened the team, so a couple of weaker members might improve the challengers' chances.
Well, as I say I don't know if this addition to the Eggheads is just a rumour, or if there's any truth behind it, but it will be interesting to find out in a few months time.
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5 comments:
Number of interesting points there Dave, most of which I'm not qualified to address. I can confirm what you've heard is true - I am now an Egghead and that is how I was found.
Since I began filming Eggheads, my seven colleagues, without exception, have been kind, welcoming and supportive. Their jobs are certainly not in jeopardy and there is no suggestion of anyone being thrown out. Were this the case then I would of course volunteer - as you say correctly, the others have earned their places and deserve to stay.
I hope this allays some of your concerns about better quizzers being thrown out to make room for people that the elite quiz world has never heard of. Thanks for taking an interest in my career.
Hi Lisa,
I have to be honest, I never expected to have an answer so quickly or so definitively!
Please don't take offence at any of what I wrote. Just because I'm not aware of your quizzing pedigree means absolutely nothing.
I am glad that they're not throwing anyone out. How are they going to accomodate each of your, I wonder? Is there going to be a strict rota, so that everyone gets the same number of games?
If I might be cheeky and ask just one more question as well - are you the musician? When I googled your name to see if I could get any hint about your quiz track record there as a huge number of hits on Lisa Thiel the musician.
Thanks for taking the time and trouble to leave a comment.
Lisa,
Here's an idea out of left field. I'm guessing that you're clear to discuss your joining the Eggheads, or you probably wouldn't have posted here. How would you feel if I could ask you some questions about joining the Eggheads, and appearing on "Revenge. . . "? I could present it as a special feature here on LAM.
If you'd be amenable, you could email me at londinius@yahoo.co.uk and then I could email you some questions. If there's any questions you don't like the look of, then just don't answer, I won't be offended. Likewise, if you don't fancy the idea, then don't worry, I won't be offended about that either.
If you do think you might be prepared to do it, though, just email me and let me know.
Best regards,
Dave
I think that it's important that the best Eggheads are chosen for the job, and not just the quizzers who are the best known. Meaning no disrespect to her, I do feel that Judith Keppel was probably chosen because she was the first person to win the jackpot on an astonishingly popular quiz show and was a household name for a while as a result (although personally I feel that Judith is a better Egghead than she is often given credit for, which is a point that I'll debate at another time.) Lisa might not be the most well-known female quizzer, but I just looked up her 2001 episode of Weakest Link, which someone posted on a forum, and I was genuinely very impressed. She's very knowledgable and witty, and I think she'll be a really good addition to the Eggheads team.
Lisa, just out of curiosity have you done any other quiz shows besides Revenge and Weakest Link?
Ooh, I like George. He can stay :-)
I will save all longer answers to these questions for the definitive LAM article, but in short - yes, no, yes and yes.
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