I must congratulate Alan Heath - what a fantastically tense and exciting final! Huge commiserations to Jim Maginnis - losing a close match is cruel, and losing one that close is even more cruel, but I thought he showed great dignity in his congratulations to the deserved winner.
Well done Alan! Brilliant show of calm under fire.
I have a busy weekend ahead, and am off to London first thing tomorrow, but will post a full review of the final when I can.
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The Mastermind final should be replayed.
Jim Maginnis`s 5th question on general knowledge was factually incorrect there fore throwing him of course in the first sentence. John Humphry`s said a singer who died in 1988, therefore ruling out Frank Sinatra straight away who died in 1998.
The contest ended in a tie. If a factually correct question had been asked, Jim Maginnis may have won
The BBC should do the honourable thing and arrange for the contest to be replayed
HI aramis138 - you know, I thought he said 1988. I haven't watched it back on the iplayer, but if he did I am really surprised that this was not sorted out.
The rules of Mastermind are, though, that if you feel you have had an unfair ruling in any way, you may make a challenge at the end of the round, but not later in the show. SO if Jim just let it go, then by the rules of the game it was just bad luck. I'm guessing that this would have been the case.
Thanks for that info David, I obviously did not know the rules, but, regardless, it seems unfair to have to make decision in the heat of the moment. Does however this rule apply if an error has been made in the facts of the question. I can understand it applying if the contestant is adamant that he has given the correct answer, but here, Jim would psychologically have ruled out Frank Sinatra the moment 1988 was stated.
I think at least the BBC should make a public apology
I don't know of any time in the Humphrys era, aramis138, when anything approaching a public acknowledgement of an error has been given. I'm fairly sure that there was at least one occasion in the Magnus Magnusson years when a contender's answer was ruled incorrect on the show, and then later revealed to be right, and Magnus explained this in the next show, and the score was amended accordingly. I have it in my head that at least once this may have resulted in a contender being given an extra semi final place to right a wrong - but perhaps that's all just in my head. This is not to say that an error has never been made in a final. In Elizabeth Horrocks' 1974 final, originally she was the winner on passes, but a steward's enquiry by the production team found that one of the other contender's answers had been ruled correct when it was not, and so the score was amended so that she won by a point.
Both Jim and Alan played with grace, dignity and sportsmanship. To his great credit Jim has not raised the issue of THAT question in his comments on my LAM review. Human error is deeply unfortunate in such a match, but it is unavoidable, and at the end of the day it is just one of those things. That's easy for me to say since I was lucky enough that I didn't have any such missile from outrageous fortune to deal with in my own final. But there we are. I don't know that anything would be served by a public apology at this stage. Just my opinion, and by all means feel free to disagree.
Thanks again, I bow to your greater knowledge, but at least Jim should be made aware of the situation, if you are in touch with him. It could be that I am the only one in the country to have noticed the error !!
All...to put the 'Sinatra situation' to bed. The producer rang me on Saturday morning to explain what had happened and how it was unprecedented that the slip had not been noticed by anyone either during the recording on the day, in post-production or in pre-broadcast. We agreed that, practically speaking, there was very little, if anything that we could do so long after the event. In my view, Alan Heath was an extremely worthy winner, who has been outstanding in all three rounds. As for myself, I am actually quite sanguine about the whole affair, and to quote from another standard from the 'disputed' Francis Albert Sinatra....'That's Life'!
Well done, and gentlemanly of you to accept the situation Jim. I felt obliged to fight your corner however and contacted the BBC on Friday night, hence your call from the producer on Saturday morning.
I hope you try for you third attempt in the future
Thanks both. Jim, I can't add much to what I have already said, but please take it as a compliment that I think that any of us who have watched the show, or had the good fortune to have been in contact with you at any time, would expect this response from you.
I've only just got round to watching the final, hence my late comment, but there was also a factual error in a final a few years ago, which I pointed out on here, in a specialist round on the operas of Verdi.
The contestant, whose name I can't remember, pulled a shocked face when her correct answer was said to be wrong, but clearly didn't challenge it.
'In Elizabeth Horrocks' 1974 final, originally she was the winner on passes, but a steward's enquiry by the production team found that one of the other contender's answers had been ruled correct when it was not, and so the score was amended so that she won by a point. '
Just as well it wasn't the other way round...
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