500 Questions (Season 2) [Spoilers after 5:00 p.m. PDT on game nights]

[Robert K S]

I don't see the TOM in that clue. Seems more like "you know it or you don't."

It's funny, I googled the clue to find the response, and wound up at this page where someone just happened to have documented watching the show that night in a room full of circus performers. The author seemed to think that all three contestants on the show got the clue right.

[Robert K S]

I guess if you grew up with the stamp you had a chance of remembering it.

[seaborgium]

C: Odd Jobs. A: It was the profession of Lou Jacobs, who was put on a postage stamp and died in Sarasota in 1992.

That's a toughie. Makes a lot of sense once I saw the answer, but that's a hard connection to make in 30 seconds.

It took me a few seconds, but I made the Sarasota connection eventually.

[MarkBarrett]

C: Odd Jobs. A: It was the profession of Lou Jacobs, who was put on a postage stamp and died in Sarasota in 1992.

That's a toughie. Makes a lot of sense once I saw the answer, but that's a hard connection to make in 30 seconds.

It took me a few seconds, but I made the Sarasota connection eventually.

Out here in the west I think of two things when I see Sarasota: spring training baseball and the circus. I immediately guessed clown.

[Fleeboy]

Instaget, only because I recognized the name, having seen Jacobs' famed "clown car" act in person (and in several viewings of the film The Greatest Show on Earth).

[dinghammer]

(I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in Reretaken Down...)

The British version of 500 Questions starts tonight. This short article about it doesn't mention a challenger, so I don't know if this version won't have one or if they just didn't mention (or know about) it.

The host is Giles Coren, brother of Victoria Coren Mitchell, who hosts Only Connect. There's more about that relationship in this article. I thought the penultimate paragraph was interesting:

Here’s a strange fact: the show, based on an American format (there have already been two series over there), is recorded in Cologne. Which means that Coren is asking questions in English, to British contestants, in front of a German- speaking studio audience. Why did they not film over here? Because a German broadcaster has also bought the rights to make 500 Questions, and it was cheaper for ITV to use RTL’s set rather than build one for itself.

I think I'll skip the German version.

[alietr]

Well, if Millionaire can tape in Vegas, I mean that's a completely different planet.

[dinghammer]

There was a flags category. In case anyone is interested in that sort of thing, here are the questions:

1. The flag showing a white square on a blue background, that is flown when a ship is about to set sail, is known by what two-word name?
2. The flag of which notorious pirate who died in 1718 depicted a skeleton holding an hourglass and a spear?*
3. Name three of the five countries whose national flags depict the constellation known as the Southern Cross.
4. Which musical instrument is featured on the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom?*
5. On the 23rd of February 1945, an iconic photograph, showing six servicemen raising the US flag, was taken by Joe Rosenthal on which Japanese island?

I transcribed the two marked with asterisks because they appeared during lightning rounds. The others are as they appeared. Question 3 was a Triple Threat. One of these days I'll write something about what they changed for this version.

[dhkendall]

There was a flags category. In case anyone is interested in that sort of thing, here are the questions:

1. The flag showing a white square on a blue background, that is flown when a ship is about to set sail, is known by what two-word name?
2. The flag of which notorious pirate who died in 1718 depicted a skeleton holding an hourglass and a spear?*
3. Name three of the five countries whose national flags depict the constellation known as the Southern Cross.
4. Which musical instrument is featured on the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom?*
5. On the 23rd of February 1945, an iconic photograph, showing six servicemen raising the US flag, was taken by Joe Rosenthal on which Japanese island?

I transcribed the two marked with asterisks because they appeared during lightning rounds. The others are as they appeared. Question 3 was a Triple Threat. One of these days I'll write something about what they changed for this version.

Not sure off the top of my head if there are any boardies into flags, but I'm sure someone enjoyed that.

Shockingly I didn't do as good as I thought in this, had no idea on 1. and WAGged 2. (although with the rule that you have unlimited guesses in the time restraint that I assume the UK version has too, I might have got it.) Made up for it by getting all 5 Southern Cross flags though. I'd like to see the answers (in a spoiler of course) as well as what was answered(if it was different).

Looking forward to seeing how the UK gameplay is different, maybe the American version might take note. (Do they have a smarmy host with an American accent? )

[econgator]

had no idea on 1

Despite 8 years in the Navy, I have no clue what this is either.

[coachgold]

Did a little digging, flag question 1 answer below:

Spoiler

Looks like it's called a Blue Peter, which would be much more obvious to Brits as there's a very famous television show with the same name that has been running over there since 1958.

Picture taken from here (left side)

[dinghammer]

The main difference in the UK version is that only one board of 50 questions is used per episode. When a contestant gets three wrong in a row and is eliminated, the challenger picks up where they left off, including the money they've earned so far. Whoever is in the contestant position at the end of 50 questions gets that money and returns at the beginning of the next episode.

I assume that means that if the contestant gets the 48th through 50th questions wrong, the challenger becomes the contestant and gets the money for doing nothing. In one episode, if I'm remembering correctly, the challenger took over after the 48th or 49th question and got the 50th one wrong, earning around £10,000 for getting either one or zero questions right.

Like the US version, the challenger gets sent packing after the 50th question, though it doesn't make any sense to do that. In the US version, with a new board for every contestant and a new challenger for every board, there was a reason for that. In the UK version, with a late elimination, a challenger could have no chance of becoming the contestant before getting sent home, like in what I believe happened above.

Anyway, onto the gameplay. Contestants have 5 seconds to answer each question, and each correct answer is worth £500, and there are three types of traps:

Battle: Just like on the US version, except there are a lot more possible answers. I don't remember seeing any with fewer than 20 answers. There were no ties in any of the battles I saw. Those were always awkward in the US version.

Triple Threat: Just like on the US version (10 seconds to give three correct answers), except they didn't get three times the prize money for getting it right. Some of the questions had exactly three correct answers, but some had more, and they only had to give 3. One of them was to name three of Queen Elizabeth II's great grandchildren -- the contestant blanked, but I managed to name the three I knew.

Lightning: I liked the lightning round in the US version because it was just a way to earn more money, and three wrongs just meant you stopped. In this version, the question that started a lightning round was the first of ten asked in a quickfire manner, with the other nine chosen "randomly" (obviously not completely randomly -- they were spread around the board fairly evenly and avoided the other traps, like the Triple Threat in the Flags category). In a Lightning round, the contestant has three seconds to give each answer, and only the first one is accepted. If they get three wrong in a row (including any wrongs they may have had before the Lightning round started), they're eliminated. The new contestant then has to continue the lightning round.

Here are the answers to the flag questions:

Spoiler

1. Blue Peter (the contestant got it -- Blue Peter is also a kids' show over there, so I imagine the flag is well-known there)
2. Blackbeard (the contestant guessed Bluebeard, and it was a Lightning round, so he didn't get to guess again)
3. Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Papua New Guinea, Samoa (the contestant got the first two, then guessed South Africa and 0-2 other African countries)
4. Harp (I don't remember what the contestant guessed, if anything)
5. Iwo Jima (he got that)

I got the last four, though two of them were guesses, and I couldn't name the other two from the Triple Threat.

[econgator]

Did a little digging, flag question 1 answer below:

Spoiler

Looks like it's called a Blue Peter, which would be much more obvious to Brits as there's a very famous television show with the same name that has been running over there since 1958.

Picture taken from here (left side)

Yeah, that's not a thing on US ships that I am aware of. I do know of the show, though, due to its connection to Doctor Who.

[dhkendall]

Did a little digging, flag question 1 answer below:

Spoiler

Looks like it's called a Blue Peter, which would be much more obvious to Brits as there's a very famous television show with the same name that has been running over there since 1958.

Picture taken from here (left side)

Ah yeah, that name rings a distant bell, but I wouldn't have come up with that at all.

[CailinGaoilge]

Did a little digging, flag question 1 answer below:

Spoiler

Looks like it's called a Blue Peter, which would be much more obvious to Brits as there's a very famous television show with the same name that has been running over there since 1958.

Picture taken from here (left side)

Yeah, I grew up watching

Spoiler

Blue Peter

so got that one instantly.

[Bamaman]

I thought it would be impossible to make the rules even stupider but the Brits did it. But it would be fun to be a challenger and the champ run through a whole board and get booted on Q49.

"So, you're now in the hot seat. Here's you're question".

"Who cares? Show me the money!!!!"