‘I’m still humiliated’: The dangers of appearing on a celebrity game show | television

For Monty Panesar, the answer was that Germany played their home football matches in Athens. For David Lammy, he was saying that Henry VIII’s heir was Henry VII. As for actress Amanda Henderson, she responded on behalf of Sharon to a question about Greta Thunberg.

Panesar’s disastrous appearance on Celebrity Mastermind six years ago was used to mock him this week by Australian cricket team captain Steve Smith.

Lammy’s 2009 wrong answers on a BBC program were recently excavated by Robert Jenrick to cast doubt on the intelligence of the Justice Secretary now dubbed a mastermind.

Henderson’s 2020 gaffe over Thunberg caused such a social media storm that the Swedish climate activist briefly changed her Twitter name to Sharon.

The risks of appearing as a celebrity on a game show known to attract intellectuals may seem obvious and can cause lasting reputational damage. So why do celebrities agree to appear in such tests?

Their clients claim that they can increase their clients’ profile and show their human side.

“These things are generally for charity, so there’s a nice halo effect to the exposure,” said Bronagh Monahan, co-founder of Mon Rae Management, which specializes in representing YouTubers.

“It’s participation that counts. If you get something wrong, it shows you’re fallible, which makes you famous.”

Don’t believe it, says Guardian graphics writer John Cress, who is still traumatized by the misspelling of mozzarella in the Celebrity League challenge.

“I am still regularly insulted by my family who remind me of Muzarilajat,” he said.

Chris’s advice to anyone tempted to appear for such tests is: don’t do it.

“Unless you’re exceptionally smart, you’re probably going to make a fool of yourself,” he said. “The producers hope you make fun of yourself because this is the best show on television.”

Chris warns that the University Challenge is more vulnerable to humiliation than the Mastermind, because it involves embarrassing wrong answers, and doesn’t involve a specialized topic that you can prepare for.

Chris said: “It’s a lot harder to do it on TV than it is to be on top of everything at home. I’m very handy at UCLA at home and I thought I was going to be a star. I wasn’t.”

Not all pageant appearances end in shame. Journalist and author David Hepworth wanted to turn down an invitation to appear in the University Challenge for fear of being outed. He agreed only after his wife indicated, “You won’t be asked again.”

He has no regrets after helping his Middlesex team win the 2023 competition.

But even after this success, he was not tempted to appear on Celebrity Mastermind, describing it as an “exercise in exploitation television”.

Maths teacher Bobby Seagull has built his media career on his successful performances on University Challenge. He has also won the celebrity editions of Mastermind and Pointless and now coaches celebrity contestants.

“My advice is always to relax and enjoy it. If you take it too seriously, you’ll panic and go into a doom cycle that we’ve seen so many times in celebrity auditions.”

Seagull’s tips include listening to recordings of the quizmaster to get used to his pronunciation, and binge-watching other quiz shows.

Even Seagull is haunted by questions he got wrong, like confusing Barry Manilow with Rod Stewart. He insisted that the failure of the Panesar mastermind could have happened to anyone.

“If you make mistakes, it knocks your confidence,” Nawras said. “As a math teacher, I see that in the classroom all the time.”

“It doesn’t matter how smart you are, you might be like Stephen Fry, and brain fog can still cloud your ability to retrieve information under pressure.”

He warned celebrities to stay away from social media if they make a mistake. Online build-ups can now be so brutal that Seagull wonders about the future of such offerings.

“The risk of backlash on social media has reached a point where it has become difficult for producers to recruit high-profile celebrities for these shows,” he said.

Alex Segal, managing director of talent agency InterTalent, disagrees. “People do these shows for the show, and they can make good money for charity and it’s fun. It’s not that deep.”

Segal warns his clients that he can make them look “silly,” and sometimes advises against appearing on a mastermind show when celebrities don’t have time to read about their niche topic.

But even wrong answers can be entertaining, he said. “I assigned Omid Djalili to play the mastermind. When he didn’t know the answers, he came up with the most ridiculous answers. He didn’t look bad, he just looked funny.”

When asked about the alternative name for the horned rattlesnake based on its movement, Jalili replied, “wriggles dramatically.” The correct answer was Sidewinder.