Primetime - Who Wants To Be a Millionaire (UK) Scandal (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

I have no idea why it took 2 hours to "cover" that story. Loved the reasons given for why the wife had 4 pagers, and over 70 pages in one day. Yeah, that's not suspicious...

*cough*bullsh!+*cough*

I managed to catch bits and piece during the commercial breaks of CSI and ER, but I'll watch it in its entirety this weekend.

 

[TonyD]

i saw that.
it was almost comical how blatant the coughing was.

my wife and i were laughing out loud everytime that guy would cough and sometimes blow his nose to confirm an answer.

one time he even did the *cough* NO *cough* thing. you know, when you cough a word instead of just saying the word.

 

[Bob-N]

Yes, it was very comical. It was also funny how her family was on the show and had a "past" for the quick scam.

Yes, I also agree as to why it took a whole 2 hours for the story. I don't know how many times they showed "major doofus" answer those questions....maybe 5-6 times each?

Bob

 

[DeeF]

The scam itself seems so... fifth grade. I'm actually a little surprised that they didn't stop the show mid-taping.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I was flipping through the stations and came upon the special not knowing it was a special. I thought they were just showing the british version. So I watched a question and the first cough I thought, wow, that almost seems like someone is cheating. Then the cough happened again, and I knew it had to be a scam and wondered why it was still going on. Then I saw the scandal thing come up. It was so blatently obvious.

Anyway, I was just happy that I actually knew the $1,000,000 question. Of course it was googol!

 

[Tony-B]

That was a very good special! I can't believe they diddn't do anything about it during the taping. If I worked at Celador, I would get rid of the guy immediately and stop the cameras.

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

The surprising thing about this episode is how people that that think so highly of themsleves ever thought that they could get away with something so blatantly stupid.

I *almost* felt sorry for the professor. He is such a bad lier and he realizes that if he can't make people believe him, his career and life as he knows it is pretty much over.

 

[Mark ZA]

Having the insight that I do as a Brit....I find it unbelievable that anybody would believe that bullshit story. All of the coughing that co-incides with the answers was enhanced to tie in with what Celador wanted to convey...the truth is that they lost their ratings because of the 9/11 tradgedy and wanted to recoup some money by concocting this 'conspiracy'.

There was no way to tie the coughing to the one guy, all of the contestants are on the same microphone loop. There was no video evidence that this guy was coughing and so I refuse to believe it. I dont understand how anyone could convict them on the sham of 'evidence' presented in that show.

After the Michael Jackson debacle I refuse to accept anything that leaves Bashirs mouth anyhow.

Hope this isnt too strong a political statement for this forum, but I had to add my 2 pence (cents).

 

[andrew markworthy]

Mark, having also the insight of a Brit, I couldn't disagree more, old friend.

There was more than one microphone on the audience. The coughing was exaggerated for the benefit of the viewers (not everyone has surround sound or even stereo TV remember, so something that suits mono had to be broadcast). The way in which the Major was behaving and the way in which he responded to the coughs was *way* too suspicious for it to be coincidence. Bear in mind that this evidence was given in much greater detail to the jury over several days, and the coughing was only one part of it. Inevitably a television presentation is going to present a gloss that can be attacked on logical grounds. But it was the substance, not the gloss, that convicted the people involved.

What I find fascinating is that there are plans afoot to make this whole sorry affair into a movie.