I only watch Pointless and I can't see any evidence that the questions are 'dumbed down' on the celebrity episodes.
Pointless is the one show that doesn't seem dumbed down for the celebrities. They do sometimes have topics to "suit" the type of celebrity on that particular show but not really dumbed down.
Yeah, I've noticed quite a few times that the Chaser has threw the game by making it look as if they being able to answer questions that they would have no doubt been able to answer had the game show not been the charity version. They try their best to make it look convincing though.
Yes because these chasers know everything, ever. Right?
Some celebs are a bit, erm, lacking in all-round general knowledge.
My favourite was the Coronation Street actress (whose name escapes me) who was asked which monarch was sitting on the throne at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. She said Margaret Thatcher - and was genuinely surprised when the host asked if she was sure that was the answer she wanted to give.
I have noticed on these shows ie pointless and The Chase, the celebs are usually very ignorant indeed when it comes to general knowledge. So much so it is laughable.
Some celebs are a bit, erm, lacking in all-round general knowledge.
My favourite was the Coronation Street actress (whose name escapes me) who was asked which monarch was sitting on the throne at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. She said Margaret Thatcher - and was genuinely surprised when the host asked if she was sure that was the answer she wanted to give.
There was a show many years ago, I think with Schofield hosting (I think it was that show where they had 100 teachers, 100 builders, etc and a sofa of celebs?), where someone (I'm sure some famous - although I don't remember who) was asked something like "the last American president to be assassinated while in office?", and she answered "KFC" to howls of laughter (probably across the country).
Anyone remember that? I remember searching for it on YouTube one day and finding nothing. Maybe I dreamt it ;P
I hate celebrity versions of shows and generally have zero interest in celebrities outside of their actual jobs. The worst being celebrity Family fortunes, always seems to have an ITV starlet's family from up north. It's cringe worthy and unwatchable. But yeah completely agree with the op. Inane questions aimed at dim witted people.
I hate celebrity versions of shows and generally have zero interest in celebrities outside of their actual jobs. The worst being celebrity Family fortunes, always seems to have an ITV starlet's family from up north. It's cringe worthy and unwatchable. But yeah completely agree with the op. Inane questions aimed at dim witted people.
I agree with you about ITV ruining Family Fortunes with its Emmerdale/Coronation Street obsession. I also find it in poor taste watching these soap stars with their six figure salaries happily winning prizes for themselves. Very greedy.
The recent Celebrity Pointless shows seem to be using "normal" Pointless questions - not "easy" ones.
But maybe geared at subjects the Celebrities are more likely to know so they don't look completely dumb. No chemical elements etc
They have done chemical elements questions for Celebrity Pointless - not often, but they have.
As an aside, I didn't do chemistry at school (I'm an English/humanities/arts person, most definitely not a maths/science person!) and I've literally only started to 'get a handle' on the chemical elements thanks to Pointless! My teenage daughters always knew good answers because they do it at school now whether they want to or not, but in my day we could choose to drop all but one science if we wanted to!
I only watch Pointless and I can't see any evidence that the questions are 'dumbed down' on the celebrity episodes.
I would agree with you, and anyone else who's alluded to this so far in the discussion. Sometimes they have a round with a bias towards the entertainment industry when they have actors/comedians etc on, sometimes they have a round with a bias towards the world of sport when they have sports people on, but it's not blatant and it's not always that 'easy' for them, even then!
We watch a lot of this genre of TV in our family - from The Chase and Pointless to University Challenge, Mastermind and Only Connect - so at times the differences between 'normal' and 'celebrity' versions are obvious, but it depends on the programme - The Chase might make more allowances with 'easier' questions (which is a subjective judgement in itself!) than the series of 'Christmas University Challenge' that started last night, for example.
We've brought our children up to appreciate that having a good all-round 'general knowledge' is a good thing, and now, at 16 and 20, we enjoy keeping score among ourselves in a bit of family competitiveness - that might sound a bit daft, but you always end up storing away something you didn't know before, and always have those times where you know the answer, but have no idea how you know it. you just do! At the end of the day it doesn't matter how you get those snippets of information in your head, and there's never a time when anyone can say, "I know everything I need to know, I'll stop now".
Watching all these shows, as it seems many other do on here, highlights more than anything (in both the normal versions and the celebrity versions) is that it's not just about having a narrow field of interest (e.g. the 'specialist round' in Mastermind) that's important, it's having a good all-round general knowledge that makes the difference - I mean, I've lost count of the number of times the person who's stormed their specialist round on Mastermind has blown winning their heat because they didn't have a good all-round general knowledge!
But my children do notice on the 'Celebrity Mastermind' general knowledge round, for example, that we're all getting four or five more questions right on each contestant's round than we do on the 'normal' one - it's not a very scientific way of calibrating the 'easiness' of questions, but it does seem to be consistently so. The girls do say sometimes that it's funny to see 'celebrity grown ups' much older than themselves seemingly knowing so much less than they do - they have been known to call some performances 'embarrassing'. :o The 'Only Connect' celebrity special for Children in Need was easier than the normal one as well - although we're only judging that by the fact we all got far more points than we normally do, and the connections were noticeably easier (or maybe it was just that the celebrities really hadn't got a clue what was going on!!) but perhaps, if they try that again, or make a whole 'celebrity' series, they'll crank up the difficulty rating a bit.
That level of 'celebrity adaptation' is much less noticeable on 'Celebrity Pointless' (beyond having the odd broad category that might be loosely connected to the theme of the celebrity teams they've got) and it is something both Xander and Richard have made a point of saying from time to time, that they didn't want to do it if it was going to be 'dumbed down' so as to make it look ridiculous/obvious and (no pun intended) pointless if all the celebrities had to do to win the jackpot was turn up. The Pointless jackpot is never easy to win, whether you're a celebrity or not!
(A bit OT, but does anyone else wish Pointless had a page on the BBC website where all the answers were posted after the show? It's really frustrating to have had an answer, but not have its score mentioned in Richard's round-up at the end!)
Finally, I know this is going to sound a bit divisive, but we've noticed that ITV seem to have a different attitude to their 'celebrity' shows than the BBC do in terms of trying to maintain 'standards' in terms of the level of general knowledge needed to take part (or, looking at it the other way up, the level of general knowledge needed to stop the celebrities looking stupid!) but that might just be because we don't really watch any ITV quiz shows other than the chase, or occasionally 'Tipping Point' and don't have a balanced overview. I'm certainly not claiming it to be a fact!
Yes because these chasers know everything, ever. Right?
I'm not talking about getting every question right. They don't get every question right on the normal version so I don't know why you've said that for. They look to be losing more times on the charity one than on the normal version.
There was a show many years ago, I think with Schofield hosting (I think it was that show where they had 100 teachers, 100 builders, etc and a sofa of celebs?), where someone (I'm sure some famous - although I don't remember who) was asked something like "the last American president to be assassinated while in office?", and she answered "KFC" to howls of laughter (probably across the country).
Anyone remember that? I remember searching for it on YouTube one day and finding nothing. Maybe I dreamt it ;P
Lol 😂 if that's true its the greatest answer ever!
(A bit OT, but does anyone else wish Pointless had a page on the BBC website where all the answers were posted after the show? It's really frustrating to have had an answer, but not have its score mentioned in Richard's round-up at the end!)
This is something I've been wishing for for some time, it would add to the enjoyment of the programme.
I saw a celeb version of the chase. The question was what colour are the simpsons? The chaser said purple
That really annoys me. Especially as the non celebrities get stupidly hard questions that hardly anyone knows except for the chasers. And Bradley Walsh reads the questions really slowly for the non celebrities and laughs at nothing to delay time, but seems to pick up the pace for the celebrity version. Unfair!
That really annoys me. Especially as the non celebrities get stupidly hard questions that hardly anyone knows except for the chasers. And Bradley Walsh reads the questions really slowly for the non celebrities and laughs at nothing to delay time, but seems to pick up the pace for the celebrity version. Unfair!
Haven't seen The Chase - any examples of these 'stupidly hard questions'?
Haven't seen The Chase - any examples of these 'stupidly hard questions'?
Can't really think of one at the top of my head. Just watch an episode in the week. It's on everyday at 5.00 on ITV. You'll see what I mean! Although they might be a question you'll know. Depending how bright you are! Lol
I'm not talking about getting every question right. They don't get every question right on the normal version so I don't know why you've said that for. They look to be losing more times on the charity one than on the normal version.
BIB. I would have agreed with that for previous series, but not with the series just finished. Celebrity wins very rare in the most recent batch.
I think sometimes even seemingly bright peoples brains go to mush on game shows.
Steve Pemberton was on the celeb Chase recently and was asked the question
"Which musical instrument is used to indicate the arrival of Jaws ?"
Options were Cello, Trumpet and another (can't remember) He said trumpet for gods sake, this from one of a comedy trio who are known horror film buffs.
Having said that the chaser got well and truly arse kicked after that and it definitely happens more often on the celeb one.
Plus when comparing Pointless to The Chase, Pointless has rounds with open ended questions that have many right or wrong I,e high or low points. Wheras the Chase is multiple choice for the first few rounds, then definite answers in the last round.
I think sometimes even seemingly bright peoples brains go to mush on game shows.
Steve Pemberton was on the celeb Chase recently and was asked the question
"Which musical instrument is used to indicate the arrival of Jaws ?"
Options were Cello, Trumpet and another (can't remember) He said trumpet for gods sake, this from one of a comedy trio who are known horror film buffs.
Having said that the chaser got well and truly arse kicked after that and it definitely happens more often on the celeb one.
If you believe the questions on Celebrity Mastermind aren't made easier for the 'celebrities' then clearly you've never seen the programme.
The specialist subjects on tonight's Celebrity Mastermind included The history and genealogy of European royal houses 849-1901AD, the history and art of Rome 100-1BC and the Regency novels of Georgette Heyer.
Oh sorry, I meant Carry On films, Richard Pryor and Prince. My mistake.
I didn't watch, but I assume there were references to Barbara Windsor's bra flying off, Gene Wilder and the symbol formerly enslaved as Prince.
Next week they've got Debbie King answering as many Quizmania questions as she can in two minutes.
The specialist subjects on tonight's Celebrity Mastermind included The history and genealogy of European royal houses 849-1901AD, the history and art of Rome 100-1BC and the Regency novels of Georgette Heyer.
Oh sorry, I meant Carry On films, Richard Pryor and Prince. My mistake.
I didn't watch, but I assume there were references to Barbara Windsor's bra flying off, Gene Wilder and the symbol formerly enslaved as Prince.
Next week they've got Debbie King answering as many Quizmania questions as she can in two minutes.
It was an exhibition in ignorance even with questions so easy that most young teens could answer them.
One of them was asked about the character in 'Great Expectations' who was jilted on her wedding day and who wandered around in her wedding dress. By the look on their face you would've thought Humphries was asking them to explain quantum mechanics.
They utterly embarrassed themselves, and what's worse is that they seemed to find their own stupidity highly amusing.
The specialist subjects on tonight's Celebrity Mastermind included The history and genealogy of European royal houses 849-1901AD, the history and art of Rome 100-1BC and the Regency novels of Georgette Heyer.
Oh sorry, I meant Carry On films, Richard Pryor and Prince. My mistake.
I didn't watch, but I assume there were references to Barbara Windsor's bra flying off, Gene Wilder and the symbol formerly enslaved as Prince.
Next week they've got Debbie King answering as many Quizmania questions as she can in two minutes.
I'd probably emit a sound like a kazoo if I saw a shark swimming toward me, and not necessarily from my mouth.
We definitely have proof they don't dumb the questions down on celeb editions - Lizzy Yarnold (skeleton gold medallist in the 2014 Winter Olympics) was on Mastermind. And only got 3 for her "specialist" subject.
We definitely have proof they don't dumb the questions down on celeb editions - Lizzy Yarnold (skeleton gold medallist in the 2014 Winter Olympics) was on Mastermind. And only got 3 for her "specialist" subject.
No that just shows she either had poor knowledge or more likely was so nervous her brain got in a tangle, she even go "foot and mouth" wrong and you didn't need to watch The Archers to know that. Her topic was much more difficult though than something very specialised like Triumph sports cars.
They are still doing celebrity game shows in 2015 why o why please stop this cringe worthy rubbish don't care it's for charity, there's too much charity uk government are a disgrace along with shyster banks who got trillions of pounds laying there. Just dumbing down of TV it's boring and most are thick and stupid to answer these questions. Get a real job celebrities. Like most of us have.
When did celebrities stop going to school or stop watching the news? They are just people for god sake. Not mythical god-like creatures who do not live mere mortal lives. So i see no reason why they are treated any different to joe blog public.
Comments
Pointless is the one show that doesn't seem dumbed down for the celebrities. They do sometimes have topics to "suit" the type of celebrity on that particular show but not really dumbed down.
I have noticed on these shows ie pointless and The Chase, the celebs are usually very ignorant indeed when it comes to general knowledge. So much so it is laughable.
There was a show many years ago, I think with Schofield hosting (I think it was that show where they had 100 teachers, 100 builders, etc and a sofa of celebs?), where someone (I'm sure some famous - although I don't remember who) was asked something like "the last American president to be assassinated while in office?", and she answered "KFC" to howls of laughter (probably across the country).
Anyone remember that? I remember searching for it on YouTube one day and finding nothing. Maybe I dreamt it ;P
I agree with you about ITV ruining Family Fortunes with its Emmerdale/Coronation Street obsession. I also find it in poor taste watching these soap stars with their six figure salaries happily winning prizes for themselves. Very greedy.
They have done chemical elements questions for Celebrity Pointless - not often, but they have.
As an aside, I didn't do chemistry at school (I'm an English/humanities/arts person, most definitely not a maths/science person!) and I've literally only started to 'get a handle' on the chemical elements thanks to Pointless! My teenage daughters always knew good answers because they do it at school now whether they want to or not, but in my day we could choose to drop all but one science if we wanted to!
I would agree with you, and anyone else who's alluded to this so far in the discussion. Sometimes they have a round with a bias towards the entertainment industry when they have actors/comedians etc on, sometimes they have a round with a bias towards the world of sport when they have sports people on, but it's not blatant and it's not always that 'easy' for them, even then!
We watch a lot of this genre of TV in our family - from The Chase and Pointless to University Challenge, Mastermind and Only Connect - so at times the differences between 'normal' and 'celebrity' versions are obvious, but it depends on the programme - The Chase might make more allowances with 'easier' questions (which is a subjective judgement in itself!) than the series of 'Christmas University Challenge' that started last night, for example.
We've brought our children up to appreciate that having a good all-round 'general knowledge' is a good thing, and now, at 16 and 20, we enjoy keeping score among ourselves in a bit of family competitiveness - that might sound a bit daft, but you always end up storing away something you didn't know before, and always have those times where you know the answer, but have no idea how you know it. you just do! At the end of the day it doesn't matter how you get those snippets of information in your head, and there's never a time when anyone can say, "I know everything I need to know, I'll stop now".
Watching all these shows, as it seems many other do on here, highlights more than anything (in both the normal versions and the celebrity versions) is that it's not just about having a narrow field of interest (e.g. the 'specialist round' in Mastermind) that's important, it's having a good all-round general knowledge that makes the difference - I mean, I've lost count of the number of times the person who's stormed their specialist round on Mastermind has blown winning their heat because they didn't have a good all-round general knowledge!
But my children do notice on the 'Celebrity Mastermind' general knowledge round, for example, that we're all getting four or five more questions right on each contestant's round than we do on the 'normal' one - it's not a very scientific way of calibrating the 'easiness' of questions, but it does seem to be consistently so. The girls do say sometimes that it's funny to see 'celebrity grown ups' much older than themselves seemingly knowing so much less than they do - they have been known to call some performances 'embarrassing'.
That level of 'celebrity adaptation' is much less noticeable on 'Celebrity Pointless' (beyond having the odd broad category that might be loosely connected to the theme of the celebrity teams they've got) and it is something both Xander and Richard have made a point of saying from time to time, that they didn't want to do it if it was going to be 'dumbed down' so as to make it look ridiculous/obvious and (no pun intended) pointless if all the celebrities had to do to win the jackpot was turn up. The Pointless jackpot is never easy to win, whether you're a celebrity or not!
(A bit OT, but does anyone else wish Pointless had a page on the BBC website where all the answers were posted after the show? It's really frustrating to have had an answer, but not have its score mentioned in Richard's round-up at the end!)
Finally, I know this is going to sound a bit divisive, but we've noticed that ITV seem to have a different attitude to their 'celebrity' shows than the BBC do in terms of trying to maintain 'standards' in terms of the level of general knowledge needed to take part (or, looking at it the other way up, the level of general knowledge needed to stop the celebrities looking stupid!) but that might just be because we don't really watch any ITV quiz shows other than the chase, or occasionally 'Tipping Point' and don't have a balanced overview. I'm certainly not claiming it to be a fact!
I'm not talking about getting every question right. They don't get every question right on the normal version so I don't know why you've said that for. They look to be losing more times on the charity one than on the normal version.
Lol 😂 if that's true its the greatest answer ever!
This is something I've been wishing for for some time, it would add to the enjoyment of the programme.
That really annoys me. Especially as the non celebrities get stupidly hard questions that hardly anyone knows except for the chasers. And Bradley Walsh reads the questions really slowly for the non celebrities and laughs at nothing to delay time, but seems to pick up the pace for the celebrity version. Unfair!
Haven't seen The Chase - any examples of these 'stupidly hard questions'?
Can't really think of one at the top of my head. Just watch an episode in the week. It's on everyday at 5.00 on ITV. You'll see what I mean! Although they might be a question you'll know. Depending how bright you are! Lol
Never seen The Chase
Here's what you're missing; one of it's funniest moments ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmwGFX5pgXw
BIB. I would have agreed with that for previous series, but not with the series just finished. Celebrity wins very rare in the most recent batch.
Steve Pemberton was on the celeb Chase recently and was asked the question
"Which musical instrument is used to indicate the arrival of Jaws ?"
Options were Cello, Trumpet and another (can't remember) He said trumpet for gods sake, this from one of a comedy trio who are known horror film buffs.
Having said that the chaser got well and truly arse kicked after that and it definitely happens more often on the celeb one.
Plus when comparing Pointless to The Chase, Pointless has rounds with open ended questions that have many right or wrong I,e high or low points. Wheras the Chase is multiple choice for the first few rounds, then definite answers in the last round.
The specialist subjects on tonight's Celebrity Mastermind included The history and genealogy of European royal houses 849-1901AD, the history and art of Rome 100-1BC and the Regency novels of Georgette Heyer.
Oh sorry, I meant Carry On films, Richard Pryor and Prince. My mistake.
I didn't watch, but I assume there were references to Barbara Windsor's bra flying off, Gene Wilder and the symbol formerly enslaved as Prince.
Next week they've got Debbie King answering as many Quizmania questions as she can in two minutes.
I'd probably emit a sound like a kazoo if I saw a shark swimming toward me, and not necessarily from my mouth.
It was an exhibition in ignorance even with questions so easy that most young teens could answer them.
One of them was asked about the character in 'Great Expectations' who was jilted on her wedding day and who wandered around in her wedding dress. By the look on their face you would've thought Humphries was asking them to explain quantum mechanics.
They utterly embarrassed themselves, and what's worse is that they seemed to find their own stupidity highly amusing.
No that just shows she either had poor knowledge or more likely was so nervous her brain got in a tangle, she even go "foot and mouth" wrong and you didn't need to watch The Archers to know that. Her topic was much more difficult though than something very specialised like Triumph sports cars.