Sorry, but I don't even know what "arsey" means. Would you care to explain?

From 'The Link'
Who am I?
- I was born in Melbourne in 1939
- I once worked for Private Eye and have appeared several times on 'Have I Got News for You'
- I once described the bra as "a ludicrous invention"
Contestants' answer: Ian Hislop.
(I'd assume this was a PE/HIGNFY-led disregard-the-other-clues job, but it still tickled me...

Germaine Greer,but my first thought on reading this was it might be Barry Humphries,who used to write (although not draw) the Barry McKenzie strips in Private Eye.

It is certainly tough to call the most stupid of all time, but I'll list some of the 'types' of bad answers that make the very short list:-


- Naming a country when asked for a continent or a capital city.

- Thinking a ridiculously famous battle took place 8 centuries later or previously than it did.

- Being asked for a person of a particular sex and naming one from the opposite (Not having the 'didn't hear' excuse).

- Guessing a decade of an invention which is miles out, and couldn't possibly have been invented that early/late due to obvious technological restrictions/advances for that decade.

- Being given a puzzle clue to an answer e.g. 2 clues to a homonym, and the contestant bases his guess around only 1 of the clues which blatantly has zero to do with the other clue (e.g. Salad leaf & firework = rocket, but contestant guesses 'Catherine Wheel').

From yesterdays 15 To 1

Which future member of the royal family was born in 1819

Contestants answer was the Queen (ie Elizabeth II )

She looks good for 196.

I disagree.

My interest is piqued now, two of those places are in the Netherlands, and Brest is in France.

Future monarch, I think the question was - she was a member of the royal family right from birth #pedant

I would agree with most of these,but not the last one. The last one isn't guessable,you can't even make an educated guess at it. Only the right answer will fit the two clues,there are highly unlikely to be any plausible wrong answers. So unless you get the right answer,you either have to say something that fits one of the clues (but almost certainly doesn't fit the other),or just say,"I don't know",or "pass." Sometimes I think people will say an answer they know is almost certainly wrong,just to be seen to be saying something.

If you don't have a lot of time to think,there are worse things than saying an answer which you know is almost certainly going to be wrong. It's the same as a pass (except on Mastermind).

I remember on Mastermind years ago somebody went on it and if they didn't know an answer they just said something like "Arsenal",no matter what the question was about. The idea was to have no passes,which count against you if it's a tie. But if you give a wrong answer the host takes up time giving the right answer,whereas if you pass he moves straight on to the next question. So it's debatable if the "no passing" strategy is effective.

Yes, it probably all pretty much balances out in the end; just as well really, because the "Arsenal"-to-every-question strategy is taking the mickey just a little bit.

The rocket one was on Celeb 15-to-1 last week.

The second clue wasn't firework but something like a powered projectile. The contestant correctly said rocket.


Also many times when a contestant gives a country instead of city or visa versa you can usually see the frustration on their face that they knew the answer but cocked it up, probably if it's a timed round.


Many mixed up answers like that I wouldn't class as stupid. It's just down to pressure and a brain fart.

On Two Tribes last night, they had a question that in a nutshell asked for the planet on which Superman was born. The answer was 'Krypton' and they got it right.

Now, as a comic fan the character of Superman was born on Earth. Kal-El was born on Krypton.

It is hardly a stupid answer unless you are a comic book fan.

It was more of a stupid question. I remember seeing another where the question was "What is Superman's real name?" and the answer given was "Clark Kent" and was given as correct!

And surely either way he was still born on Krypton, it was just the name of Superman that was "born" on Earth?

No, it was member because the correct answer they wanted was Prince Albert

It wasn't actually Arsenal he said every time,I think it might have been "Smith",but I've done a bit of searching but can't confirm this. I remember there was some debate as to whether deliberately saying a wrong answer instead of passing was within the spirit of the game. As I said any advantage you gained is probably marginal at best.

Ah, fair enough #pedantthatlooksdaftnow

Give this thread a look

Incorrect questions and answers on quiz shows
There maybe some crossover with this thread but there are many examples where a show has asked an ambiguous or incorrect question.

The most stupid answer I ever heard was on a very early episode of Blankety Blank with Terry Wogan. (OK it's gameshow, not technically a "quiz")

The question - which I forget - required the answer of a green fruit, apple or pear etc.

The elderly gent gave the following answer
"An under-ripe Raspberry"

Not surprisingly none of the celebs "matched" with his answer.

I answered Queen Victoria but only now realize due to you clarifying the question that as mentioned above she would have always been a member rather than future member. If given unlimited time would that then be considered a stupid answer?


Does saying "that was before my time" count as stupid or just annoying? After all it suggests that there are no such things as books or other ways to learn historical facts. This excuse is bizarrely common considering the people are on quiz shows.

Oh, God, I hate that. And also when they go (especially on Eggheads) "Again, not my strongest subject..."

On Tipping Point in the Head to Head,( when they get the choice of answering the question or passing it over to the other player),you sometimes hear them say things like,"I'm not absolutely sure,so I'll pass it over."

"Not absolutely sure" often means,"I haven't got a clue what the answer is."

That's definitely very annoying, and probably a little bit stupid! After all, around 98% of ALL history is 'before everyone's time', but some of us actually take the time to absorb things, rather than rely on their immediate experience and interests and nothing else. My children (17 and 20) also get really frustrated when they hear people say that on quiz shows (especially younger contestants who aren't much older than them!).