Couple Earns £325,000 With Doctor Who Smarts

vansau

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May 25, 2010
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Couple Earns £325,000 With Doctor Who Smarts



How strong is your Doctor Who trivia Kung-Fu? For one couple, it was strong enough to net them £325,000 on a British TV show.

Sometimes, being a Doctor Who nerd pays off in more ways than being entertained with quality television. For a husband and wife team on the British game show Million Pound Drop, a recent trivia question about the popular sci-fi series left them disqualified from the show and without their winnings. However, it turns out that the team's answer was correct, something that was pointed out by legions of angry Doctor Who fans who called in to complain .

The team, Johnny and Dee, were asked which actor played the Doctor for the longest period of time: Sylvester McCoy, David Tennant, Paul McGann, or Christopher Eccleston. Johnny and Dee split their £650,000 and bet on McCoy and McGann, whereupon they were told they were wrong; the host said the correct answer was Tennant.

After the show aired, fans called in and complained, pointing out that - while he played the character for five seasons - Tennant was the Doctor for only five years. McCoy served as the Doctor from 1987-89 and then reprised his role in 1996. McGan played the Timelord from 1996-2005, "if you count all the audio plays he recorded during the time the show was off the air."

The team is returning to the show, with £325,000 of their prize money restored, this weekend. As io9 points out, Johnny and Dee should have gotten to keep all their money, "since McCoy and McGann played the role for about nine years each."

Source: <a href=http://io9.com/5685909/british-couple-receive-325000-for-defending-the-honor-of-doctor-who-star-sylvester-mccoy>io9

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Quaxar

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Sep 21, 2009
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Really, you'd think these shows have people to check their facts beforehand... or at least a guy with access to Google.
 

Formica Archonis

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Nov 13, 2009
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vansau said:
The team, Johnny and Dee, were asked which actor played the Doctor for the longest period of time: Sylvester McCoy, David Tennant, Paul McGann, or Christopher Eccleston. Johnny and Dee split their £650,000 and bet on McCoy and McGann, whereupon they were told they were wrong; the host said the correct answer was Tennant.
If that was the exact phrasing of the question the only one who definitely CAN'T be considered a valid answer is Eccleston. McGann is a maybe. If asking who of the four has the most TV screen time, Tennant. If asking who served the longest as the Doctor, then it's either McCoy or McGann, I don't know which. You could argue McCoy a bit better since, unlike McGann, he appeared on TV every now and then during his tenure and has the definite bookends of the two regeneration scenes.
 

njsykora

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Sep 11, 2007
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They don't exactly have the money through the rules of the show. They'll still have to carry that money through at least 4 more questions, which they won't. Because no-one does. It's a nasty show with badly written questions which looks like it's extremely generous and a big money show but gives away less money than pretty much every other quiz on TV.

There's another example of terrible question setting here.
http://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?p=2411
 

_Janny_

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Mar 6, 2008
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I find it a tad funny that they put in Eccleston as one of the options for longest standing doctor. Loved Eccleston to bits, though. Shame he wanted to quit after such a short time.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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Formica Archonis said:
If that was the exact phrasing of the question the only one who definitely CAN'T be considered a valid answer is Eccleston. McGann is a maybe. If asking who of the four has the most TV screen time, Tennant. If asking who served the longest as the Doctor, then it's either McCoy or McGann, I don't know which. You could argue McCoy a bit better since, unlike McGann, he appeared on TV every now and then during his tenure and has the definite bookends of the two regeneration scenes.
Well, depending on the exact questioning, Tennant wins, as he's been through the TimeLine up until the end of the Human Race.

That's the problem with Time Travel. It's complicated.

Equally, you could argue Tom Baker had the longest screen time, William Hartnell has had the most far apart appearances ("An Unearthly Child - Vincent and the Doctor")...

But one things certain, don't try and outwit a Whovian. We have fez's.
 

Formica Archonis

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Nov 13, 2009
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_Janny_ said:
I find it a tad funny that they put in Eccleston as one of the options for longest standing doctor. Loved Eccleston to bits, though. Shame he wanted to quit after such a short time.
I think they just used the four last non-current ones.
 

MasterChief892039

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Jun 28, 2010
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They should have clarified what was meant by "the longest period of time".
Though I wouldn't have minded Tennant's role being longer. He's cute.
 

Wes1180

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Jul 25, 2009
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Susan Arendt said:
mjc0961 said:
vansau said:
How strong is your Doctor Who trivia Kung-Fu?
I don't even know what Doctor Who is. No money for me I guess.
I'm not sure I can allow you to stay on this site.
I actually laughed when I saw this :D

When I read it I instantly thought "Why'd they put Eccleson on there?" He was good just not on long enough. Also I thought that it definately wasn't David Tennant
 

Formica Archonis

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Nov 13, 2009
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Susan Arendt said:
mjc0961 said:
vansau said:
How strong is your Doctor Who trivia Kung-Fu?
I don't even know what Doctor Who is. No money for me I guess.
I'm not sure I can allow you to stay on this site.
:D I'm sorry, I can't help but picture you standing in the middle of a dusty frontier-town street when you say that.



MasochisticMuse said:
They should have clarified what was meant by "the longest period of time".
Though from what I've been seeing based on this thread and links provided, it looks like deliberately vague questions are unfortunately their MO. Hell, for all we know the question could've been phrased in the hopes that it'd be misinterpreted and that no one would be so sad as to know the exact lengths of McGann and McCoy's tenures (it's got to be a difference of mere months) and fall into having to choose between them without even paying the "correct" answer any mind.

MasochisticMuse said:
Though I wouldn't have minded Tennant's role being longer. He's cute.
No real argument there. Like I've said in another thread, he's pretty good-looking in drag.:)
 

Ensiferum

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Apr 24, 2010
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"Fantastic!"

I only wish I had been on that show, I know waaaay more about Doctor Who then anyone should, but it is the greatest and longest-running SciFi series ever made!