Saturday, April 04, 2009

Stand By For Haribo

OK, I can slightly spill the beans now, as the programme in question has been on the air for a few weeks now and the week in which I hada slight involvement is long gone!
Way back in January I auditioned for a new BBC Quiz show entitled "A Question of Genius"; a short time later I was called and asked if I would like to be a standby contestant for the first week of the show, which would mean a trip up to the BBC studios in Glasgow. I jumped at the chance - it's not every day that you ge tthe opportunity to see behind-the-scenes of a TV show, especially not a brand new one!

I was very well looked after the whole time I Was there and the other contestants were a great bunch of people; unfortunately, my services were not required (though those of the other standby were as oen of the contestants lost her voice on the last day of recording!)
During the day, I spent my time in the Green Room watching the recording, drinking lots of tea and coffee and knocking back the Haribo (as well as enjoying the lunch and indulging in a little quiz practice with those contestants who had been eliminated from the various rounds); in the evening, most of the group went to various places in downtown Glasgow and enjoyed great food, conversation and drink (the first night we went to The Ubiquitous Chip, which served fantastic bar food; the next night someone in the group found a pub quiz at The Drawing Room in Sauchiehall Street so we went en-masse, split into three teams and came 1st, 2nd AND 3rd! As well as this, the food was again brilliant; I had Belly of Pork and it was incrediable!)
I won't go int othe technicalities of the show, being brand new, there were still a few loose ends to be shaken out of the format, but the end result was an excellent show which deserves to do very well indeed - I hope it gets recommissioned (especially as I'm hoping to audition again!)
Plus, I got to meet the host of the show, Kirsty Wark, who was friendliness personified - all the contestants said this and she proved it in the brief chat we had on the last day of recording!

At time of writing the show is still on - you'll find it on BBC2 at 16:30 Monday to Friday.