Well a few years ago on Who Wants to be a Millionaire a wrong answer was accepted of the minimum number of strokes required to win a set in tennis and it was given as 12 but people contacted the show to say that if their opponent double-faulted on every serve they could win it with nine at all. The contestant was allowed back to restart from where they had list money and they won a bit more. Also in another episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire in the UK there was a question translated from the Latin what the motto of the United States was and they accepted the wrong answer and it was different. Recently on a quiz show called Tenable the people had to list 10 calling points on the West Coast Main Line railway line in Britain and the information was provided by Virgin Trains in May 2018 and an answer was Lichfield City but it isn’t on the West Coast Main Line and there is Lichfield Trent Valley on it but the trains don’t stop there and Lichfield City is on the Cross City line in Birmingham between Bromsgrove or Redditch and Lichfield Trent Valley and has never been served by Virgin Trains. But I also thought I spotted another wrong answer a few days ago so are there any other examples of wrong answers accepted? Factual reason why accepted on show?
The factual reason why a wrong answer would be accepted is that the writers made a mistake and thought it was the right answer.
Indeed. In the UK, at least, TV quiz questions are independently verified to help prevent this kind of thing, although things can obviously slip through the net. I saw a TV show recently about someone who worked from home doing it - they didn’t write the questions, but fact checked them for accuracy and for unique correct answers.
Punctuation is your friend, dammit!
I recall some game show in the USA recently told a contestant they were wrong when asked what country Bethlehem was in (they said Palestine which is technically correct). Don’t recall if the game show corrected that.
That was Jeopardy!, and they did correct themselves.
I have it in my head that game show contestants on shows like Jeopardy! (where factual answers matter) have to sign an agreement that “correct” is what the judges say it is. Does anyone know if that’s true?
Thanks for the link. But as the article mentions, the show and the judges have to answer to the public at large. At least they corrected themselves. The funnier thing is they screwed up bigly by not replacing the question with the substitute taped at the time - 3 months earlier…
I’m curious how any lawsuits would play out in the OP’s question. After all, contestants would sign away rights and agree to arbitration, but I would imagine that this would automatically imply “fairness” and honesty were an obligation of the show producers. Deliberately ignoring the truth while claiming to contestants they were respecting it, would be a form of fraud.
You’ve got this story all wrong. The contestant answered “Twenty Four” and the show claimed that the answer was correct and they moved on to the next question and the game continued.
It turned out that “Twelve” was the correct answer and he was allowed to keep his winnings as it was the show’s fault for deeming the answer correct. See last example here:
You messed this one up also. In this case, they didn’t accept the answer given “In God We Trust” and the contestant was invited back on the show as it was decided the question (Translated from the Latin, what is the motto of the United States?) was not as straightforward as it seemed.
In the 80s there was a game show on MTV called Remote Control. I can’t find any mention of this on the Internet, but I distinctly remember host Ken Ober asking a contestant "Which war was depicted on the television show MASH*? The contestant answered “the Korean War.” Ken replied, “No, I’m sorry. ‘Vietnam’ is the correct answer.”
Not sure about the tennis one.
If your opponent serves first and double faults you’d be 1-0 up without playing a stroke. If you time-out foot all your points you’d be 1-1 without playing a stroke. Repeat until you are 5-4 and then hit 4 aces.
You’d win the set by only playing 4 strokes. Unless I’ve missed something.
Disclaimer: I know very little about tennis.
Aren’t you talking about winning a game and not a set?
Or, how about your opponent serves first, double-faults all four, and then forfeits in frustration. You win the set with zero strokes.
Regards,
Shodan
^ That would probably be considered a match win without winning that set.
No, you wouldn’t have to play a stroke for any of the 5 games gifted to you by the opponent, nor for the 4 that you gift them, you would have to play 4 winning serves to win one of your service games and so win the set 6-4
I don’t know enough about tennis to nit-pick your reasoning, but through Googling, I’ve found the consensus seems to be six strokes. Example:
You mean 6-0, unless I’m missing something.
They serve first, double fault all, for 0 strokes: 0-1.
You serve, four aces: 0-2
They serve: 0-3
Your serve, four aces: 0-4
They serve: 0-5
Your serve, four aces: 0-6
Twelve strokes total. One set. (Actually, it doesn’t matter who serves first. Same outcome.)
I’m confused. Your own site says twelve strokes.
^ Whoops, I wrote “six” instead of “twelve.” Change my response to:
“I don’t know enough about tennis to nit-pick your reasoning, but through Googling, I’ve found the consensus seems to be twelve strokes. Example:”
I thought that the motto of the US was E Pluribus Unum: Out of many, one.
No, it’s a motto of the United States, the motto is “In God We Trust” (it became the official motto in 1956).
The question asked was “Translated from the Latin, what is the motto of the United States?”
Two of the four answers that could be selected were “In God We Trust” and “One Out Of Many.” The contestant chose “In God We Trust” and was told it was the wrong answer. They were looking for “One Out Of Many.”
The contestant was invited back as although “In God We Trust” isn’t a translation of a US motto, it is the motto of the US and “E pluribus unum” isn’t. It was a badly formed question.
E pluribus anum?