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Friday, February 7, 2025

Koteeswaran, KBC and Channel 9 Hotseat - holding on one's nerves ....

‘Naan ready – Neenga Readiya ?” – was the poser to audience by Sarathkumar….. not many years ago !  Do you remember the show “Koteeswaran” featuring the actor in Sun TV on the lines of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepathi’ ?  Koteeswaran is common name – a Hindu name after Lord Easwar; one denoting unlimited riches.  ‘koti’ is crore and the one named so is blessed to possess crores of values… way back in 1955 there was a Sivaji Ganesan / Padmini starrer produced by Sri Ganesh Movietone with background score by G Ramanathan.  Koteeswaran was a much hyped game show, a regional Quiz on the lines of KBC – remember was sponsored by Hindustan Lever…   in those days the advt rates for KBC  were stated to be  around Rs 3.5 lakh for 10 seconds.  Koteeswaran never succeeded the way KBC did – the poor tamil viewers were thus denied opportunity of becoming richer unlike their counterparts from cow belt.  There was another attempt - `Koteeswari',  initially intended to be a game show, a precursor of jackpot, hosted by Kushbu.  The prize money was a lowly lakh of rupees.

Perhaps South Indians can never win in KBC – there would always a Q on Hindi tinseldom, a sitter for most Indians and certain doom for people like me not knowing anything about Hindi cinema.  The first Q is generally very easy – and here the first two are sitters for Cine-goers, rest are also pretty easy !

In the film ‘OMG Oh My God’ Kanji Bhai filed a case against whom for the damage of his shop due to an earthquake ? Bharat Meta; b) Parliament c) Mumbai city d) Bhagwan. 
Out of these film characters, who says to her elder sister ‘didi there dewar diwana, hai Ram kudiuo ko dale dana’ ? Puja b) Mohini c) Nisha d) Anjali
Tell in terms of no. which is the highest of those parts of a school bus ? Tyres b) seats c) steering wheel d) headlights
In Cricket, ‘round the wicket’ and ‘over the wicket’ represent what ?Bowling; b) batting c) wicket-keeping and d) commentary
Which of these beauty queens share her name with the surname of a West Indian Cricketer ? - a) Diana; b). Priyanka; c) Sushmitha; d) Lara. 
Which of these religions festivals is not celebrated annually? a) Ganesh Chathurthi; b) Maha Kumbh; c) Dussehra & d)  Maha Shivratri

The first revelation was howsoever simple be the Question, those who answer all the questions seeing TV might found them too nerve-crumbling when on the hot seat.  When one is faced with the danger of losing money, one could miss out the obvious ordinary Q too.  Here is something of such embarrassing moment that occurred to the Hot seat contestant in Australia who failed to answer the very easy first question.  Offered easy question on jewellery, but instead picked an answer which was a famous Australian snack brand,

Daily Mail reports that Whitney Beseler, as a physical education teacher and Contiki Tour manager is used to speaking and dealing with people from all walks of life. But when she appeared on Channel Nine's Hot Seat, it seems being in front of a national audience got the better of her.  The blonde beauty, who was the first of six contestants to sit down face-to-face with host Eddie McGuire, ended up answering a rather obvious question wrong. 

The Q was pretty simple :  it read : 'Which of these is not a piece of jewellery commonly worn to symbolise a relationship between two people?' Eddie asked Whitney.  The four options were read out in front of her, Whitney nodded and considered each possibility.
a)     engagement ring; b) anniversary ring; c) wedding ring and d) burger ring,

the last option  is a famous Australian brand of chips - it appeared quite easy to identify the correct answer through a swift process of elimination.  After hesitating and letting out a small giggle, Whitney said 'uh... ooh I think I'm going to go with B on that one Eddie, the anniversary ring'.  Astounded himself by Whitney's certainty, the show's Eddie McGuire asked the contestant to 'have another look' at the options.  Looking up at the host she looked quite confident with her answer, flashing a friendly smile for the cameras as all eyes were on her.

When she chose the anniversary ring option again, he had no choice but to lock in her final answer. Oblivious of why audience members were giggling in the background, Whitney soon after realised her mistake when Eddie repeated the question again.  'Oh my god Eddie that's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me,' she finally exclaimed, with still a wide smile on her face and taking the loss in good spirits. 'Can we cut and start again?' she then pleaded with Eddie, but he said 'that's why it's called the Hot Seat' and unfortunately the game was over for her.

Never ridicule her ……. On the podium –most obvious thing can slip !!!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

22nd Dec 2014.

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