History Main / ExcuseQuestion

* In the 1970's, when the BBC, still smarting from the impact of pirate radio on its listening figures and jealous of any competition, sabotaged its principal (and only) pop radio competitor Radio Luxemburg by deliberately giving out the answers to the previous night's Fab 208 write-in competition during Radio One morning shows. Otherwise, it could do nothing at all about a rival station broadcasting in English and using English DJ's from another country entirely. (Later in the decade the BBC had to adopt other methods of sabotaging legalised commercial radio offering competition to its services.)

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

** Questions like "How many moons does the Earth have?" Go, on, you know that! It's obvious! What kind of moron doesn't kno- did you say "one"? Oh ''dear''... [[note]][[ScienceMarchesOn At the time]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne 3753 Cruithne]] was classified as a moon; it's now been reclassified as a semi-satellite.[[/note]]

* Doctor Who Monthly regularly has a contest to win copies of the DVDs/CDs/Books reviewed in each issue. They always have a multiple choice question followed by the right answer, a plausible wrong answer and a "what the hell are you thinking?" answer. Although there are sometimes two WTHAYT answers: "Can you name the deadly insecticide in this story? A) [=DS9=]; B) [=DN6=]; C) [=WD40=]"

[[folder: Stand Up Comedy]]

* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'': Used as a ''plot point''. The BigBad's {{AI}}, TEC-XX, has been allowing the captive Peach to visit its main terminal to converse with her (as it is secretly in love with her). After a few visits, TEC seems conflicted about something, then it suddenly challenges Peach to a quiz game. The first few questions are about things the player must already know, but then;

Call now on our [---[[ReadTheFinePrint premium rate]]---] example line! Phone early, phone often! And win, win, WIN!"

*** One of the shows found guilty of this, Creator/ChannelFive's ''Quiz Call'', at least didn't have questions that were too easy -- it had questions which looked like they ''should'' be easy, but where the accepted answers were [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW0cIRrsWRk& completely insane]].

# [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Princesses]]?

* PC game ''VideoGame/YouDontKnowJack'' had at least one question along these lines. It was titled "It's a Dog" and was something like "What looks like a dog, sounds like a dog, etc?" The answer? [[spoiler:A dog.]] Hilariously, this is labeled as an Impossible Question, and worth a crazy amount of money.

* ''PrivateEye'' once subverted this with a spoof phone-in quiz: ''What is our phone number? Is it: A) 0898 876876; b) 0898 876877 or c) 0898 876878. Ring NOW on....''. The second part of this joke here is the fact that in the UK 0898 numbers are premium rate, so the terminally stupid may spend money phoning the wrong number..

* PC game ''VideoGame/YouDontKnowJack'' had at least one question along these lines. It was titled "It's a Dog" and was something like "What looks like a dog, sounds like a dog, etc?" The answer? [[spoiler:A dog.]] Hilariously, [[ParanoiaFuel this is labeled as an Impossible Question, and worth a crazy amount of money]].

** TEC proceeds to use the rest of the quiz questions to explain [[BigBad Grodus']] entire plan to Peach, and then rewards her "victory" by allowing her to send a message to Mario, which she of course uses to relay the new information.

-->'''Apart from''' '''''The Idiot's Lantern''''' ''',what other story features "faceless ones"?'''

"Hey hey, reader! Welcome to the Wiki/TVTropes Ultimate Competition line! Answer the following question to win an {{egregious}} prize: a five-week holiday on beautiful [[SugarBowl Sugar Bowl Beach]]!

* NGamer once ran a contest with the following (paraphrased) question: "Who is the star of ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious''? A) Vin Diesel B) Jim Petrol C) Kim Oil. Send your answers to itsvindieselyouidiots@ngamer.co.uk."

*** One of the shows found guilty of this, ChannelFive's ''Quiz Call'', at least didn't have questions that were too easy -- it had questions which looked like they ''should'' be easy, but where the accepted answers were [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW0cIRrsWRk& completely insane]].

* Parodied at the end of one episode of ''Series/OnlyConnect'', where Victoria Coren-Mitchell says the viewer competition question is 'Is it Puff the Magic Dragon' or 'Puff the Magic Hamster'?" ... and the number to call is a six digit number where the digits can be added together to form a prime that is in the Fibonacci sequence.

* NGamer once ran a contest with the following (paraphrased) question: "Who is the the star of TheFastAndTheFurious? A) Vin Diesel B) Jim Petrol C) Kim Oil. Send your answers to itsvindieselyouidiots@ngamer.co.uk."

-->''"Call in at £60 a minute and answer this question to win a fridge magnet! What is the capital of Britain - is it A, London, or B, 1948?" "[[TooDumbToLive Errrrm...I'm gonna phone in twice, make sure I get it!]]"''

"Hey hey, reader! Welcome to the TVTropes Ultimate Competition line! Answer the following question to win an {{egregious}} prize: a five-week holiday on beautiful [[SugarBowl Sugar Bowl Beach]]!

** Questions like "How many moons does the Earth have?" Go, on, you know that! It's obvious! What kind of moron doesn't kno- did you say "one"? Oh ''dear''... [[spoiler:[[ScienceMarchesOn or not]]: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne 3753 Cruithne]] is a quasi-satellite]] (which still means "one" is the right answer).

* Subverted by the Japanese quiz show ''Time Shock'', which is fond of occasionally throwing in questions like "What question number is this?" and "Including this question, how many questions are left in this round?" To the audience, these may seem like pathetically easy questions, because they can just look at the scoreboard. However, the contestants can't - the show makes a point of seating them in such a fashion that they cannot see ''any'' information on the state of the round during their turn, not even the clock or their score. (In fact, more recent revivals seat contestants ''inside'' the scoreboard facing out.) Thus the only reliable way to get these questions right is to count the questions as you answer them.

* At least one barroom trivia game had a multiple choice question asking "''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' was the hit sequel to what 1984 sci-fi film?" The game did not seem to be kidding, either. The correct answer? [[spoiler:Come on, don't be an idiot.]]

[-"Isn't it obvious? It's 'custard'."-]

* At least one barroom trivia game had a multiple choice question asking "What was the hit 1992 sequel to the sci-fi film ''Film/TheTerminator?''" The game did not seem to be kidding, either. The correct answer? [[spoiler:Come on, don't be an idiot.]]

* [[Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou Paul Merton]] likes to recount that he was once watching one of those breakfast shows and the question was, "Which comedy double act consisted of Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker? A) TheTwoRonnies, B)..."

* One episode of ''TheNewsQuiz'' featured the following in the amusing cuttings:

* JohnBoyAndBillyBigShow has a multiple choice quiz for call in listeners that always has two joke answers and the actual correct one (usually it's about some wacky news story, so even the real answer is often ridiculous). The theme song for the segment includes a chorus of cheerleaders shouting "Pick C."

* Averted by Justin on ''TheBrewingNetwork'', who insists the listeners do something to earn prizes. Typically it involves playing games tilted towards brewing, such as Beer Jeopardy or Guess the Fake. The only time there was a giveaway that took no thinking was the much-maligned at the time and afterwards "Guess What Number JP Is Thinking".

-->"Who starred in the film ''Film/EnterTheDragon''? Send your answer to: 'BruceLee competition'..."

* An number of interactive game shows on Australian TV did this, with questions such as "Who is the Prime Minister of Australia? A) Daffy Duck, B) Kermit the Frog or C) John Howard." This is parodied by ''TheChasersWarOnEverything'': when the above question is mentioned, Julian replies, "Which I guess leads to the question, 'Who are these shows aimed at? A) Bicycles, B) The Sydney Opera House, or C) Morons.'"

* [[HaveIGotNewsForYou Paul Merton]] likes to recount that he was once watching one of those breakfast shows and the question was, "Which comedy double act consisted of Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker? A) TheTwoRonnies, B)..."

Call now on our [---premium rate---] example line! Phone early, phone often! And win, win, WIN!"

* In the 1970's, when the BBC, still smarting from the impact of pirate radio on its listening figures and was jealous of any competition, it sabotaged its principal (and only) pop radio competitor Radio Luxemburg by deliberately giving out the answers to the previous night's Fab 208 write-in competition during Radio One morning shows. Otherwise, it could do nothing at all about a rival station broadcasting in English and using English DJ's from another country entirely. (Later in the decade the BBC had to adopt other methods of sabotaging legalised commercial radio offering competition to its services.)