Ep 153: Greg Beers, Glen Chandler (August 10, 2016; originally aired March 2, 2011)

Rounds: Here.

Disclaimer: I watched this episode when it first aired, and although I did not recall any of it I cannot rule out memory being a factor.


It's the crucial fourth night for Greg, and it's the old question about technique.  This always feels like a waste of a contestant chat to me.  In this case, Greg states that in the letters rounds he likes to go with vowels first and consonants later.

Tonight's challenger is Glen Chandler, a retired foreign aid consultant with a PhD in geography.  Richard asks her for more details about what that involved; Glen responds that she worked on a range of projects -- mainly water supply and sanitation, but also agriculture, environment, planning, and livestock.  So she has learned a whole range of things about the world during the course of her work.


The contestants started out with identical answers in the first round, then Greg found an excellent word to take the early lead in round two.  The first numbers round was too difficult for the contestants, so Greg carried an eight-point lead into the first break.  Another round of shared points followed, then a phantom letter in round five led to an invalid answer from Greg, allowing Glen back within a point.  Greg stretched that lead a little in the second numbers round, but lost ground with another invalid answer in the last letters round.  Both contestants managed to make errors in the last numbers round, and the difference was just two points (in Greg's favour) going into the conundrum.  Greg managed to solve it, sealing his win 38 to 26.