Ep 206: James Morris, Hugh Davidson (October 23, 2016; originally aired May 16, 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 third night for James Morris, and we hear that he helps out at sports camps, trying to encourage kids under thirteen to get out and run and enjoy playing sport, to get outdoors into the fresh air and try to get fit.  It's something that he would like to continue to do when he retires from construction.

Tonight's challenger is Hugh Davidson, a freelance sound recordist who also hosts and produces his own community radio show.  That show aired on Radio 3MBS in Melbourne.  He mostly plays old recordings of piano music from the '30s, '40s, and '50s.


It's yet another close game tonight, with the contestants finding equal results in the first two letters rounds.  James gained a small lead from the first numbers round, but a tough letters round that followed saw Hugh equalise.  An invalid word from Hugh let James take the lead once more, then Hugh rallied in the second numbers round to take the lead for the first time in the game.  He extended it in the final letters round, only for James to narrow the margin with the numbers.  Hugh was very slightly ahead going into the conundrum, but that margin was enough to give him victory as neither was able to solve it, leaving the final scoreline as 32 to 30 in his favour.

Ep 205: James Morris, Des Mullen (October 20, 2016; originally aired May 13, 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.


James Morris gets his turn in the champion's seat, after defeating Andre last night.  In addition to his sporting prowess, James is also very into playing pool competitively; he says that he is captain of a pub in Melbourne, but I assume he means captain of some pool team associated with that pub.  It was his girlfriend who really got him into the game, because she has played pool at the world level.  Impressive!

Tonight's challenger is Des Mullen, a musician who played the part of the motorcycle cop in the Australian Village People.  They toured around the country for about four years from the late '90s up to around 2002, performing specifically as "the Australian Village People" to avoid legal trouble.  They did go to New Zealand once, and were asked to stay hidden as the organisers were trying to pass them off as the real Village People (oh, dear), and apart from the beard there was very little resemblance.


James took the lead with the best answer in the first round, but lost most of it on the first numbers round due to an invalid answer.  He managed to extend his lead in round five, but for the most part the contestants found equal results with a series of rounds that did not hold out much potential for swing.  Des was behind going into the conundrum but still in with a chance.  It ended up proving to be too difficult for both contestants, however, so James held on for the win, 52 to 45.

Ep 204: Andre Sardone, James Morris (October 20, 2016; originally aired May 12, 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.


Andre Sardone is back for his fifth night, and it's time for the usual question about technique.  It's always a disappointing question from my point of view, and even worse this time when Andre drops the conversational ball.  Richard asks if Andre has developed any techniques, and Andre's response is semantically equivalent to "yes", but without explaining what they are.  There's just nowhere to go from there, so we move on to chat with the challenger.

Tonight's challenger is James Morris, a site manager for a construction company.  James did a triathlon the previous weekend, and also does mountaineering and a range of other physial pursuits.


It was yet another very close game tonight.  In fact, the contestants had equal scores for the first six rounds.  It looked like we might well head into the conundrum with scores tied, but James found a longer word in round seven to take a small lead.  Andre blanked on the last difficult numbers round, but James found a way to score points there and had suddenly won the game.  Neither contestant was able to solve the conundrum, so the scoreline remained 52 to 40 in James' favour.