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.
Martin has reached the crucial fourth night, and Richard's asks about his consistent choice of the "perfect match" number mix, and any other game techniques he has developed. There's nothing much of note in Martin's response, and again I have to wonder whether he provided the show with the requested interesting facts about himself. Certainly we've not found out much about him so far in these chats.
Standing in Martin's way is Shyam Subramaniam, an aspiring novelist with a master's degree in accounting. Shyam was an enthusiastic coin collector when he was younger, starting from around the age of 14, when his uncle travelled a lot in Africa and returned with all sorts of interesting coins. By the time Shyam was 18 he had managed to acquire coins from around a hundred different countries. He's since grown out of the obsession, but he certainly loved it at the time.
It's a close game tonight; Martin gets an early lead with a good find in round 1, but then risks too much in the second round and gives it mostly back. He pulls away in the next two rounds, but Shyam manages to peg him back a little in the second numbers round, and the game is alive going into the conundrum. Shyam solves it staggeringly quickly, and gets the come-from-behind win, 47 to 44.
I was off my game somewhat, with two bad misses. I can partly attribute that to attempting to play this at two in the morning; lesson learned. But solid results throughout were good enough to see me clear despite the conundrum (which I solved quickly by my standards, but not nearly fast enough to beat Shyam).
As usual, details after the jump.
Showing posts with label Martin Gabor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Martin Gabor. Show all posts
Thursday, 5 February 2015
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
Ep 252: Martin Gabor, Matthew Matten (February 3, 2015; originally aired August 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.
This is Martin's third night, and it is revealed that his ambition is to be a rugby league commentator. Richard asks what Martin thinks his chances are, and Martin jokingly notes that Ray Warren is expected to retire in the next few years, and Martin will be available. That's perhaps unfortunate timing for Martin -- by the time this show aired, but almost certainly after it was filmed, Ray Warren had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, which perhaps gives an unintended edge to the remarks.
Facing off against Martin is Matthew Matten, a lab technician and self-confessed LEGO nut. At the moment he is working on building a model of Saint Basil's Cathedral. Richard asks about the scale of this project, and Matthew explains that the proportions are going to be as though the minifigs were person-sized, so he expects it to end up around a metre to a metre-and-a-half tall. That's quite the project!
Both contestants struggle somewhat on the numbers tonight, each making an invalid go of the first (very difficult) numbers round. Honours on the remaining numbers rounds are mostly even but slightly tilted in Martin's favour, but it's the words that carry him safely to victory, as he finds some good eights to move well clear. He rounds it off by solving the conundrum, sealing a 52 to 28 victory.
I also struggled a little, feeling off my game today. I mentally froze in round 3 and only just got myself unstuck in time for an adequate result. I missed a couple of longer words that I might have found on a better day, too. Against that, I found a solution (two, in fact) that eluded Lily, and I solved the conundrum reasonably quickly to end up in the mid-sixties again for a safe win.
As usual, details after the jump.
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.
This is Martin's third night, and it is revealed that his ambition is to be a rugby league commentator. Richard asks what Martin thinks his chances are, and Martin jokingly notes that Ray Warren is expected to retire in the next few years, and Martin will be available. That's perhaps unfortunate timing for Martin -- by the time this show aired, but almost certainly after it was filmed, Ray Warren had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, which perhaps gives an unintended edge to the remarks.
Facing off against Martin is Matthew Matten, a lab technician and self-confessed LEGO nut. At the moment he is working on building a model of Saint Basil's Cathedral. Richard asks about the scale of this project, and Matthew explains that the proportions are going to be as though the minifigs were person-sized, so he expects it to end up around a metre to a metre-and-a-half tall. That's quite the project!
Both contestants struggle somewhat on the numbers tonight, each making an invalid go of the first (very difficult) numbers round. Honours on the remaining numbers rounds are mostly even but slightly tilted in Martin's favour, but it's the words that carry him safely to victory, as he finds some good eights to move well clear. He rounds it off by solving the conundrum, sealing a 52 to 28 victory.
I also struggled a little, feeling off my game today. I mentally froze in round 3 and only just got myself unstuck in time for an adequate result. I missed a couple of longer words that I might have found on a better day, too. Against that, I found a solution (two, in fact) that eluded Lily, and I solved the conundrum reasonably quickly to end up in the mid-sixties again for a safe win.
As usual, details after the jump.
Ep 251: Martin Gabor, Emma Watson (February 2, 2015; originally aired August 15, 2011)
Finally we get some re-runs of unblogged episodes again! For people's convenience, here's a link to the Past Episodes page on the SBS website. (This episode is erroneously labelled S4 Ep1 by them, but it's actually episode 251, or S3 Ep51 under that nomenclature.) The comment page is broken at the moment, however, and I doubt that they will be bothered to fix it.
It might take me a while to settle back into the episode blogging format; please bear with me. As a new feature for posterity after the videos are no longer available again, I'm including links to the rounds as done in the "new game" format.
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.
The carryover champion is Martin Gabor, a sports journalism student. This is his second night, and already Richard's question has devolved into Martin's preference for letters or numbers. Did Martin not come prepared with the required interesting facts about himself? Anyway, Martin says that he used to favour the letters, coming as he did from a humanities background, but thanks to learning tweaking skills from Lily he now prefers the numbers.
In the challenger seat is Emma Watson (no, not that one), a sports management student. Richard points out the similarity in occupations between the two contestants, and asks Emma what sort of skills are needed to manage sports people. Emma responds that there is a lot to do with public relations -- she gestures towards Martin -- and also sorting out contracts, media, endorsements, and still making sure that they have the time to perform and put in the effort on the field.
There's a bit each way in the letter rounds today, with Martin ending up slightly on the better end of that. But in keeping with his pre-game comments, it's the numbers that bring him comfortably home; he solves all three rounds while Emma only solves the first, and takes an unassailable lead into the conundrum. It proves to be a tough one, and with neither solving it Martin wins 58 to 31.
It was interesting watching the show again, with both a sense of comforting familiarity about affairs but also a bit of pressure that has not been there in the non-show games. I can't say that I really miss the timer music! Anyway, I had a reasonable game, but I'm disappointed to miss the conundrum; I saw the key features but failed to unravel it within time. There was not much leeway to get away from Martin, who found solid results throughout, and I was ahead but not safe at the conundrm. With no-one solving it, I scraped home with the win.
As usual, details after the jump.
It might take me a while to settle back into the episode blogging format; please bear with me. As a new feature for posterity after the videos are no longer available again, I'm including links to the rounds as done in the "new game" format.
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.
The carryover champion is Martin Gabor, a sports journalism student. This is his second night, and already Richard's question has devolved into Martin's preference for letters or numbers. Did Martin not come prepared with the required interesting facts about himself? Anyway, Martin says that he used to favour the letters, coming as he did from a humanities background, but thanks to learning tweaking skills from Lily he now prefers the numbers.
In the challenger seat is Emma Watson (no, not that one), a sports management student. Richard points out the similarity in occupations between the two contestants, and asks Emma what sort of skills are needed to manage sports people. Emma responds that there is a lot to do with public relations -- she gestures towards Martin -- and also sorting out contracts, media, endorsements, and still making sure that they have the time to perform and put in the effort on the field.
There's a bit each way in the letter rounds today, with Martin ending up slightly on the better end of that. But in keeping with his pre-game comments, it's the numbers that bring him comfortably home; he solves all three rounds while Emma only solves the first, and takes an unassailable lead into the conundrum. It proves to be a tough one, and with neither solving it Martin wins 58 to 31.
It was interesting watching the show again, with both a sense of comforting familiarity about affairs but also a bit of pressure that has not been there in the non-show games. I can't say that I really miss the timer music! Anyway, I had a reasonable game, but I'm disappointed to miss the conundrum; I saw the key features but failed to unravel it within time. There was not much leeway to get away from Martin, who found solid results throughout, and I was ahead but not safe at the conundrm. With no-one solving it, I scraped home with the win.
As usual, details after the jump.
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