Complaint
A viewer complained that, while one contestant had been given a point for an answer which was not entirely accurate, another had an answer containing a similar inaccuracy disallowed, which manifested bias by the presenter in favour of the first contestant. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy and impartiality.
Outcome
In the first case, the contestant answered “Beau Brummel” to the question “The socialites Richard Nash who died in 1761 and George Brian Brummel who died in 1840 are both commonly known by what nickname?”, to which the entirely accurate answer would have been simply “Beau”. In the second, the contestant answered “Richard Osmond” to the question “The 2021 book ‘The Man Who Died Twice’ is a crime novel by which television personality and author?”, the accurate answer being “Richard Osman”. The ECU noted that the programme has arrangements in place for debatable answers to be adjudicated independently of the presenter, and that there was therefore no question of bias on the presenter’s part. As to accuracy, the ECU considered that, though neither contestant gave an exactly correct response, it was consistent with the standard of accuracy viewers would generally expect in a quiz programme to accept a response which included the correct answer and reject one which did not.
Not Upheld