They're Only Easy If You Know The Answers Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "They're only easy if you know the answers" was the catchphrase of one presenter of the global phenomenon TV quiz show 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?'. Where was the show first broadcast?

Answer: UK

Chris Tarrant was the original question master on 'Millionaire' when it first broadcast on ITV in 1998. (The BBC, with great foresight, had previously rejected the concept!) The idea was that a contestant answered a series of multiple-choice questions. Getting 15 right would earn them �1m. Within a few years, the show was being broadcast in 100 countries.

2. 'You Bet Your Life' was an American quiz show that aired on both TV and radio in several generations starting in the 1940s. Which Hollywood star was the original presenter?

Answer: Groucho Marx

The show was not just about answering questions, it was a showcase for Marx's incredible mind. Much of the programme was devoted to his ad-libbed remarks.

3. Which British TV quiz show that ran in glorious monochrome from 1955 to 1968 offered the winning contestant the choice, "Take the money or open the box?"?

Answer: Take Your Pick

Contestants won keys to one of 13 locked boxes, each of which concealed a prize. Three of the boxes contained booby prizes. At the end of the show the presenter, Michael Miles, would offer cash in return for the keys. The challenge was for the contestant to "take the money or open the box", knowing that they could be left with a booby prize, or a mystery valuable prize that not even Miles knew of.

4. Most quiz show hosts were kind and tried to ease the nerves of contestants. One was very different. In which show was the UK and USA presenter actually rude to the contestants and liked to deliver cruel put-downs?

Answer: The Weakest Link

'The Weakest Link' was first broadcast on BBC Television in the UK with Anne Robinson asking the questions. She transferred to the USA when the show went Stateside. The concept was that 13 contestants would answer individual questions but at the end of each round had a chance to vote off 'the weakest link'.

This could have been the person who answered fewest questions correctly, but quite often was a tactical decision to vote off someone a contestant considered stronger than himself or herself.

At the end of the show, the one person left went home with all the money that had been won by everyone. One other person, as the saying went: "leaves with nothing". When asking the contestants to vote, Anne Robinson would come up with a disparaging choice, for example, asking "Who is the gum on the bottom of your shoe?" or "Who is slower than a snail with a limp?"

5. 'Sale of the Century' was a quiz show that originated in the UK but was picked up by television networks worldwide. Who was the first host of the Australian version?

Answer: Tony Barber

Barber was the host from 1980 until 1991. 'Sale of the Century' featured three contestants per show each answering general knowledge questions. They could earn money for each correct answer and either consolidate their cash or use some of it to buy luxury items

6. Two opposing teams try to guess the answer given most often by members of the public to a series of questions. Which US quiz show am I describing?

Answer: Family Feud

The show first aired in 1976, initially on ABC and then CBS. The format was picked up in several other countries. Richard Dawson was the first presenter, from 1976 to 1985.

7. "And now your starter for 10": Which UK quiz show pitted rival teams of students against each other, with one team appearing to sit above the other?

Answer: University Challenge

'University Challenge' first ran from 1962 to 1987 on ITV and was then picked up again in 1994 on BBC Two. Two teams of four represented universities. They sat on a level studio floor, but the marvels of split-screen television enabled the programme makers to show one team in the top of the screen and the other below them.

It enabled viewers to see the faces of all eight students as they listened and reacted to the questions. Each round started with the quizmaster offering a 'starter for 10'. The team that buzzed in first with the correct answer earned 10 points then got three questions on a theme subject that they could confer on.

8. On your marks, get set, GO! Straight down the vegetables aisle, then right at the baked beans; watch that tricky chicane at the washing powders. Which game show required physical as well as mental agility?

Answer: Supermarket Sweep

More than 1,000 shows were broadcast between 1965 and 2003 (with several gap years). As well as answering questions, the contestants were let loose with an empty shopping trolley in an empty supermarket to get points from items they collected.

9. A bunch of people stand around with sealed briefcases each containing a label with a sum of money; one person asks each of the others to open their case hoping that by careful guessing he or she will be left with one case containing $1m, and all the while an unseen person tries to buy them off on the telephone with lesser sums. What is the quiz show called?

Answer: Deal Or No Deal

This was a Dutch idea originally. The show then spread worldwide from its origins in 2003.

10. Most quiz hosts were noted for just one show, but which of these Americans asked the questions in five shows, including at one time the longest running on US television?

Answer: Bob Barker

Barker started on 'Truth or Consequences' in 1956 and it ran until 1975. Next was 'End of the Rainbow' (1957-1958) and then 'The Family Game' (1967).
In 1971 came the pilot of 'Simon Says', which was never commissioned, then 'The Price Is Right' (1972-2007). It was to become the longest-running quiz show on US TV.

Source: Author darksplash

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ladymacb29 before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Game shows are a staple of television schedules everywhere. There is something satisfying about seeing other people under pressure - and shouting out at the screen when they get an easy question wrong.

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