Hard Quiz Application

[Autocon]

Come one come all! Who would be the best person to have as a contestant on the Hard Quiz tv show? Expert subject transformers ofcourse

Then that person applies to be on the show!!!

:p

[Omega Metro]

I’d end up punching that Tom in the mouth if I was on that show.

[griffin]

Come one come all! Who would be the best person to have as a contestant on the Hard Quiz tv show? Expert subject transformers ofcourse

Then that person applies to be on the show!!!

:p

I think someone has been watching the reruns that have been on a lot lately (from the ABC cashing in on their new Gold Logie winner), because applications closed May 19th for the next series.

I applied earlier this year while they were taking applications for series 5 (to be filmed September-October). It was a very thorough online application form, and I was invited to attend the group auditions that were held in different capital cities (some people flew a long way to get to the Brisbane one).
They had about 100 people in the Brisbane group (on the 29th of May - fortunately it was a Saturday, so I could get to it), and they only took 15 people from the group to go through to the show (probably the same amount for each other city).
When they were interviewing me at the group audition, they seemed concerned that Transformers was too great a topic to cover, as they were asking me a lot of questions about what areas of the Brand was I most familiar with, so that they could probably focus questions on that (like the actual toys, the designers, the original cartoon, the recent movies).
Suffice to say, I didn't get through, otherwise I would have been telling you all to look out for me on the show early next year. :(
(it's certainly a long process - applications open while the show is on at the beginning of the year, the audition phase is May-June, filming is Sept-Oct, and the episodes then screen around Jan-March)

So after experiencing that whole process myself, what I was going to do when the next series starts airing next year, if they announce a sixth series is coming and they want people to apply, I was going to post up a topic here with all of the details to coordinate several of us to apply, but only on specific areas of Transformers like, Transformers Movies, Transformers toys, Transformers Original Series, Japanese Transformers, Transformers Beast Wars.
Hopefully that improves our chances of getting someone on the show with the topic of Transformers.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Hmm, thats interesting to know. My wife and others have been bugging me to go on that show and answer TF questions. I always replied that the questions would probably be too obscure for me to answer (what was the subordinate colour scheme on G2 Dirtbag or something). But maybe next round I should have a crack if you can make it a specific category of Transformers.

I'm betting the TF questions would be a lot harder than the 3 I had to answer on radio (http://www.bigangrytrev.com/1229-2/)- they weren't particularly challenging :p

[tinyJazz]

So after experiencing that whole process myself, what I was going to do when the next series starts airing next year, if they announce a sixth series is coming and they want people to apply, I was going to post up a topic here with all of the details to coordinate several of us to apply, but only on specific areas of Transformers like, Transformers Movies, Transformers toys, Transformers Original Series, Japanese Transformers, Transformers Beast Wars.

Or even a specific character? They seem to have had a lot of contestants with specific knowledge of a sportsperson like a tennis player or cricketer.

[griffin]

I had a look at the wiki page for Hard Quiz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Quiz), and I was wrong about Series 4 already being screened - it looks like they had a 4 month break mid-season, and started playing new episodes again on Wednesday nights a couple weeks before Autocon posted above. It also looks like they had a 5 month break mid-season last year as well, which is odd, because the gap between seasons is only a month.


Or even a specific character? They seem to have had a lot of contestants with specific knowledge of a sportsperson like a tennis player or cricketer.

We could certainly do that too, as iconic characters like Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Megatron, would be recognisable enough by ordinary people for the show's producers to probably consider (and won't prevent someone from applying to a more broader theme, like they do with sports and sports-people).


Well stop the presses... it looks like they've started taking applications for Series 6 (https://go.mycastingnet.com/Apply/Show/HardQuizS6), as they have just put up their series six page here, which shows you what topics have already been used (including the 5th series episodes that mustn't have aired yet), and unlike the Series 5 application page (https://go.mycastingnet.com/Apply/Show/HardQuizS5), they have added all of the "Tom's Round" topics as well, which means they are off-limits too.


OKAY... since I'm not applying again, who here would like to, and what area of Transformers are you focussed on, or is your strength, so that we can have several of us applying this time without any duplicates. When we have a few people posting up their interest, and juggle themes if necessary, we can start the application process together, and I can help out any with any questions you may have.
I would be guessing that the cut-off should be the same as the last series, which would be around next April... but just in case, we can try to sort this out over the next few weeks.
(you will be asked on your application form to nominate a second area of expertise as a backup - pick something that isn't Transformers related... the more unusual or obscure, the better)

And if we manage to get someone on the show next year, we will have to find out when their episode is taping so that some of us can be in the audience to cheer them on.

[BigTransformerTrev]

I’d be willing to apply and do either The Combaticons or Transformers Animated

[Miss Kitty Fantastico]

Considering I just recently found out I'd been taking Thundercracker and Skywarp's personalities not from, as I assumed, the G1 cartoon, but from what I can only guess was 'made them up when I was eight', I may sit this one out.

Really though my chance at Hard Quiz went away as soon as Star Trek got taken. Although looking at that list, I wonder if they consider She-Ra to be a separate category to Masters of the Universe...

[Trent]

I think, given his popularity, Optimus Prime would be the topic to pick.

[griffin]

I think, given his popularity, Optimus Prime would be the topic to pick.

Bladestorm would be a good applicant.

[Bladestorm]

Bladestorm would be a good applicant.

Hahahaha.... NO.
My knowledge of Prime is not thorough enough for a Mastermind-esque quiz show (not that I've seen this show but I'm assuming it is along the same lines) particularly as I have very few of the comics other than recent releases and I am a truck not monkey gal. I suspect if you chose Optimus you would need to cover all forms of the name rather than a specific character unless you could get away with G1 Optimus Prime as the chosen topic.
I had a friend go on Mastermind back in the day and he was stomped into the floor because most of the questions they asked for his topic were so obscure. His shellacking experience put me off the idea of being on game shows for life.
If I can offer one bit of advice for those who are seriously going to apply, make sure to get another expert in your chosen field to coach you with a range of stupidly easy and ridiculously obscure questions (including facts broader than your chosen topic that may be considered by association) with a tighter timeframe than those set by the show to hone your skills.

[griffin]

Hahahaha.... NO.
My knowledge of Prime is not thorough enough for a Mastermind-esque quiz show (not that I've seen this show but I'm assuming it is along the same lines) particularly as I have very few of the comics other than recent releases and I am a truck not monkey gal. I suspect if you chose Optimus you would need to cover all forms of the name rather than a specific character unless you could get away with G1 Optimus Prime as the chosen topic.
I had a friend go on Mastermind back in the day and he was stomped into the floor because most of the questions they asked for his topic were so obscure. His shellacking experience put me off the idea of being on game shows for life.
If I can offer one bit of advice for those who are seriously going to apply, make sure to get another expert in your chosen field to coach you with a range of stupidly easy and ridiculously obscure questions (including facts broader than your chosen topic that may be considered by association) with a tighter timeframe than those set by the show to hone your skills.

Don't worry, it's not like Mastermind, as the first round of specialist subject questions have to be easy enough for other contestants to have a chance at answering them. It's only the final round that has the hard questions, but only if you are one of the last two people left. And I'd imagine that if you read through a few times the various TFwiki pages on Optimus Prime (cartoon, comics, movie, toys), you'd have a pretty good chance at the final round too... but I'd be wanting people to apply for the experience and fun of being on there to talk about your obsession with Optimus, and to enlighten the rest of Australia on the Transformers Brand. It's worth having a go at the application, and seeing how far you get... if they think your worthy, then it doesn't matter how much you think you don't know, as they want people with vibrant personalities more than they want know-it-alls (it just helps if you are both, and I think your Optimus obsession would count).

[BigTransformerTrev]

I chucked in an application, told them they could narrow it down to G1 if Transformers itself was too broad.

Totally f'ed up the test though. Accidentally pressed 'next' at the bottom of the screen instead of under the test questions, which in turn loaded the next page. By the time I got the test page to reload I'd lost about a minute of the 5 minutes allotted and as such missed a lot of Q's :(

[griffin]

Was there any mention of when the cut-off is for the current batch, to see if there is any time left to round up some others to apply (for specific areas of Transformers)?

[BigTransformerTrev]

Was there any mention of when the cut-off is for the current batch, to see if there is any time left to round up some others to apply (for specific areas of Transformers)?

Not that I saw. Just a big list of stuff already covered

[BigTransformerTrev]

Got an email back finally, saying that Transformers have now already been done. So guessing someone else here or else out in the wider TF community must have gone for it in either the same round I just did or else the same round you did Griffin and was successful.

[griffin]

Got an email back finally, saying that Transformers have now already been done. So guessing someone else here or else out in the wider TF community must have gone for it in either the same round I just did or else the same round you did Griffin and was successful.

I've been meaning to ask you for a while how you went in the application process, to see if you were invited to the next round of group interviews, but you've had more important things going on in the last few months, so it didn't seem appropriate to ask.

I find that surprising to hear... and disappointing that they didn't let you know when applying that the topic was already taken. Your energetic personality would have been perfect for that show.

I applied for series 5 (which I don't think has aired yet), so maybe there was indeed someone else who applied at the same time as me, which made it harder for me to go through if I was competing against another potential candidate at the same time. (you were applying for series 6, so the topic must have been taken up on series 5)

I think it could still be worth having people applying for specific things in Transformers, like the Movies or certain iconic characters, as there is too much in the Brand to be covered in just 5 questions (in the first round - and only 5 more questions if the contestant gets to the final round)... but we'll have to see first if they ask for people to apply for a seventh series, before seeing what they might allow as a new "Transformers" topic.

[Sinnertwin]

Is this a proper contest or one of those everyone gets a participation award type ones ? Are the questions brain benders or just your generic what colour is Bumblebee thing?

[griffin]

Is this a proper contest or one of those everyone gets a participation award type ones ? Are the questions brain benders or just your generic what colour is Bumblebee thing?

Being the ABC, there aren't any cash prizes, and only the winner gets a prize, which is a big brass mug that says "Hard Quiz". It's one of those shows, that the reward is being on the show, as it is one of the ABC's highest rating shows when it screens new episodes. (which is why they are repeating it every day at 3.30pm, which is starting to get a little boring, as I seen all of the episodes now... some 2 or 3 times)

Since the host is a comedian, the show can be a bit of an acquired taste, so it won't appeal to everyone... but check it out if (on TV or on the ABC streaming site).

As for the questions, there are four rounds - questions for the contestants' subject matters are only in round one and four. The 5 first round questions are open to everyone to answer, mostly of a general knowledge level (relating the subject matter with something common, like asking what a previous movie that Michael Bay directed that featured Alcatraz island), with some being a little more obscure.
Round two is a multiple choice subject that everyone responds to, while round three is a general knowledge round.
Round four is between the two remaining contestants, with 5 harder questions on each of their topics.

The point is to have fun, not to be the quiz champion of the world, as the host will try to make fun of each of the contestants and their hobbies.

[griffin]

The series I applied for starts tonight on the ABC at 8pm... which is now, for those in QLD. So sometime in the next few weeks on a Wednesday, we could see the Transformers episode.

[Unicran]

I’d end up punching that Tom in the mouth if I was on that show.
I'd love to be in the audience when that happens. :D

[Jetfire in the sky]

Transformers episode is up on I-view now. I won't give anything away, I love Hard Quiz and have been waiting for a TF contestant, I think Gok would take the cake out of all of us.