Dun Dun Dun DUNNN! ...or... Funhouse, it's a whole lot of fun, prizes to be won - use your body and your brain, if you want to play the game - FUN HOUSE! Nope, I've not finally cracked or owt because of the stress of my PhD. In my moments of procrastination today, reading every online newspaper and laughing at funny videos on Youtube, I've been troubled by a new research question. A question so troubling that no one has dared ever answer it, let alone even ask it. Well, I intend to settle it once and for all with a new survey study.

What game show would PhD students most like to star on as a contestant?

I realise that we currently have a 2 year prospective study of PhD students' favourite type of programme and that there is a danger of survey fatigue. However...my research is ethical and justified since research into PhD students is sorely lacking. For instance, we don't even know whether PhD students prefer tea or coffee. Imagine what Nestle would pay for such an insight!

Now, due to the limitations of my research data collection tool (a 4 point nominal scale [we need more research tools mods!]) the scope of my study is limited, so please feel free to add the show in the comments if it is not included. I'll just put the 4 most popular ones.

The time limit for this study will last just 1 week, so that I can increase my research output before my viva. Well, I do need something to show!

I'd like to take part in It's a Knockout (the younger ones may need to look this little beauty up on the web)! It's probably the only thing I'd be fit for! Or maybe Takeshi's Castle, now that would be fun!!

I would like to be a contestant on Bullseye. I can't throw darts but it doesn't matter because the grand prize was usually a speed boat anyway. And the losers always got 'BFH'...bus fare home.

I used to be quite partial to a bit of Blockbusters in the olden days.

I wish I was smart enough for University Challenge. If I can get one answer per show, then I'm pleased with myself.

But for me the holy grail of gameshows is Countdown. We were afternoon addicts- tea, cake and conundrums every day without fail. I was devastated by the passing of Richard Whiteley. Thank God I left the country before it went off the rails.

eh wally wher is funhouse in the vote?! That was my all fime favourite gameshow ever when I was a young 'un!! Still would be now actually!

WWTBAM is a guilty wind-down pleasure of mine.. :)

======= Date Modified 05 Mar 2010 09:10:15 =======
ooh yes blockbusters! I agree with university challenge. I usually get about 5 questions per show, depending on the rounds. Anything related to music or art I usually get, although I do psychology for my PhD. I am completely lost on the chemical reactions etc. The contestants seem to be post docs with 800 degrees, and they have made them do another undergrad so they qualify for the programme!

What about wipeout, Wogan's perfect recall or the ones I was never allowed to watch as a child e.g. price is right, play your cards right, generation game, wheel of fortune, even blind date (is that a game show?) - My parents deemed them too trashy for my precious eyes

Surely The Adventure Game was the best one ever - if it counts as a gameshow - though maybe I'm showing my age too much there! Ah, those wonderful days watching dim-witted contestants trying to figure out the Drogna and then getting zapped on the final challenge!

Or The Great Egg Race, though that's straying even further from the gameshow idea. Ah well, it was fun.

My brain seems to have become mush since those days, anyway. Now it's Hole in the Wall that keeps me amused!

The Crystal Maze!!!! I always dreamed of solving the puzzles and the getting to that big dome thing where all the money blows around?!

======= Date Modified 05 Mar 2010 13:46:39 =======
Hi Wally, I'm afraid all these options are far too intellectually demanding for my tatses. I liked Blind Date, and hence have a penchant, but not addiction, for Take Me Out.

Deal Or No Deal always seems so complicated.

Oh I get it, you want us to say which ones we'd like to be on. Well, in that case, it's a whole other set of choices: I'd like the opportunity to be on Shooting Stars, that's my top choice, although I am not a celebrity, so am not sure if that would be possible, even if it were still running. Being on Cracker Jack was always the epitome of childhood achievement when I was a young lass, and I'd lke to banter with Terry Wogan on Blankety Blank, and get my cheque book and pen.