Andover Women in Business Club – aka "The Busy Ladies" and Eggheads
It is very easy in life to say no to any new challenge that may face us. Despite that being my first reaction to an email from AWIBC in December 2008 asking for volunteers to make up a team to appear on the tv quiz programme Eggheads, I decided to say yes along with five other ladies.
After completing a very simple form and sending that off to the programme we were then telephoned individually and asked to answer ten questions over the phone. I don’t know if it was because I was on my mobile phone and walking into town at the same time but the questions seem to get harder as they went along. The first five were multiple choice and the then the last five were just straight questions. We weren’t given any indication how well we had done but were assured that they would take the average score of the team and let us know how we got on.
We passed that stage successfully and were then asked in January 2009 to produce a video to send off to the BBC. We had to give our name, age, occupation, where we lived, our strongest subject and our weakest subject and we also had to tell them who our ideal dinner date was and why and if we were a pigeon who would we poop on and why! I don’t know how they analysed our answers and maybe it’s just as well we don’t know the results.
An email arrived in March declaring that we had been chosen to appear on the show and that we would be filmed on Wednesday 11th March 2009. We started to think about the topics that might come up and what we could possibly wear that was on the list of allowed outfits. Polka dots, stripes, zig zags and busy patterned clothes were out as was anything black, white, light blue or pastel, logos or hats. We were told to think bright and bold, think of the colours in a tube of smarties.
As we had to be in the studio for 7am the BBC paid for us to stay in a hotel the night before. This allowed us to get to know one another on the train and to have an all important team meeting over dinner. We discussed our strategy which was to make sure Vera Hughes was left for the general knowledge round at the end, our entertainment and music guru would be Hannah Walker, Art and Books would be answered by Caroline Gilham, Lynn Brown was happy to tackle History or Geography and although I had opted for Food and Drink we joked that I would probably end up with Sport. I don’t know what we would have done if Politics or Science came up.
Coffee and croissants were waiting for us at the Beeb after we had been greeted by two enthusiastic production team members and we were soon laying out our three outfit choices for wardrobe to select one, iron it and for it to appear in another room for us to change into. The order in which we sat had already been decided. After signing various disclaimers it was then off to makeup to have even more applied. It was funny to bump into Daphne coming the other way and I think CJ amused the other team members as he discussed his dating activities with the hair and make up girls.
After changing and having name badges attached we were then led to the studio. The layout is just as you see it on the TV with us sitting on the host’s left but the surprise was where we went to answer the questions. Another room didn’t await us but instead we just popped around the corner and there, beside a sound proofed curtain, was a bench and two TV monitors in front of it. It transpired that we actually sat next to our egghead on this bench.
We were given our microphones and put in position and the time was just after ten o’clock. We did our name, age and occupation to camera before the Eggheads joined the studio. They all shook our hands but seemed a little bored by it all. We were the first team of the day and they film five episodes in a day. Jeremy Vine also introduced himself and then it was time to begin.
He started off by saying we came from Wendover which was greeted by great shrieks from us. He then stuck to Hampshire. As the music began, I felt incredibly sick and very self conscious about my hands. We were told to speak up as we discussed who was going to play which topic and with whom. We were also told where to look so forgive us for looking as if we were watching a game of tennis.
As the programme progressed and we had proudly knocked out Judith and C.J. I was becoming increasingly aware of my fate. As Art and Books was announced and Caroline set off to answer her questions I realised that Sport was indeed going to be my round. It is always included whenever I watch Eggheads. All that I will say is that there was nothing sudden death about that round with Daphne, we ran out of sport questions and so therefore, editing is a wonderful thing.
The production team had given details of our work and interests to Jeremy and he chatted to us all before our rounds. Due to lack of time this was also edited out as our final general knowledge round was so exciting and Hannah, Caroline and Vera made the Eggheads work for the money.
During the time we were in the studio, the Eggheads certainly warmed to us. It is quite unusual for a team of ladies to appear on the show and the production team found our approach a refreshing change to the very serious all male quiz teams that appear. The production team were also desperate for us to win. We were encouraged to give as much information about the answers as we could and told not to use phrases like "I’m just going to guess" and "That’s before my time".
It was a great experience and I am so glad I said yes to that email. I wouldn’t have had that experience if I hadn’t been a member of AWIBC. I can’t promise any more television appearances in 2010 but I hope we’ve shown you the variety of ladies who are members and some of the things we get up to and have inspired you to come along to one of our meetings and see what we are all about. You never know, you might just say "yes" to becoming a member. For more information about the Andover Women in Business Club please check out their website www.awibc.co.uk
Claire Muir