I was never The Weakest Link.. 20 years later.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON LINKEDIN ON OCTOBER 11th 2024
I reflected on my appearance on The Weakest Link in August 2004 today.
I loved the series, and when the opportunity came up in Cardiff to audition, I couldn’t resist. I met with the production team at Jury’s Hotel with fellow applicants. I was required to do a piece to camera talking about myself, a paper quiz, and then a ‘mock’ episode of the show with the other candidates. Great fun, and went well.. Forgot about it..
Then a call and a letter appeared letting me know that they wanted me to do the show. Tickets from Cardiff Central were paid for, and the recording to be at the legendary Pinewood Studios in Iver, Bucks. Home to the 007 series, among many TV and Cinema classics. This made me more giddy than the actual show. Then reality struck.. What if I went on there and it was a car crash.. Could I hold my own against the other 8 contestants, and worse.. Anne Robinson?
Traveling up in the morning, it was a beautiful day. A lovely train ride. Getting off the train at Slough and asking the taxi driver to take me to Pinewood Studios was a giggle. No date with the Broccoli family for Bond, but rather Anne Robinson. As the car pulled through the gate, the cabbie, advising the guard “Welsh guy here for Weakest Link”, was waved through and was greeted by the production team at the TV studios on campus.
Lovely welcome by the team, and discussion on clothes for the episode over soggy cucumber sandwiches. The series was a production line with, I believe 2 episodes filmed daily, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Nice bit of banter with the contestants, and one in particular stood out, over his griping about the terrible journey he had from Inverness and what he called the awful accommodation. A chap called Billy was hilarious. A character talking about him being a retired bodybuilder. Cue terrible gags by me regarding Schwarzenegger, even though he was the automotive rather than gym type (a gag not lost to the production team). Bit of make-up and then I was there, standing on the iconic set. To call it surreal would be an understatement.
Then out of the back of the studio, with no fanfare, no greeting, no compromise.. Anne Robinson. The queen of mean herself. Dressed appropriately in black and as somber as you would imagine. No gags.. No “Where have you come from”.. This was serious business!
At this point. I would suggest watching the episode here and coming back:
The Weakest Link - Full Episode - Ty Davies - 2004 - video Dailymotion
As seen, I look young. Proud that I wasn’t a rabbit in the headlights too much, and actually, I gave as good as I got. Anne Robinson was famous at that time for not exactly endearing herself to the Welsh. Wales Online has a good article here about that:
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/tv/countdown-presenter-anne-robinsons-infamous-23860460
I proudly got a dig in about that notorious attempt to get my country relegated to the darkest depths of Room 101. In fairness to Ms Robinson, it appears that my banter endeared me to her to the extent that one of the production team gave me a nudge as we got to the final two contestants - “Good one Tyrone, she likes you”.
I am also proud that I upheld something historic about my hometown town Llandovery. Llandovery is the home of William Williams Pantycelyn. His best-known hymn is "Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch" which evolved into "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah" which is embedded in Welsh DNA. This was a question asked, and I knew this would have been fuel to the Robinson fire, had I got it wrong. On advising my answer.. The lights went up in the studio.. Mutterings on my answer accuracy took place.. It was upheld.. The answer written down was "Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer” – Point to Davies.. Take that Ms Robinson.
I didn’t win. Got down to the last two. A gent called Dom won, and he was brilliant. A true character, and he pipped the post at the end. Some of the answers I gave were hilarious clangers but yet, I got through the whole episode, and I can say with great pride. I was never, ever voted off as The Weakest Link
LESSONS FROM THE EXPERIENCE
1. Positivity Reinforced – I am a grinner, and I was giddy. It was the journey and the experience, and had very little to do with the hope of getting a cash prize. It was the game, the journey, and living in the moment. Not the outcome of a cheque
2. Live In The Moment – The gent from Inverness who was unhappy with his lot, from the transport to the accommodation, was voted off in the first round and was put in a taxi back to the airport and Inverness. Must have been an awful time for him. Yet, what a story and an adventure. Enjoy every second.
3. Stand By Your Values – As incendiary as the Welsh comment was to Ms Robinson. I can assure you that this wasn’t scripted or encouraged. Yet I wouldn’t have forgiven myself had I not said something in the moment.
4. £2390 would have been nice but.. – Money is important, but it would have gone – The experience for me lives on for a lifetime. Besides, the winner, Dom, and I put a fair bit of that behind the bar opposite Pinewood when filming finished
5. Even If You Know.. You Can Get It Wrong.. – So, as a Bond fan.. Standing on a set a stone's throw away from the stage, they filmed Goldfinger and so many classics.. I have read every Fleming (and continuation authors) book, seen every film, and loved them, and still do.. “What does the M stand for in MI6, Tyrone..”.. “Murder.. Anne”.. No sooner as I said it, in the heat of the lights and the stare of Ms Robinson.. I realized the clanger.. Instantly, I would imagine the team in the breakroom at SIS in Vauxhall Cross spitting their tea out and falling off their chairs laughing.. At least the real 007s of the world are chuckling in their cars, driving home. The shame of it. Still get ribbed to this day about it.. A reminder that it's OK to get it wrong. It's how you deal with it that matters.
6. Have A Go – Life is often what I could have done. Sometimes you just have to ‘do’ – At a Mentoring session yesterday. I was impressed by one of the guest speakers' statements that sometimes “You just have to press send”. That statement prompted me to write about this very adventure. Writing and ‘doing’ is one thing and indeed, sometimes you just have to press the button.
Filming ended with a handshake to the winner Dom. Ms Robinson came over and gave me a hug and a kiss! Dom and I headed over to the nearest pub and celebrated the day until late in the evening and a worse-for-wear younger self was picked up from Newport station by an irate girlfriend because I couldn’t get back to Cardiff.
Would I do it again? Absolutely. I am considering Mastermind and looking for other opportunities. Surprisingly, general knowledge quizzes in the media seem to be on the downturn and are more based on chance, such as Tipping Point etc.
Sharing today. Really, because it’s something that I hold dear in my life journey and development. I live my life inspired by the marvelous Teddy Roosevelt speech called Man In The Arena. It’s the doing that matters. It's being present. Standing there. Getting on with it.
If you have never read it – Please do:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63389/roosevelts-man-arena
