No Bingo and no Mint either
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
Last week A Current Affair got stuck into Seven’s National Bingo Night with claims that it is a scam, designed to keep viewers watching. ACA looked at a string of bingo forms and concluded that common numbers appeared on most forms, resulting in numerous viewers always having 4 out of the lucky 5 numbers. One expert even managed to predict the numbers that would be drawn, and as this clip suggests he was pretty much on the money.
But Seven isn’t the only network with a game show that has viewers crying foul.
Of all the blog topics in TV Tonight, few has generated more one-going feedback than Channel Nine’s late night quizzes, first with Quizmania, and now its replacement The Mint.
This show is guilty of wild puzzles with ludicrous answers, seemingly making sense to only those involved with the production.
“They had a game on a few nights ago where you had to ‘count the reds'” says one reader. “I counted them all the possible ways I knew how, but NEVER came up with the ridiculous amount the answer was. No one got the answer (of course), after 2 hours on this one game, the answer was 1115! How the heck is someone meant to count to this in 2 hours?”
“I was watching The Mint last night where it wanted you to count the amount of litres of beer and no matter what answer I had it wasn’t right.” says another.
And more:
“Last nights 16/11 ‘count the numbers’ had potentially at least 10 different answers depending on how you took that question. After 2 hours and every possible combination, no one had it yet. I gave up.”
“The answers are never clear cut, it all comes down to you guessing the answer, not being able to logically work out the one and only correct answer. Here’s one from the other night. Prove me wrong and tell me how they came to this answer. The question is: Add the numbers 27 seventeen 231 sixty five. The Answer given at the end because no one guessed it was = 522. Please prove to me how this is the correct answer.”
And these troubles are on top of the phone system itself, which of course takes your money before deciding if it will shortlist you for an actual chance at the game.
Nine really needs to lift its game on this as entertainment. As we head into 2008 and Nine seeks a clean start, Mr Gyngell could do well to just axe these altogether. They really aren’t fooling anybody. To point the finger at Seven over National Bingo Night really just reeks of hypocrisy.
TV Tonight will be keeping an eye on The Mint but we need your input. If you have any more examples of dubious games leave a comment.
To help you find this post it is being added under the Show Watch menu.
The Mint answers: We have a Winner
UPDATE 18/3: The Mint axed.
34 Responses
Thankyou David for the information to respond in each state. It is obviously a scam. I wonder how much they make per night? Could it be as much as one million?
In response to how do you get 522 from adding the numbers
27 seventeen 231 sixty five,
here is the most plausible answer I came up with:
27:
27
2
7
=36
seventeen:
17
7 (seven in seventeen)
=24
231:
231
23
31
2
3
1
=291
sixty five:
65
60
5
6 (six in sixty)
=136
36+24+291+136=487
Finally go back in and look for roman numerals!
seventeen:
V=5
SIXTY FIVE:
I=1
X=10
I=1
V=5
IX=9
IV=4
Total Roman Numerals:
5+1+10+1+5+9+4=35
Final result: 487+35=522
Ta daaaa!
This is a crime! It’s ripping off and stealing people’s money. Answers are proven that they are randomly chosen.They just say u win occasionally to prove that it is not a scam.
its good to see all types of opinons from aus late nite tv viewers…i myself love tv and Quizmania! and for ppl 2 say the hosts are…. is stupid! there on tv and ur not!! there getting paid,its their job,besides please direct your comments to the producers of these shows if u have a problem!…and if you call up and you dont win…go to bed!!!
of course this coming from a .live it. .breath it. .watch it. tv lover! lol….
the show is dumb but last night i was watching while in bed and fell asleep before they answered “how many numbers” did anyone see what the answer was??
maybe we should find a loophole for a pyramid scam and make each other rich
I totally agree with the last post, I watched the same show and got sucked in!! I could not belive the answer when it was revealed. The company of the show should have to explain how they got that answer.
From last nights “add the numbers” how do you possibly derive the answer 1275 from:
1. The number of days between Christmas Day and New Years Day.
2. The number of vowells in “Beach”
3. The number of odd numbers between thirteen and nineteen.
Obviously no one won and then to add insult to all those wasting .55cents and higher from mobiles, they reduced the prize money to $5000 from $6000!
I can understand the shows producers making an absolute vault of cash from desperate sods wanting to get rich quick, but at least these pocket filled TV moguls could at least have the decency to “explain” the answer!
All the bimbo did was to look at the viewers in her best “can’t wait till I get my Ferrari face” and shrug off the answer as though we were all morons!
I think someone needs to look into this show seriously.
I would also like the anonymous poster from the 27th to give details. It would be easy to be a person from the show to write here claiming that The Mint is legitimate.
Hay, could the anonymous poster of Dec 27th please tell us what game they won $3000 on, and when? What was the question and what answer did you give?
If you could give these details, someone may remember you calling in and verify that you were an actual winner. Also, how were you paid and how long did it take?
You’re one of the lucky ones, but good to see money does go off.
QMania is rumoured for TEN.
The Mint is ok compared to Quizmania! I won $3000 on the mint and I had always called Quizmania and never won. The chances of winning the tower game Quizmania played was 1:200 possible answers! I remember one tower was boy names “Chubaka”???? What, do they just make up their answers??? Its a rip off!
I heard Quizmania is coming back?????? Does anyone know anything about this?
well i watched national bingo night and i couldn’t believe it was a scam until i saw footage on A Current Afair.
But the mint seems to make it more obvious its a scam…last night the number puzzle was:
add the number… two hundred 21 seven 36…after an hour and a half of me sitting with my calculator i gave up…but someone guessed the answer and it was 1491(i think).
although im underage and i cant call up i like sitting down to work it out…to see if i can do it. but i wont if its a scam.
the mint’s word puzzles are hard aswell, there are so many words that fit, but its always a wierd word you never heard before.
As first time viewers we were sucked in as we thought we knew an answer. As Jason has stated I had the same experience last night with the ‘how many litres’ beer game. Me and my partner both thought we knew the answer (what was in the kegs), and rang a few times without success. We then watched as every possible mathematical answer was given. It is ridiculous that such a game is picking on the competitive nature of Australians. Should be stopped.
Jason can u send me this in an email please?
I rang into the Mint on Saturday night/Sunday morning (09/12/07) during the “how many litres?” beer game. I gave the correct answer of 99. The sum of all numbers was 106 however one jug had “litre” which wasn’t plural therefore it was subtracted.
They realised I was correct and they cut me off and then gave an awkward response.
The answer revealed was 341 which is rediculous. Surely the ACCC could investigate and disprove them.
Why don’t they just say, “Pick any number, or part of a number.”? If they don’t have to explain the answer, then it is obviously a scam. You are led to believe you have some hope of working it out logically, but you don’t. I do feel sorry, however, for the poor losers on the show, who must be very desperate for work on T.V.
It’s time someone made a legal challenge on this Mint scam. It would have to be close to fraud to say things like “everything you need to know is in the box” then come up with what looks very much like a randomly selected number for their answer, surely?
Isn’t there a “code of practice” for TV? It’s such an insult to people’s intelligence watching this ripoff. I admit I have it running in the background sometimes, just because I have this strange feeling of amazement that they actually get people ringing! How could anyone ever think they would win the big money… Unbelievable.
My post about The Mint has been by far the most popular on my blog. This show is more rigged than any show I’ve ever seen. It’s more of a lottery than bingo night.
Ian, I’ve been keeping up to date with the developments in the UK regarding these scam programs.
Where it ends is in court, as ITV found out recently.
The mechanisms behind these shows and how they steal money from people has been very well documented already, going back to the “Hot Dogs” Big Brother scam show which kicked it all off here.
Unfortunately, people are gullible and seem to genuinely think they can win with these shows and look at a few pretty girls in the meantime. They don’t realise they’re having a con played on them.
Of course, the way to kill The Mint and shows as such is simply not to play them. The Mint is not driven by ratings but rather revenue. Once the cost of the show exceeds the revenue generated, the show will be reviewed and probably axed. The Mint is an example of revenue driven programming rather than ratings driven.
And the terms and conditions for The Mint state they never have to reveal how they came up with the answer so it could just as well be made up. We will never know.
Here is the quote from T & Cs from Nine Website: “Neither the Promoter nor the producer is under any obligation to release
information relating to Game answers or methods of solution, other than the
information given by the presenter. Any such information released is released
at the producer or the Promoter’s absolute discretion.”
The Mint is a joke of a show – but I have to tell you it will be around for a long time. The amount of money it generates is more than the cost of the show and more than the revenue that use to be generated by late night advertising.
One of the issues with the National Bingo Night is the name itself. As the Terms and Conditions say
3. NOT A GAME OF BINGO
3.1 The Program is pre-recorded and therefore participants are not playing a game of ‘Bingo’ or ‘Housie’, rather participants are entering a trade promotion lottery (the ‘Competition’).
So it is a scam to call a game show Bingo and imply that you will be playing a game of Bingo when in reality you won’t be
‘a scam, designed to keep viewers watching’
???
Isn’t that the premise of EVERY PROGRAMME on 7 and 9??? Including ACA and TT???
sounds like some stuff we have problems with over here, believe me once you start digging you wont like where this ends.