★★★★★ 0/5

Bye bye Mint….

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And there’s just one more show remaining for Nine’s The Mint.

The demise of the show tonight sees an end (fingers crossed) to the last late-night game show on Australian television.

It first found success in Big Brother Up Late, which led to TEN’s Up Late Game Show with Hot Dogs. Nine then weighed in with Quizmania and Seven’s Midnight Zoo. When The Mint shuts its doors, so too does the genre.

And if you’ve ever wondered how on earth Nine got around never explaining answers to those inane cryptic puzzles, here is an official explanation:

Question Methodology:
We refer you to clause #50 of the Terms and Conditions, we are under no obligation to release this information. However, we can assure you that the puzzles are based on a strict approved rule set. This means all of our cryptic puzzles have one answer only. We never deviate from this rule set in deriving the answer.

TV Tonight has one last puzzle for frustrated followers of The Mint.

Add the following:
1. Network NINE +
2. 4 x over-energetic presenters +
3. 42,000 or more pissed-off viewers +
4. 83 annoying cryptic puzzles +
5. 2 programmers without better ideas = ????

(Answer: Axed)

The Mint ends tonight from 12am (Sunday) on Nine.

8 Responses

  1. dnp52, in all seriousness, learn a little bit of English language comprehension. For those wondering what the hell he/she is on about, the “Karl Stefonovic lover” comment comes from another topic, where dnp52 failed to comprehend what I was saying in a comment and decided, inexplicably, that I’m a big fan of Nine’s Today show.

    My personal vendetta against The Mint, dear dnp52, is the same kind of vendetta I have against ALL con artists who think they can shamelessly scam people out of money and get away with it scot-free, especially since it’s on a network that’s all too ready to scream “scam!” at not only other people, but also recently other networks.

    I like nothing more than seeing a confidence trickster kneed in the proverbials. So good riddance to The Mint and the entire fetid genre.

    It was NEVER entertainment. It was a scam. And I feel genuinely sorry for those who watched it for “entertainment” reasons (come on, it was the boobs, wasn’t it? Thought so).

  2. Says the Karl Stefonovic lover.. Now I can’t even take you seriously Neon Kitty.

    And you blaming the Mint for “the slow, lingering death of Australian television.”

    Get off your high horse! Blame the tv producers for doing that! for making TV shows no one wants to watch or putting one on and because it doesn’t get the ratings it wants pulls it off air before giving it a chane.

    I reckon the people who like The Mint are probably those ones that never rang up! it was just a bit of light entertainment for them.

    I’m starting to think what is your personal vendetta against them? Did you ring them up and lose all your money? I’m starting to wonder.. Otherwise why do you even care if other people did?

    It’s axed, you got your wish now just shut up!

  3. Ah, you Mint apologists are hilarious.

    If that’s what you call “entertainment”… well, put it this way. You’re part of the cause of the slow, lingering death of Australian television.

    Don’t despair, though. Since you still seem keen to be scammed… err sorry, I mean “entertained”… well, Benny Hinn is still on air for your late-night pleasure.

  4. As crappy as it is/was it’s not bad for a little entertainment and if you didn’t like it you can always turn over or watch the inner eye lid show.

  5. I will miss The Mint.

    I never called, emailed a few times..

    Being on night shift didn’t mind trying to work out the puzzles in the early hours of the morning and beats advertorials any day.

    I’d rather The Mint that ablasters anyday!

  6. dnp52, I had no problem with the live production quality and effort made to bring to our screens.

    But the games were absolutely ridiculously contrived to extract as much money as possible from the gullible viewer. If you were frustrated enough to watch (or tape) till the end of a puzzle you would know the answers never helped! It was like they were making it up! If a word game used a English word, you can guarantee it wasn’t in common use and that the hosts had no clue either behind their brave faces!

    I’m all up for watching puzzles and mind games, but this was never that sort of game. It was simply a scam!

  7. Nice closing question, David. They should use that on the final show 🙂

    “When The Mint shuts its doors, so too does the genre”? Hell yes, I really hope so. But there are still those who inexplicably defend what was nothing less than a money-making scam directly targeting the less intelligent, the gullible and the drunk. And with some success, going by how long these shows lasted.

    dnp52, yes it’s gambling. But you’re forgetting two important things:

    1. It is not AT ALL advertised as a gamble. It is advertised as a quiz. The cost of entry is deliberately and elaborately obfuscated.

    2. Legitimate gambling enterprises have to, by law, disclose the odds of winning. The Mint and its forerunners get around this by getting permits but never disclosing the fact that the vast majority of callers never even get a chance to answer the question. And then if they do, the question is unanswerable unless you’re either psychic or having hot sex with one of the producers.

    Saying that there is one answer only (as there should be, duh) and that it’s a “strict rule set” is absolutely no excuse for the fraud that this show has perpetrated on its victims. They could put up a puzzle that required the Enigma Machine to solve, but that’s not the point. They phrase the puzzle to make it sound simple, thereby encouraging thousands of guaranteed-wrong-answer callers, 99% of whom are told to naff off before they’ve even started, and the best clue the bimbo shills they hire to sell the scam can offer is “try harder, keep calling”.

    No, the “if they’re stupid enough to be scammed then let them” excuse is invalid. Sorry, but a crime is a crime, and this crime is FRAUD. Just ask ITV in England.

    So it’s live. So what? Live crap is… well, still crap. Sorry, but I don’t buy the “training ground for up and comers” line (and this makes me immediately suspect you’re associated with Nine or the show, by the way). And anyone who calls the interminable hours of The Mint “entertainment” either needs a lobotomy or has access to much, much better pot than I used to have in my teenage years. The hosts “interacting”? Err, no, sorry. They’re after your money. You know those junkies that come up to you in the street with stories of how they’ve lost their wallet and need $50 to get home? Yeah, just like them. Entertainment my arse.

    Farewell, Mint, indeed. And die a painful death while you’re at it.

  8. Even though you put shit on the show I think it does have a place on TV.. It is gambling yes, but so is buying a scratchie or playing the lotto, not everyone wins! And if the idiots want to call up who can’t control themselves then let them.

    As far as the show, there is no other show on late at night that is LIVE and has hosts interacting and *shock horror* entertaining the viewers as some of the hosts on the show do.

    I commend them for doing 3-4 hour live shows every night, even seasoned professionals would struggle! and it’s a good training ground for up and coming talent.

    I hope the hosts I do like on the show go on to bigger and better things now.

    farewell The Mint.

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