Quiz bosses slap ban on game show "pros"
An elite group of contestants who earn their living by winning TV game shows are finding their source of income drying up TV stations have banned them from competing.
The furious quiz "pros" are up in arms about the ban and some have even called the move illegal and undemocratic.
"It's absurd. They decided to ban all the people who could win big money," said Tadeusz Bialy, a journalist and English teacher by day. "They don't want clever people on their shows." Biay said the decision by the TV companies was a violation of his human rights.
TVN's "Milionerzy," the Polish equivalent of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," has slapped a ban on anyone who's won more than zl. 1,800 on any other televised game show. TV4's version of "Milionerzy," "Zyciowa Szansa", (Chance of a Lifetime) has done likewise, leaving "professional" quiz show players like Bialy potentially out of pocket.
A production assistant on TVN's "Milionerzy" said it was nothing personal, but viewers preferred to see all kinds of people win and not just an elite few.
"It's not interesting if it's the same winners all the time," said the assistant, who asked to remain anonymous. "It's more entertaining when a variety of people take home winnings."
One regular quiz "pro" who has appeared on countless game shows in Poland has still to prove himself on "Milionerzy" and now probably never will. Marek Krukowski stands at the helm of the country's pantheon of big-time quiz show winners. The 36-year-old connoisseur of music and literature began playing quiz shows 12 years ago at about the same time he quit his master's degree in philosophy. He believes he's the only one of Poland's quiz show "pros" to live almost entirely off his winnings.
Aside from small freelance contracts hiring out his services as a master of trivia, most of his income, which adds up to roughly $200,000 so far, has been from quiz show jackpots. He casually lists the number of shows he's won: "Wielka Gra" (Great Game), a Polish quiz institution, 14 times; "Miliard w Rozumie" (A Million on the Brain), twice, the maximum number of times you can compete; "Va Banque," Poland's equivalent of "Jeopardy," six times. He's recently been allowed back after a three-year ban. Current jackpots include zl. 100,000 for "Miliard w Rozumie" and zl. 14,000 for "Wielka Gra."
But what Krukowski and his fellow "pros" want more than anything is a crack at the zl. 1 million ($232, 500) jackpots.
Andrzej Zubala, an architect from Lublin and a relative newcomer to the profession, did have a chance on "Milionerzy" and was the first contestant to take home zl. 125,000.
Bialy was another recent winner on the show, taking home zl. 125,000. But after achieving this he was disqualified from a number of other quiz shows. His complaints of illegal shenanigans by TV companies have ultimately fallen on deaf ears.
Andrzej Szezlak, a partner with a Polish law firm, said that unless game shows have been blatantly discriminating, they're at liberty to set their own rules of participation. The civil code is silent on these types of matters, he said, though a constitutional-rights issue is not out of the question.
But as long as anyone with a winning past is banned from quiz programs, young trivia geniuses will never have the chance to follow in Krukowski's footsteps, according to game show "pros" at least not after one win. "I suppose all of the new programs will be handled in the same way," Krukowski said. "There's no place for me."
The seasoned quiz veteran said he's enjoyed the free time for reading and intellectual pursuits that his winnings have afforded him. But the days of living a life of leisure courtesy of TV quiz shows look set to end. "I suppose it won't be such a big deal having to earn a living like others," he said.
And he'll have little sympathy from TV stations running the shows. As the production assistant at TVN said: "It's boring when Marek Krukowski always wins."
