Episode 21 Beat the Brain

Hello. It's me, Brain.

Our team of four are poised for a strenuous mental workout.

To get you in the mood, try these two examples.

What's the word in the middle?

And here's another one.

Count how many times the lights come on.

Confident? I'll give you the answers at the end of the show.

Now let's see if our four contestants can work

together as they try to Beat The Brain.

APPLAUSE

Please welcome a man who's very close to this brain's heart,

John Craven.

Thank you, and welcome to Beat The Brain.

Our team today will be taking on thorny logic problems,

tricky word games and baffling puzzles,

which you at home can play along with as well

and, by doing so, give your own minds a mental workout.

So let's say hello to our resident genius, Brain. How are you today?

Oh, I'm very well, thank you, Mr Craven, and it's true. I am a genius.

Bring on the games.

Well, let's see if our team can beat you. Please introduce yourselves.

I'm Jenni and I work as a prison officer.

I'm Steve and I work as a banking customer advocate.

I'm Lisa and I'm also a prison officer.

I'm Dave, I'm the team captain, and I'm a retail systems developer.

APPLAUSE

Welcome, everybody.

Dave, as the captain, what are you calling yourself today?

-We're called the Pennine Pals.

-Why is that?

Two of us are from Leeds and two of us are from Liverpool.

So it's the white rose versus the red rose,

but working together today to Beat The Brain.

-That's right.

-Are you going to do it, do you think?

Fingers crossed, yeah. We're going to give it a good shout.

OK. Here's how the game works.

The show's brain is divided into six Zones.

Logic, Memory, Orientation,

Observation, Language

and Multi-tasking.

Now, The Brain will select four of these six Zones for you to

play today, and Dave, as captain, you must nominate which

team member you think will perform best in each Zone, OK?

You're playing for time instead of points, with every correct answer

adding three seconds to your total, what we called The Brain Bank.

The more time you build up, the more chances you have of beating

The Brain in today's final and walking away with a big cash prize.

So, Pennine Pals, are you ready to play?

ALL: Yes.

Time to find out which Zone you'll be facing first.

Brain, the Zone, please.

Language.

Language is our first Zone, so, Dave,

who are you going to nominate for the Language Zone?

We've had a bit of a chat about this already,

and I think Steve is the Language man.

Right, well, come on in, Steve.

APPLAUSE

So, why do you think you've been chosen for Language?

Well, in my line of work, I write letters quite often and check

letters, a lot of written work, so I kind of self-nominated for this.

Right. Are you good at actually speaking language or working out

difficult bits of language?

Without being too...

er, overconfident, I'd be quite good at most of those things,

you know, I'm the person that immediately spots a mistake

when something's been written down wrong.

I'm quite fussy.

One of the team members said you were a bit of a big head, but...

Literally.

-Literally, yes!

-I've got a really big head.

You've got a big head, and have you got a big brain

-inside your big head?

-We'll see, won't we?

-LAUGHTER

-Well, let's find out.

Let's play the Language Zone, and game one, please, Brain.

-Hello, there. How are you, Steve?

-Hello, I'm good, thank you.

-How are you?

-I'm very well. Here's the first game.

It's called Out Of This Word.

What word is missing from all three others?

Have a trial run.

-Missing words.

-Sure. Erm...

OK, well, it looks like the only word at the bottom

could be volcano, so...

-I would go for can as the missing word there.

-Can. Let's see.

Scandal, decanter and volcano.

-Yeah, right, so you got the hang of that pretty quickly.

-Yep.

-Are you ready to play?

-Ready!

So, let's play the Language Zone. Game one, please.

You only have 45 seconds to answer three questions.

Your game starts now.

A missing word.

Erm... OK. Ah...

I'm trying to think what the top word could be. Erm...

Erm...

I think that would be...

mat, M-A-T.

Mat. Tomato, animate, smatter. Well done.

Onto the next one, quickly, you've got 21 seconds left.

-Er, red.

-Red.

Well done, next one.

-14 seconds.

-Erm...

-Er, ape.

-Ape.

Correct. Paper, tapestry, chapel.

-Well done on that one, Steve.

-APPLAUSE

-So, let's go on to game two, please.

-He's very good, isn't he?

Now, Steve, here's your second game.

Find the word that fits between the other two.

To get your eye in, have a trial run.

What's the whole word in the middle here?

-Er, well, fiction made me think straight away think of science.

-Yeah.

-And?

-Rocket science.

-Let's see if you are right. Yes, you are.

-Well, that wasn't rocket science, was it?

-It was.

LAUGHTER

-So, Brain, over to you.

-Steve, are you ready?

-I'm ready.

Your game starts now.

OK, well, straight away there, council estate. Estate agent.

Estate agent? Let's see if you are correct. Yes, you are indeed.

Move onto the next one, please.

Again, carving makes me think knife.

-Knife edge.

-Carving and knife edge?

Let's see if that is correct, well done.

And being a football fan, I'll think

I'll take World Cup and cupcake.

Let's see if that... Well, yes. That was high-speed.

-Well done on that one, Steve.

-Thank you.

-A really cracking start

for Pennine Pals, I think. What do you think, Brain?

I think it is a very cracking start.

It's getting me into a bit of a bad mood, actually. THEY LAUGH

That performance will really help later in the final.

Steve, you added 18 seconds in that Zone.

This means, in total, Pennine Pals have

18 seconds in their Brain Bank.

APPLAUSE

So, time to find out now which Zone we are going to be playing next.

And who is going to take it on, so, Brain, Zone, please.

Observation. So, Dave, big decision here.

Who do you think would be best at Observation?

-I'd like to think I'm quite good at this myself.

-Ah.

So I might, I think it might be time to step up and try

-and match what Steve did.

-Captain's round.

-Yes, I'll take it myself.

Come on then, Dave, come and join us.

APPLAUSE

It's really good to see you.

Do you like these kind of mental quizzes?

Yes, I like playing spot the difference, those type of games.

-A pretty observant eye?

-Yes, I'd like to think so.

-Right.

How good are you at Observation? Let's find out.

Let's put you to the test.

Brain, please reveal the first game that Dave will be playing today.

-Hello, Dave.

-Hello.

-Are you a little nervous?

-No, I'm fine. Are you?

-Cheek. I'm not nervous.

Right, for that, I'm going to do some really nasty things to you.

-Bring it on.

-Here we go with the first game.

Dave, count the number of times each light comes on.

And to give you some practice, have a trial run.

-Erm. I'm saying 15.

-15.

I were a bit like that, all over the place.

I think I kind of focused on the middle one and spotted them from around.

You've got to be all over. 15, let's see if you were right.

-You were. Adopted the right tactic there.

-Yes.

-So, Brain, over to you.

Please remember, Dave, I can only accept your first answer.

Your game starts now.

-19.

-19 with that final green one. Right, let's see if you are correct.

You were. Very well done, onto the next one.

-That...looked like 18 to me.

-18, you thought.

Love your hand movements on this, the finger counting, it's great.

That's exactly what you need to do. Obviously.

So let's move on to the last one.

-That only looked like 17 this time.

-17, you thought, this time.

Let's see if you are correct.

You were. Well, very well done indeed.

APPLAUSE

That was a clean sweep. Well done. Great.

So, let's move on to the second game.

Well, Dave, what are you like with numberplates?

Here's the second game.

Tell me which numberplate you saw.

To help you out, here's a trial run.

-UD 40.

-Which numbers of those six? Which one?

It was UD40 HLX. So that was

-six...I believe.

-Number six.

And you're right. So, OK, Brain, let's play it again.

Every correct answer adds three seconds to boost the Brain Bank balance.

Your game starts now.

-DV...

-Hmm-hmm.

That was number six.

Number six, you thought.

And you were right.

What's the next plate going to be?

That looked like... It was a fast one, that. Number two.

Number two, you thought.

And you were right.

Third from coming up.

-Going the other way.

-Yes. Tricky, but...

that was number three.

You're pretty confident, are you?

Let's see if you are right, and you are.

-Well done. Goodness me.

-THEY LAUGH

You did incredibly well there, maximum points.

-Thank you.

-Yeah. Congratulations from me. Brain, what do you think?

Yes, congratulations, Dave, you've added 18 seconds in that Zone.

And that means, in total, Pennine Pals have

36 seconds in their Brain Bank.

-APPLAUSE

-Right, let's find out which Zone is next

and who's going to take it on.

Brain, a Zone, please.

Logic, we've got.

So, Dave, who is going to be best at Logic, Lisa or Jenni?

It has got to be...Logic Lisa.

Logic Lisa, come on in.

APPLAUSE

-All right, Logic Lisa.

-I don't know, because none of my friends would probably agree.

I don't think I am particularly logical,

but I do like to solve puzzles, I like the challenge.

-Do you go for the puzzle page in a newspaper and things?

-I do.

I like, er, the sudoku, I like to work things out,

-the methodical side of things.

-That sounds like Logic Lisa to me.

-Yes.

So, don't forget, there are another 18 precious

seconds on offer in this Zone. That's three seconds for every correct

answer, so, Brain, please reveal the first game Lisa will be playing.

-Hello, Logic Lisa.

-Hello, Brain.

Here's your first game. It's...

I will show you a series of four pictures,

and your challenge is to find the common link.

Have a trial run.

So what links those four images?

-OK.

-Talk me through.

-There's...

fire, a forest fire, er,

a boot.

-A sack race.

-Sack, yeah.

Axe.

Sack, axe, boot.

Fire.

What could be the connection there, do you reckon?

Oh, gosh.

It is easier working it out aloud, I think.

So we've got fire, boot, axe, and sack.

Axeman, fireman.

No, I can't think of a sack man.

They are raring to tell you on the couch.

I wish they could, I'm stuck with this one.

Erm.

Race. Boot race. Axe.

-Dave, what is it?

-It is ways to lose your job.

-Of being fired.

-Being fired...

-Getting the boot.

-..being sacked. Being fired. Getting the boot.

Being fired. Terminating employment.

-Wow.

-Get that now?

-Yes. OK.

That's the kind of logic that The Brain is looking for.

-So, are you ready to play?

-Yes, go on, then.

-OK.

Brain, first game, please.

Lisa, you can have as many guesses as you like, but I will not move

onto the next question until you give me the correct answer or pass.

You have only 45 seconds.

Your game starts now.

-OK, I'm seeing peas.

-Pea.

-Brick.

-Brick.

Chest. Flag.

China, wall.

Erm. Pea wall, brick wall, chest wall.

-Erm.

-No?

-Do you want to pass?

-Yes, pass.

-The answer is...

Pea water...

-Peanut, and things like that. OK, next one.

-OK, kite.

Erm. Country. Kiwi.

-What country?

-Is it China? No.

-I don't know. Crane.

-Crane, yeah.

-Want to pass?

-Pass.

-You've got a few

-seconds left, do you want to pass?

-Pass, yes

Sisters, twins, double, lion. Crab.

-Times up, I'm afraid.

-Oh, my gosh.

There's the answer.

You had Gemini, the twins, Pisces, Leo and Cancer.

Never mind.

As we say on this show, it's different brains for different games.

Some are dead easy. Everybody at home finds some easy and some hard.

And it is rather different when you're sitting in this chair.

-Yeah.

-It is all hard. The next game, please, Brain.

Don't worry, Lisa. As Einstein once said,

"It's easy once you know the answer."

-It is.

-Here's the second game.

Use the clues to work out the position of a particular animal.

The clues describe the animals from your perspective.

Here's a trial run of what I mean.

-Alfie is on the left to Charlie.

-Charlie is on the left of...

Where is Oscar?

So, if Charlie is on the left of Oscar,

and Alfie is on the left of Charlie, Oscar must be on the right.

-You think that he is on the right, Oscar?

-Yeah.

Let's see if you are correct.

-You are.

-Yay!

You were correct there, and it is from our perspective as well,

-looking at it. OK.

-OK.

-Right, so can we have the game then, please, Brain?

Please remember, I can only accept your first answer.

You only have 45 seconds to answer three questions.

Your game starts now.

So Prudence is on the right of Gertrude.

She is on the left of Beatrice. So Prudence is in the middle.

Prudence is in the middle, you say? Let's see if you are correct.

Yes, well done. Onto the next one.

Cotton-tail is not right of Flopsy, so Cotton-tail

is on the left of Flopsy, Flopsy is on the left of Mopsy.

So Cotton-tail is in the middle.

In the middle, you think?

Cotton-tail is in the middle?

-No, left.

-No, he's on the left.

-Jesus.

-So you've got 13 seconds left.

Henrietta is not left of Clucky.

Henrietta is not right of Nugget.

Where is Clucky?

So Henrietta is not left of Clucky

-and not right...

-Quickly, three seconds.

-An answer.

-Clucky, right.

-Right,

so you think Clucky is on the right.

No, on the left.

-I'll just go with the men.

-I think you actually

were a bit unlucky on those games,

and you did get some very difficult logical questions. You did.

Brain, what do you think about Lisa? How'd she do?

Yes, I did give you a particularly difficult Zone, Lisa.

I'm sorry, but never mind, I like your hair.

Oh, thank you.

Lisa, you added three seconds in that Zone.

This means, in total,

Pennine Pals now have

39 seconds in their Brain Bank. APPLAUSE

Jenni, you're our final player, so why don't you swap places

with Lisa and we'll find out which Zone you will be playing?

APPLAUSE

-And right, Lisa, you're a prison officer.

-I am.

How did you get involved with that?

Well, I worked in the visit centre first with

the children on visits, and jobs came up in the prison

for a little bit more money, so I went for that, yeah.

-And do you enjoy the job?

-I do actually, yeah.

I still get to work with the families and the visits, so,

yeah, I do enjoy it.

And how are you when it comes to mental puzzles?

I love them - in a really geeky way.

I love playing on quiz machines, and like you were saying before,

the puzzle sections of papers, magazines...

So, yeah, I really enjoy them.

-So, are you looking forward to this, then?

-I am.

-Well, there are three Zones left. There's Orientation...

-Mm-hmm.

-..there's Memory and Multi-tasking.

-Yeah.

So which of those three would you like The Brain to come up with?

-Multi-tasking.

-Multi-tasking.

-Yeah.

You're pretty good at that, eh? Why's that?

I have two young boys, three and five, and I work full-time,

so Multi-tasking has to be done on a daily basis, so...

-And you do puzzles in the paper as well, so, yes.

-Yeah.

Right, OK, then, let's find out which Zone

The Brain is going to choose for you.

Let's hope it's Multi-tasking.

Multi-tasking.

-And it is.

-Oh, yay.

-Yes.

-Yeah, fantastic.

Your wish comes true, or so it might appear.

Yeah, I know, I won't get too happy too soon.

Yeah, so, Brain, please reveal the first game in Multi-tasking

that Jenni will be playing.

Of course, John.

-Hello, Jenni.

-Hello.

Right, here's your first game -

it's called Turning Tables.

Count the number of times each arrow passes its needle.

To get you in the groove, have a trial run.

-Two arrows, two needles.

-OK.

-How many on the left and the right?

-I think one and five.

One and five, you're saying.

Let's see if you're correct.

-You are indeed, yes.

-Yes. Yay.

Yeah, so, hopefully,

-Multi-tasking is going to be your game.

-Fingers crossed.

So can we have the first game, please?

Please remember, I can only accept your first answer.

Your game starts now.

-Mm-hmm.

-One and three.

One and three, you're saying.

OK, let's see if that's right.

And it is, good.

-Yay.

-Next one, please.

I think five and four.

-Five and four, your fingers tell you.

-Yeah.

Five and four, let's see.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yay.

You've got one more to go. Let's carry on.

It's going faster.

-Ooh...

-Harder, that one, so...

I think I lost it a little bit on that one.

I'm going to save five and five.

Five and five, you're going to say,

-cos they were spinning around rather quickly.

-Mmm.

-Five and five?

-Oh...

-Five and six, just one out.

-One out,

-I can live with that...ish.

-Never mind,

you've got two out of three games, there.

So, Brain, what do you have up for us in the next game?

Well, let's spin Jenni around a bit, shall we?

Here's your second game -

Head Spin - count the number of times the named object

appears in the spinning wheels.

Here's a trial run to help you get the feel of the game.

Count the chicks.

Nine.

Nine chicks, you think.

-I think.

-Are you correct?

You are, indeed. The problem with this one is that

-two of them are going in one direction...

-Mm-hmm.

-..and the one in the middle is going in the opposite direction.

-Yeah.

Yes, yes, so it's a fruit machine with a difference, this is.

-Yeah.

-So let's see how we do as we play the game.

Jenni, you will also be playing this blindfold.

-OK.

-Only kidding.

Please remember, I can only accept your first answer.

Your game starts now. Count the green flip-flops.

-How many do you reckon, Jenni?

-Oh...

I think 12.

12, you're thinking.

-I think.

-So let's see if that was correct.

-Yay.

-And you're right. OK, next one, please.

Count the sunglasses.

-How many sunglasses?

-15.

-15. A pretty confident 15, there.

-Hmm.

-And correct.

-Yeah.

I bet you're doing better than a lot of people at home.

So the last one, please.

Count the white plates.

SHE MOUTHS

How many white plates?

I believe 16.

-16, you're thinking.

-Yeah.

-Well done, yeah.

-Yay.

-And you did it without counting out loud.

-A lot of people count out loud as they go through...

-I know.

-..but you didn't do that, as well.

-No, it helps to just

keep that particular game just in my head.

Yeah, yeah, well, you are good at that kind of logic,

certainly, aren't you?

Yeah, so, Brain, what do you think?

-Well done, Jenni.

-Thank you.

-It's good to be geeky, don't you think?

I do. You added 15 seconds in that Zone.

This means, today, that Pennine Pals, you have finished with

a grand total of 54 seconds in your Brain Bank.

-54, that is a pretty good score.

-Thank you.

-So well done, Jenni.

-Thanks.

-Please, rejoin your team.

APPLAUSE

Well, we've finished the individual Zones

and it's now time for our team to try to Beat The Brain

one last time, and take home a possible £3,000 in today's final.

Well, Pennine Pals, you've managed to

accrue 54 seconds in the Zones,

and this is where you put that time to good use,

because you need to answer two questions each correctly

before those 54 seconds run out,

in order to take home our top prize of £3,000.

Now, if you can't do that, there's still a chance to win,

because The Brain has generously given you two extra minutes to

come up with the answers, and as the time goes down, so does the cash.

If the time runs out completely, well, you're left with nothing, OK?

So, Dave, you've chosen the order in which the team is going to play.

What's your logic behind that?

I've just decided to go with the order that we actually played

-the game in.

-Mm-hmm.

-We'll see if we can Beat The Brain that way.

-How do you feel about being first, then, Steve?

-Fine.

I'm all right with that...so far.

-Not being big-headed?

-Erm, well, that's standard.

So it looks to me as though it's Yorkshire for the first half

and Lancashire for the second half, is that right?

-Looks like it.

-Yeah.

So, the roses merge again to try and Beat The Brain.

It's time to get serious. Let's play today's final.

Pennine Pals, you will only face questions from the games

you've already seen today, but for every game in the final,

I will only accept your first answer.

So, can you Beat The Brain?

Let's find out. As usual, we'll start with the player on the left -

that's you, Steve. You've got to get two questions right

before we can hand on to Dave, and so on down the line. OK?

-Yes.

-Are you ready to go?

-Ready.

-Ready?

Yup, right, good luck, everybody. Let's start the game.

What's the missing word?

Erm, Victoria.

Correct.

What's the connection?

Angel, carrot, erm...

Sponge. Cake!

Correct. Dave...

Count the snowflakes.

Four.

Yeah. On, next one, quickly.

Den.

Correct. Lisa, what number plate?

Four.

Yup.

Heat.

Jenni, what is the connection?

It's...erm...

cards.

Yes. Next one.

-Ten.

-So stop the clock!

-Yeah!

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Congratulations, you were just two seconds off the jackpot, there.

Eight correct answers

wins you £2,950.

How about that?

-Yes!

-Ah!

Something to celebrate, there, Pennine Pals.

-How are you feeling, Steve?

-Oh, wonderful, brilliant.

-Oh, my gosh.

How are you going to spend the money?

-Erm...

-It's going to be put to good use.

-Very good, very good, yeah.

Well, congratulations,

and Brain, you've been well and truly beaten.

I know, I'm absolutely distraught.

They absolutely thrashed me, didn't they?

-They did.

-You know, Daddy Brain used to say,

"Remember, it's not the taking part that matters, it's the winning."

It certainly is, certainly for Pennine Pals,

and that's all today, thank you for watching,

hope you enjoyed playing along.

And now, it's goodbye from the Pennine Pals.

-ALL: Bye!

-It's goodbye from Brain.

-Goodbye.

-And from me, as well.

See you soon.

Before you go, it's time to find out how you did with

our two play at home questions.

Here's a reminder, and the answers.

What's the word in the middle?

The answer is...

end.

Count how many times the lights come on.

The answer is...

seven.

If you got those right, well done.

If you didn't, you can always improve your skills

by watching more Beat The Brain.