Episode 22 Beat the Brain

Hello, it's The Brain!

Our team today is about to experience a bout of intellectual acrobatics.

To get you in the same mind-set,

try a couple of the kind of games our team could face.

What's the difference in the value?

Now try this one.

Did you get them right?

Find out at the end of the show.

Let's see if our team of four have the mental stamina to beat The Brain.

Please show your appreciation for the host with the most, John Craven!

Well, thank you very much, and hello everybody.

Welcome to Beat The Brain, your daily dose of mental agility

tests that are guaranteed to sharpen your wits.

Let's say hello to the brain behind the games. Brain, how are you today?

I'm raring to go, John. May I say, you look wondrous in purple.

-A royal colour. You are my King John of Craven.

-Ha, ha!

Well, I hope you're going to be my queen

and be very nice to your subjects today. So, let's meet our team.

Please introduce yourselves.

I'm Tim, and I've worked for the Post Office for 29 years.

I'm Colette. I've worked for the Post Office for 15 years.

I'm Rhys, and I've been with the Post Office for only 18 months.

I'm Chris. I'm the team captain,

and I've worked for the Post Office for 32 years.

APPLAUSE

Well, welcome, everybody. Chris, you're the captain.

-So, have you got a name for the team today?

-Yes, John.

-We're called the Future Walkers.

-And why is that?

Well, we work for the Post Office in Chesterfield, and the building

we work in is called Future Walk, so we're the Future Walkers.

-But do you actually walk to deliver letters?

-No, no, no.

We work for the Post Office, not Royal Mail.

-They deliver your letters.

-Oh, they're separate now, aren't they?

We parted company a while back, yes.

-Are you all game players when it comes to mental agility tests?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

-Oh, yes.

-Well, we'll see. We'll see.

-We'll see.

This is how it works. The show's brain is divided into six Zones.

The Brain will select four of those six Zones today for you to play,

and Chris, as captain, then you must nominate which team member

you think will perform best in each Zone. Got that?

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

answer adding three seconds to your total, what we call your Brain Bank.

The more time you build up, the more chance you have of beating The Brain

in today's final and walking away with today's jackpot.

-So, Future Walkers, are you ready to play?

-Yes.

-Right.

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

Zone, please.

Observation, it is,

and Chris, you are going to nominate for this round.

Er... Tim is our man for the Observation round.

Right. Tim, come into the Observation Zone.

APPLAUSE

So, you're good at rallying, Tim. Is that car rallies?

Car rallies, yes, John.

So, you do need quite a lot of observational skills there,

-don't you?

-Hopefully, yes.

-Are you an observer or a driver?

-Er...

The last time, I was a navigator, which is basically observer.

Map reading and suchlike.

OK, Tim, well, you'll have two games in this Zone.

Both games have three questions worth three seconds each, OK?

So, Brain, which game first?

-Hello, Tim.

-Hello, Brain.

-Are you wearing your lucky necklace?

-Of course!

It's wonderful!

Let's start off with something fierce, shall we?

Here's your first game.

Tim, count the number of missing bricks.

To help you out, have a trial run.

-12.

-12, you think. Let's see if that's correct.

Yeah, you are correct. Happy about that?

-Happy to play the game for real now?

-Happy to play the game.

Ready when you are, Brain.

Tim, you have a maximum of 45 seconds to answer three questions.

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

Your game starts now.

-15.

-15, you're counting.

Yes, correct.

Next one.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,

11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.

17, you say? Is that correct?

16. One more to go.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,

11, 12, 13, 14, 15, John.

15, you're saying this time, Tim. Let's see.

Yeah, correct. So, well done. What do you think of that, Brain?

Very good, Tim. Here is your second game.

What's the difference in value between the two totals?

Have a trial run.

-What's changed?

-15 pence.

-15 pence.

The five has changed for a 20.

Five has changed to 20. Well done. OK, Brain, we're ready to play.

Tim, you have a maximum of 45 seconds to answer three questions.

Please remember, though, I can only accept that first answer.

Your game starts now.

What's the difference there then, Tim?

I think it's the...

-four pence.

-Four pence, you're saying.

Yes, correct. On to the next one.

30 seconds left.

What's changed there? What's the difference?

There's a five there and there is a...

15 seconds. You can... You can pass.

-It will be...95 pence.

-95.

Yes, you're absolutely right, 95. And last one.

Five seconds. Quickly.

-Eight pence.

-Eight pence, you're saying.

30 pence. No.

But never mind, you did pretty well so far, I think,

on behalf of your team. Let's find out. What do you think, Brain?

Well, it seemed the lucky necklace worked. Sort of.

Tim, you added 12 seconds in that Zone.

This mean, in total, Future Walkers have 12 seconds in their Brain Bank.

-Good to meet you, Tim. Thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you.

If you'd like to rejoin your team.

It's time to find out now which Zone we're going to be playing next,

and who's going to take it on. Brain, the Zone, please.

That's the Zone. Who's going to play it, Chris?

-Multi-tasking, that's me!

-Really? Well, come and join me, then.

APPLAUSE

Good to see you, Chris.

Tell me, why have you chose yourself for this Zone?

To be fair, it's one I do fancy.

I do a lot of driving, and I think driving involves a lot

of multi-tasking, so I'm hoping that is going to be right up my street.

And apart from mental games, I think

-you're pretty good at running as well.

-I like sport.

I do try and keep fit, yes, I do, John.

You took part in Father's Race, didn't you, at school,

-and did rather well?

-I did, yes.

I did rather well on a few occasion, yes.

-How many time did you win?

-Four years in a row, yes.

-So, you're a very competitive person all round?

-I am, yeah.

I try not to be but it comes to the surface.

Let's see how you do when it comes to multi-tasking.

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

-How do you do, Captain Chris?

-Hello, Brain.

-So, you're fiercely competitive, are you?

-I would say so.

So am I, so bring it on. This is your first game.

Tell me how many people are left on the bus, not including the driver.

Have a test drive with a trial run.

BELL CLANGS

There's the bus.

So, how many people left, do you reckon?

I think seven went in, four came out, so three left on?

Three left, you think.

Let's see if that's correct. You are. Well done.

-Thank you.

-So, let's go, Brain, let's play it for real.

Please remember, I can only accept your first answer.

Your game starts now.

BELL CLANGS

How many people left on the bus?

-Four.

-Four, you're saying.

It was. Congratulations. Good start there. On to the next one.

BELL CLANGS

All right, how many?

-I think two.

-Two, you reckon. Let's see if that's right.

Only one left on the bus, I'm afraid.

So, here we go, the third bus arriving at the stop.

BELL CLANGS

-I think five left.

-Five left.

Let's see if that's correct.

-Yeah. Well done. Two out of three there.

-Not too bad, not too bad.

Yeah. Let's go on to game two, please, Brain.

Very well, John. Chris, it's time to raise the bar.

And here's your second game.

Ha! See what I did there?

When the number of sheep matches the number I say,

add that number to the total.

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

Two. Two.

Four. Four.

Two. One.

Three. Four.

Three. One.

-I would say that is 11.

-11, you're saying. Let's see if you're correct.

You are indeed. So, you obviously worked that one out pretty quickly.

OK. So, off we go.

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

Your game starts now.

Two. Three.

Two. Two.

Four. One.

Two. Two.

Three. One.

-I believe that will be nine.

-Nine, you're saying.

That's your total, nine. It is. Good. Next one.

Two. Two.

Three. Four.

Three. Four.

One. Two.

Four. Four.

-13, John.

-13 is your total.

Is it correct? It is. One more to go.

Three. One.

Two. Four.

One. Two.

Four. Four.

One. Two.

-I believe that is 12.

-12, you believe.

Let's see if you're right.

-You are indeed, so well done on that round.

-Thank you.

-Very pleased with that one.

-Yes.

Brain, Chris did very well there in your multi-tasking sections.

Absolutely, and I so wanted to beat you, you big, tall thing, you.

But Chris, you added 15 seconds in that Zone.

This means, in total, Future Walkers now have

27 seconds in their Brain Bank.

APPLAUSE

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Good to see you, Chris.

How are you getting on at home?

Are you keeping pace with the Future Walkers?

Well, there are two more Zones still to come.

Let's find out which Zone is next and who is going to take it on.

Brain, the Zone, please.

Language it is.

So, Chris, which of your two remaining players will you

-nominate for Language?

-Language is going to be Colette's turn.

Colette, come and join me in the Language Zone.

APPLAUSE

-Nice to meet you.

-You, too. Are you pleased to get Language?

-Yes.

I do a lot of puzzles.

I like anagrams, I like word searches, I like crosswords.

What else, apart from doing puzzles, do you enjoy doing?

I'm very family orientated, so I spend a lot of time with family.

I think sort of people, really, is one of my thing,

so I'm either with family or I enjoy socialising,

I enjoy going out with friends to the theatre.

One of my favourite things is musicals. Erm...

-West Side Story is my favourite.

-Me, too, as well.

-I've seen it probably ten times.

-It is a wonderful one.

-Yeah.

So, let's see how you do with Language Zone.

So, don't forget,

there are another 18 precious seconds on offer in this Zone.

That's three seconds for every correct answer.

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

-Hello, Colette.

-Hello, Brain.

-I like musicals, too.

-Oh, good.

-Something in common, you'll be nice to me.

-No, I won't.

-OK.

# Here's your first game! #

-Rearrange the newspaper cuttings to form a word.

-OK.

You can have a warm up, Colette, with a trial run.

-Carbon.

-Carbon, you're saying. C, A... How we going?

Yep, you are correct. Got that one done pretty quickly.

-So, are you raring to go now?

-Yeah, we'll give it a go.

OK, let's bring on the game, please.

-You only have 45 seconds to answer three questions.

-OK.

Your game starts now.

-Oppress.

-Oppress, you're saying.

Yes.

Enzyme.

Enzyme. Yes. Next one.

-25 seconds to go.

-Er...

-Hibernate.

-Hibernate, you're saying.

Correct. Well done. Yes.

-Yeah, you got three right.

-Yeah.

So, let's go to the second game, please, Brain.

Here's your second game.

Find the hidden word, using the sentence as your clue.

Here's a trial run of what I mean.

-So, the...

-Erm...

So, the last part of "scarecrow" and the first part of "noteworthy"

is "crown", and it's a regal headwear.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. OK, Brain. We're ready for you.

You only have 45 seconds to answer three questions.

Your game starts now.

-A plumber...

-May fix this in kitchens.

Don't forget, it can be across lines.

What would a...

-plumber fix?

-Plumber may fix this in kitchens...

-Pass.

-Pass? OK.

Sink was the answer. Right. Next one.

-This seafood goes well with crisp, raw noodles.

-Mm.

Crisp, raw, noodles.

SHE MUTTERS INAUDIBLY

-No?

-No.

Well, you've run out of time, I'm afraid. Prawn was the answer.

-Oh, no!

-Yeah. Easy when you know the answer.

-It is. Yeah.

-Never mind.

You did incredibly well on the first round, didn't you?

-Yeah, just disappointed then for the last one, but...

-There we go.

-Brain, you're triumphant.

-You beat me.

I absolutely did, Colette.

But never mind, don't be too disappointed.

-You're wearing a lovely shade of lipstick.

-Thank you.

Colette, you added nine seconds in that Zone.

This means, in total, Future Walkers now have

36 seconds in their Brain Bank.

APPLAUSE

So, well done, Colette. Very hard, that last round.

I'm sure a lot of people at home didn't get it either.

If I was at home I would've been screaming the answers out.

Well, Rhys, you're the last person in the team to play,

so please come and join me.

APPLAUSE

-Hi there, Rhys. How are you feeling now?

-I'm all right, thank you.

-You need to get a lot of points for your team if you can.

-I know.

-Pressure.

-You got three Zones left, as I make it out,

Orientation, Memory and Logic.

So, which one do you hope will come up here?

My first choice would've been the Orientation.

Any reason for that one?

In my time, I've taken apart a lot of computers,

and a lot of putting them back together involved making sure the

right bits go in the right places,

and if it's the wrong way around, it just won't work.

And do you manage to do that successfully?

-Most of the time, yeah.

-Why do you do that?

-Why do you take them apart?

-I'm a bit of a technology freak.

I'm really into technology, so all the latest trends, the new things.

I like knowing how things work, taking one bit out, see what

happens, put another one in and see what changes it makes.

Well, let's find out which Zone Rhys is going to play.

Brain, a Zone, please.

-Not what you wanted.

-I'm all right with Logic.

We'll see how you do anyway in the Logic Zone.

-So, Brain, please can we have the first game?

-Hello, Rhys.

-You're the baby of the group, aren't you?

-I am, yes, Brain.

-Ha.

-You look very clean.

-Thank you.

-Here's your first game.

Identify the phrase or saying from the cryptic visual puzzle.

Have a trial run, Rhys.

-So, what do you reckon that is?

-Big Apple.

Big apple. Why is that?

Cos the apple on the left is larger than the one on the right.

And the arrow is pointing to that one. Yeah.

So, let's see if that's correct.

The Big Apple is right. Ready to roll?

-Yes.

-Brain, first game, please.

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

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

-OK.

-You have 45 seconds.

Your game starts now.

-Henry The Eighth.

-Henry The Eighth. OK.

Henry The Eighth is the right answer. Right. Next one, please.

-The, er... Suez...

-Ear and Suez.

Erm...

Listen, sound...

Sound, Suez...

-Pass.

-Pass on that one. The answer?

OK. And here comes on more.

The last one.

Erm...

12 inches, a foot.

Foot, door, door, foot.

-Foot in the door.

-Foot in the door.

Is that the correct answer?

It is indeed.

Well done, Rhys. Two out of three in that round. Right.

-So, Brain, please can we have the second game?

-Absolutely.

-My ear canal clue was fiendish, wasn't it, Rhys?

-Yes, very tricky.

BRAIN LAUGHS

Good. Here's your second game.

Rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper and paper beats rock.

You need to identify all three missing items.

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

OK. So, paper beats rock...

Scissors beat paper...

Rock beats scissors.

So, is that correct?

-Rock, scissors, scissors. That's what you said, isn't it?

-Yes.

You play this game when you were a child at school and things?

It's more for deciding things that we don't necessarily agree on,

-like who's taking the penalty or things like that.

-All right, yeah.

Yeah. Right, OK. Let's go on.

You have 45 seconds, Rhys, to answer three questions.

Please remember, I can only accept your first answer.

Your game starts now.

Scissors beat paper...

Rock beats scissors....

Paper, I'm sorry, rock beats...

-..scissors.

-Paper, rock, scissors.

Yeah, that's correct. On we go, second one.

Rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper and...

scissors beat paper.

That's correct, yes. 20 seconds left.

Scissors beat paper...

Paper beats rock. Paper beats rock.

-Let's have a look. Right! All three of those.

-Excellent.

You've done incredibly well for your team.

So, Brain, what do you think of Rhys's performance?

I'm very, very upset, Rhys. I thought you liked me.

Rhys, you added 15 seconds in that Zone.

This means, Future Walkers, you have finished

with a grand total of 51 seconds in your Brain Bank.

That is pretty good. If you'd rejoin your team.

So, we finish the individual Zones,

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

one last time and take home some serious cash in today's final.

Future Walkers, you completed your Zones

and added 51 seconds to your Brain Bank.

If you can answer eight questions correctly in that time,

you'll take home our jackpot today of £3,000.

If you can't, then you'll still have a chance of winning some money.

The Brain has given you a further two minutes in which to get

the required answers, but as the time ticks away,

so does the money, at the rate of £25 a second,

and when the time runs out, so does all the cash.

So, Chris, as captain,

you've chosen the order in which the team are going to play.

Any particular reason for that?

Rhys had a good first round and was very strong,

so will get, hopefully, a good start for us,

and with the pressure on the end, I think Colette can handle

the pressure, and me and Tim, just making up the middle numbers.

OK. It's time to get serious. Let's start today's final.

Over to you, Brain.

Future Walkers, you will only face questions from the games you have

already seen today, but for every game in the final,

I will only accept your first answer. Beat me if you can.

That's the big question. Can you beat The Brain?

As usual, we'll start with the player on the left,

that's you, Rhys, and once you've got two correct answers, I can

move on to Tim, and then all down the line till we get to Colette, OK?

So, good luck everybody. Let's start the game.

Three. One. Three.

Two. Two.

Ten.

Yes.

Make a word.

Display.

Yes.

Tim.

Count the missing bricks.

11.

Nope.

What phrase?

Pass.

What's the difference?

20 pence.

No.

Find the hidden word.

Pass.

What's the winners and losers?

Rock...

Pass.

BELL CLANGS

Five.

No.

Make a word.

Pass.

11.

Yes.

What phrase?

High circuit.

No.

Find the hidden word.

Pass.

Three. Two. Two.

Three. Four.

Three.

No.

Pass.

What's the difference?

£2.

No.

What's the winners and losers?

Paper, rock, scissors.

No.

BELL CLANGS

Two.

Yes. Chris.

Count the missing bricks.

Time's up, I'm afraid.

Oh! Oh!

So, sorry for you, Future Walkers.

Tim, you just had a kind of mind blank, didn't you, really?

All very, very difficult questions,

and you were so nearly right on quite a few of them.

-The pressure, I think, really got to you, didn't it, Tim?

-Meltdown, John.

JOHN AND TIM LAUGH

-You did get two right eventually.

-Eventually.

With a couple of seconds left.

THEY LAUGH

It means that today, Future Walkers, you go home with nothing,

-I'm afraid.

-Thank you, John.

-Never mind.

-Brain, very successful game for you.

-Yes.

I walked all over you Future Walkers, didn't I?

But don't despair, Future Walkers.

Remember that money means nothing, really, when you have friendship.

-Don't you think?

-I'm sure you do.

-We do.

And thank you, all at home for watching today.

I hope you enjoyed playing along.

-For now, it's time to say goodbye from Future Walkers...

-Goodbye.

-Bye.

-From The Brain...

-Goodbye.

And from me. See you again soon

That's how the team got on. But how did you cope

with the questions I gave you earlier?

Here they are again with the answers.

What's the difference in the value?

The answer is...

And what about the second one?

The answer is...

Whether you got them right or wrong, join John and me

again for more puzzles, posers and problems on Beat The Brain.