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Show your skills: Game show trivia debuts at fair

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Photo by Kyle Bursaw

Emily Cleaver, left, and Starla Stetsman, two 11-year-olds from Janesville enjoy the "Game Show Gurus" tent where they compete in the age 9-13 competition. Stetsman eventually won the round.

JANESVILLE — The Ross brothers—Fisher, 12, and Jenner, 10—convinced their mom, Linda, to become a contestant in the trivia contest "Game Show Gurus" on Wednesday at the Rock County 4-H Fair.

But when she walked off the stage with 60 points (last place) her boys had one message for her: "Mom, you need to watch more TV!"

The good-spirited mother brushed off the loss, "Oh, that was awful! I don't watch TV," she said laughing.

But her participation made for an entertaining family event, which is what Game Show Gurus is all about, host Jeff Helfand said.

"The goal here is to have fun," Helfand said. "We're not giving away a million dollars. We're not trying to stump them."

Game Show Gurus is new at the fair, and it will be having trivia blitz shows at 2, 4 and 6 p.m. every day through Sunday. The show is located next to the food stage tent.

Helfand, executive producer of Game Show Gurus, includes all age groups and the audience. Contestants compete in ages 4-8, 9-13, 14-21, 22-39 and 40 and up with questions increasing in difficulty.

Questions range from mostly pop culture to history to a few trick questions. Four participants can chime in with different ringers for a chance to win prizes supplied by Farm & Fleet—a T-shirt or a hat—and all contestants receive some sort of prize.

"It's funny when people should know something that they don't get," Helfand said.

For example, not knowing your own name.

"Or I ask them a give-away question or a subjective question like, 'What did you have for breakfast this morning?'" he said. "'Ahhh, I don't know,'" they say.

When Ryan Webb, 16, introduced himself during the teen-age contest, Helfand asked him what his biggest pet peeve was.

Thinking for a moment, Ryan said, "People bothering me when I'm trying to do homework," especially his sister, Krenda, 17, who competed next to him.

His smarts proved top of the class, winning his age category by correctly identifying Bart as Lisa's sister, osteoporosis as a disease that primarily affects the bones and naming the governor of California—complete with the accent—among other questions.

The question that stumped everyone, including the audience: How many U.S. presidents are not buried in the United States?

Sorry, none is the wrong answer.

Come up with the right answer and compete. Helfand told the crowd to remember the answers to some questions—he might use them again.