Test the Nation Trip: Nerds on Top
byI flew out to Toronto for a trivia quiz along with about a hundred other contestants from various careers and walks of life to participate in Test the Nation on the CBC. Those watching at home on Sunday January 20th were be able to play along with the television show, or even online. There were several teams (cab drivers, bloggers, backpackers, celebrity impersonators, chefs, and flight attendants) and we were all put to the test with some 21st century trivia. Here’s how the night unfolded:
SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP! That was the chant when it was announced that our celebrity, Samantha Bee and teammate Rick Spence were both crowned top scorers at the end of the night. We were still awaiting the final team results but the bloggers were feeling pretty good at that point.
Throughout the evening our team chanted (Bee! Bee! Bee!), hooted and hollered, and talked a fair deal of smack. We were completely enamored with Samantha – who talked to us often, made motions our way and really interacted with “her people – the indoor kids”. Even when other teams would let a rousing “nerd” chant slip in our direction our solidarity was never shaken and we stood strong. It was also rather amusing that a teleprompter was facing our way (and our way only) before the show started. At one point someone rebooted the system and when the Windows 98 start up screen appeared we all had a nice chuckle.
So… was it a sweep? Did Samantha and Rick represent for the Bloggers while some other team won? Of course not, we took it all!
With an average of 50 correct answers out of 60, the Bloggers were victorious. It’s been a long day. A long day of cold winds and waiting around watching celebrity impersonators strut their stuff and have diva moments. There are so many witty, snarky and hilarious catch phrases that made me laugh today but I can’t bring my exhausted mind to remember them right now.
I have to say it was a pleasure to meet everyone – from the House impersonator dude, the Surreal Gourmet, Samantha Bee, Mr Geography of the cabbie team, and even “Paul Stanley” who said he practiced wearing his platform shoes for hours by jogging in them. The Flight Crew was impressive, the Borat impersonator was in character all night and freakin hilarious and the backpackers were probably our biggest competition.
Congrats to Rick Spence, and be on the lookout for photos of each person on the blogger team, taken by Rannie. Big thanks to Molly @ the CBC for getting me out here, being very encouraging, and supporting ‘Team Blogger’. Super tons of thanks to my family and friends (who all held viewing parties) and to all those Vancouver bloggers who supported us, watched the show, and played along.
We won’t get to know our individual scores til tomorrow but since the ‘test audiences’ scored an average of 40/60 and our team had 50/60 as an average, I’d say we did pretty darn well. Good times guys (hence the stupid grin on my face all night) and by the way… for the record… BLOGGERS RULE!
Update: John Biehler made some clips and put them on YouTube – video 3, video 2, and video 1 – check out “some of the face of non-mainstream media”.
Update: In case some trackbacks don’t work, here are a few more bloggers (and viewers) who have covered our victory last night – that will surely lead to world domination:
Buzz Bishop – We’re Blogging This
Canadian Entrepreneur – Sweep! Sweep!
Calgary Grit – The Answer is Bee
Jon Arnold – Bloggers 1 Rest of World 0
Lainey Gossip – I Love Winning
Right Between the Eyes – Don’t Wanna Brag, But …
Nunc Scio – The Sweet Smell of Blogger Victory
BlogTo – Backstage Celebrity-ish Interviews
Jonsian Logic – Test the Nation
Unsweetened – We Will Blog You
Pen Machine – Yay for the Indoor Kids!
James Viloria – Results – CBC – Test The Nation: Trivia
Airdrie – Bloggers Victorious
Five Blondes – Bloggers Emerge Victorious
Buzz Canuck – Bloggers are the Smartest
Ryan – Post Game Show
Amber Mac – Are Bloggers Smarter…
Update: More detailed results are in.
36 Comments — Comments Are Closed
Congratulations Rebecca! Good Job!!!
Congratulations Becky! It was a fun couple hours.
Love that bit about the Windows 98 screen!
Congratulations, but after all, we kinda expected it. Glad you had a good time, too.
Bloggers certainly rule!
How did you guys all get back to your hotel? The cab drivers all looked a little miffed?
Congrats.. I knew you guys would kick ass.
I watched part of the show with my friend J, and I mentioned “hey that’s Rebecca, she’s the blogger behind Miss604” and all that 🙂 pretty sweet. He lives in the West End, and I mentioned that you were a WE girl too 😀 congrats on a good job Rebecca!
YAY!! You guys did great! Sadly, my score was 46. 🙁 I would have pulled down the overall team, had I been there…
Sounds like you guys had a fabulous time!! 🙂 YAY! I can’t wait to hear more about your experience, hopefully at a meetup soon!
Hey, great post, 604. So glad you remembered the line about the “indoor kids.” Hilarious, and all too true.
Can I borrow a copy of the topmost photo for my blog? Cuz, I already did. Thanks.
Rick
No worries Rick – congrats!
Great stuff Rebecca (and RIck!).
I managed to get a couple of video clips of the show on Youtube.
Get them quick before CBC lawyers break down my door.
Great job, Rebecca! You rock girl.
It was bloggers all the way, nice job! In the lead at the half-way point, top scorer, top celebrity endorsee, top team. If you want your 21st century trivia, get yourself a blogger! (But if you want your meal cooked, your plane flown, or a cab ride, well…)
It was great meeting you tonight.
We ROCKED!!
More Test pictures here.
What a fantastic moment in our lives.
[…] Rebecca “Miss 604” Bollwitt’s blog entry […]
You’ll get your “prize” from me later. *wink*wink*
[…] Miss 604 […]
Great job on Test the Nation! I can’t say that I’m surprised the bloggers stole the show.
Nice seeing someone local on the TV for a change. Hope you had fun in the centre of the universe! Bloggers really do rule… I hope they don’t let it go to their heads though…
Yay! Team Samantha Bee!!! Congrats. It sounds like fun.
Complete domination! And you scored the triple plugs for highest guerrilla marketing points and then Ms. Bee went right towards you for great facetime at the end.
I am not sure if i would’ve fit into the bloggers or backpackers category with my respectable 56 (you are safe for now Rick!) but surely you didn’t need my help with the 13 points higher average (IIRC) then the humble cabbies.
You’d better do a complete recap on Radio Zoom when you get back. Next year, bloggers versus mainstream media!
BTW, i’d never seen this show before but it was so very Canadian for sure – the most polite, encouraging game show eva – no eliminations and minimal meanness and the trash-talking was just cute.
Oh yeah, we Tivo’ed the trivia show and that race show and watched them back to back cause that’s the way you’d want us to ;-).
The congratulations still hold, although I did write a bit of criticism of the show 😀
http://hummingbird604.blogspot.com/2008/01/test-nation-bloggers-sweep.html
And I know, I know… I’ll switch to WordPress soon enough! Great job again, bloggers!
[…] 604 – No Spoilers Here Miss 604 – Nerd on Top Photo Junkie- Team Blogger Photos Canadian Entrepreneur – Sweep! Sweep! Calgary Grit – The Answer […]
I don’t understand how they were telling us which provinces were leading at certain points when it hadn’t even been on yet in the West?
@Jenny: Audience participation had been running for a while at cbc.ca/testthenation.
*I also blogged about your victory*
ACK! I get a couple weeks behind on my google reader, and next thing you know, I’ve missed the big show! Way to kick some butt! 🙂
[…] the end of the day, the Bloggers prevailed winning all three of the available prizes. Check out Rebecca’s post on the victory and the official Test The Nation website for […]
Thanks for linking to my article!
I really enjoyed the show. Bloggers rule!
[…] cry at and over everything, seeing a friend WIN on TV, say on CBC’s Test the Nation last Sunday, commercials, TV shows, movies, vacation, SPORTS, CONCERTS, music in general, telling stories and […]
[…] Rebecca was in Toronto for her major TV appearance on Quiz The Nation, Skate for a Cure 2008 was going on back here in Vancouver. As the website can […]
[…] had the pleasure of meeting Amber Mac a few months ago when we were both members of Team Blogger on CBC’s Test the Nation (which makes some of my co-workers insanely jealous). However, I was first introduced to […]
[…] hoping to actually make it to the ice since I was called away to Toronto for the Test the Nation TV show last year during the event (and John had to take my place with […]
[…] was also my flash trip to Toronto to be a part of the victorious Team Blogger on CBC’s television show, Test the Nation. I met some amazing bloggers and podcasters from […]
[…] with her she instantly recognized me as “Miss604″ since we did in fact meet at the CBC Test the Nation TV show last year. I’m back home now (I’ll hit the afterparties tomorrow) so check back […]
[…] producers once again since I first met them when I did Test the Nation in Toronto as a part of Team Blogger in 2008. I also met Trent Kitsch from Saxx Apparel who was the Concrete Equities Armchair Dragon […]