I’ve been on 54 quiz shows – I know the secret to getting picked but my winnings will surprise you
HERE’S your starter for ten: Who is the country’s most prolific TV game show contestant?
No idea? Well, there is a high chance you will have seen him in action — as Edward Oldfield has been on more than 50 such shows or talent and reality series.
Just don’t ask the 45-year-old cafe worker how to win one — as he has never won a penny.
His failures on everything from quiz favourite The 1% Club to Britain’s Got Talent led The Sun’s TV critic Ally Ross to complain that our screens are “overrun with semi-professional show-offs like Edward”.
The dad of two enjoys a semi-celebrity lifestyle — staying in hotels, meeting famous presenters and even being stopped in the street by adoring fans.
But Edward reveals that much of the supposedly off-the-cuff banter we see on quiz shows and reality programmes is staged — and that rather than him hogging all the opportunities to get on TV, it is producers who chase him.
And his frequent presence in our front rooms has got so crazy that he changes his name and outfits in the hope that viewers will not spot that he is back again and again.
Edward, from Blackpool, who first popped up on TV as a contestant on BBC quiz show The Weakest Link in 2001, tells The Sun: “You always say, ‘This is probably the last one . . .’ but then the phone rings again and you’re asked, ‘Edward, are you free? Do you fancy doing this show?’
“You’re treated like royalty on set. You meet celebrities, it’s a little holiday away from home. Why would you not do it?”
But it seems the one thing Edward refuses to do is swot up to give him a shot at winning one of the many quizzes he tries. When we gave him ten general knowledge questions, he got just two right.
He knows a lot more about the shows themselves, though, and managed seven correct answers out of ten when we asked him about them. For Edward, it really is the taking part that counts.
The thrill of playing to millions of viewers first grabbed him following a turn on Channel 4’s Come Dine With Me in 2013, which Radio Times readers later raved about.
Edward says of that show: “It’s fun being yourself, people like me being myself. One of the things that tickled people was a photo I presented to my wife as a birthday present. It hit a nerve.”
The photo was one of him in his underpants, so Edward is certainly not at all shy of making a spectacle of himself.
He adds of his capers: “I thought, ‘You know what, I could actually make a bit of money out of this and potentially retire.”
It has not worked out that way, as one winner’s prize after another has eluded him.
In 2015, he clocked up more than one TV show a month, including quizzes Tipping Point, Two Tribes and Ejector Seat, but failed each time to cash in.
Edward made a bid for proper stardom by twice auditioning as a stand-up comedian on Britain’s Got Talent, in 2016, then again the following year.
But he claims his experience on the ITV talent show was manipulated in the final edit.
Edward alleges producers made it look like panel king Simon Cowell had hit his red buzzer to dismiss Edward, when it was in fact fellow judge Amanda Holden who had pressed hers.
He says: “This is the reality of reality TV — what you see on telly isn’t what happens.
“Amanda took an instant dislike to me, because I walked on stage saying, ‘Hello Blackpool, how are you?’ and she was, ‘Excuse me, who are you?’ She couldn’t wait to press her red button. Simon Cowell didn’t press his button and eventually Amanda reached over and pressed his. But when I watched the edit, it showed him pressing the red button.”
I am vain. Ally [Ross] described me as a show-off and he’s on the money there
Similarly, Edward reveals that the witty repartee between various TV shows’ hosts and contestants is often carefully stage-managed.
When he appeared on ITV’s The 1% Club in 2023, one of the show’s team asked him pre-filming what comments he planned to make on air to quizmaster Lee Mack.
He recalls: “As you are lining up, they say to me, ‘When Lee opens up the show, and he happens to talk to you, what would you say to him? Just so he is briefed’.
“TV isn’t as raw as people think it is. A lot of TV is fake. But having said that, Lee Mack is probably one of the funniest people I’ve ever met and doesn’t need to have a script.”
Producers sometimes want to know what words will come out of contestants’ mouths, in case it is politically incorrect.
When Edward appeared in 2023 on Steph’s Packed Lunch — featuring celebrity guests, food and entertainment — his answers to host Steph
McGovern’s questions were agreed in advance.
He says: “We call it reality TV. It’s probably very unreal TV in lots of ways.
“For example, I did a quiz on Steph’s Packed Lunch, was invited back to be one of the Lunchmates discussing current affairs and other issues and Steph would say, ‘Edward, what do you think?’ I thought, ‘Well, you know exactly what I think because I’ve agreed it with the producers before we’ve gone live on air’.
“But we live in a world where controls are very important, because we cause offence so easily.”
Taking all this in his stride is one of the reasons why Edward is repeatedly invited back.
Amanda Holden took an instant dislike to me because I went on stage saying: ‘Hello Blackpool, how are you?’
But he reckons the key to getting on the telly is to grab producers’ attention.
He says: “Make your application stand out. When it says, ‘Describe yourself’, I’d go, ‘Like the death of Elvis Presley, everybody remembers where they were the first time they met Edward Oldfield’.
“Nowadays, a lot of applications are video-based.
“If you’re just going to introduce yourself in a very plain way then they’re going to move on to the next video.” His full name is William Edward Oldfield, and he has presented for the cameras as either Edward, Ted, Will or William.
Another reason he gets so many gigs, though, is he is willing to step up at the 11th hour, after another contestant has dropped out.
Go too far
Edward’s travel, accommodation and other expenses are all covered, and often there is an appearance fee — even if he always fails to win.
He used to earn a good wage in the motor industry, but now describes himself as a house husband when not on TV or working in the cafe.
He helps to look after his two children — Jack, 14, and special- needs child Charles, 12, who cannot speak. His maths teacher wife Emma, who he has been married to for 15 years, is not bothered by his TV shenanigans, which our Ally described as “acting the arse”.
Edward says: “It just runs off her, and the kids don’t even watch me.”
The compulsive show-off admits enjoying attention.
He says: “I am vain. Ally described me as a show-off and he’s on the money there.
“People will say to me, ‘I’ve seen you on the telly’, and I will say, ‘Which one?’.”
But Edward is worried that reality TV can go too far.
He was head juror on Channel 4 show The Surjury, which never aired because host Caroline Flack took her own life in 2020.
In the controversial show, the contestants had to try to convince a “jury” of 12 to grant their various desires for cosmetic surgery.
Edward recalls: “Somebody might say, ‘I want a boob job, I want my bum lifted up’, or anything like that and we’d say, ‘Yeah, you’re a bit ugly or you’re not pretty enough, we’ll pay for it’.
“And I just thought, ‘How low has the world got, how sick can television be?’.”
Another memory he has of the world of TV is when a presenter — who he does not want to name — came to work sloshed.
He says: “On one pilot show, the presenter turned up drunk and it was very awkward.”
And the closest Edward has come to winning something was on Channel 4 quiz The Question Jury — when he made the final and nearly landed a £4,000 prize.
But last month on ITV’s 99 To Beat, where 100 hopefuls are gradually eliminated over a series of daft games, Edward was the very first to get the boot.
He says: “I’m a good loser. It’s better to take part, have a laugh, make some friends. Being on telly is a prize itself.”
He admits his general knowledge “isn’t the best” but also claims he is just unfortunate, saying: “I’m the unluckiest guy on television.”