Drugs scandal rocks The Chair
26 MAY 2002
BY LEE UMBERS
Hit TV show The Chair has been rocked by a drugs scandal.
Contestants on the TV2 show - hosted by league legend Matthew Ridge - have been busted for using beta blockers to stabilise their heart rates.
Players are strapped into a special chair that monitors their heart rates while they are bombarded with general knowledge questions for prizes up to $50,000.
They lose cash as their heart rates rise.
Contestants are urine-tested before filming - and afterwards if they win prizes.
Two winners have lost their money and won't appear on screen after ESR laboratory tests picked up the prescription medicine beta blockers.
Julie Christie, boss of Kiwi production company Touchdown, was shocked by the positive tests.
"They were warned so many times and they signed contracts that they're not taking any medication, and yet they still did," Christie told Sunday News.
"They must have thought we were seriously stupid.
"Cheating's pretty unusual for TV because you always get found out."
One of the busted men, a Howick company director in his 30s, lost $5000 winnings.
The other, a manager from Mangere, also in his 30s, lost $3100.
Christie - in Spain to promote The Chair - said contestants who failed drug tests lost their winnings and wouldn't be screened on TV.
She would not take further action for breaching contracts.
"Depriving them of the money's enough," she said.
An ESR spokeswoman said a third man failed a drug test but he was on asthma medication - which produced a similar laboratory result.
The Chair is the first game show in the world to insist players take a drug test.
In America, where the show was fronted by tennis great John McEnroe, players were even banned from having high levels of caffeine and nicotine in their systems.
The Chair is an international TV sensation.
It has been sold to 22 countries, including Germany and Egypt.
McEnroe will host the show on the BBC in Britain.
26 MAY 2002
BY LEE UMBERS
Hit TV show The Chair has been rocked by a drugs scandal.
Contestants on the TV2 show - hosted by league legend Matthew Ridge - have been busted for using beta blockers to stabilise their heart rates.
Players are strapped into a special chair that monitors their heart rates while they are bombarded with general knowledge questions for prizes up to $50,000.
They lose cash as their heart rates rise.
Contestants are urine-tested before filming - and afterwards if they win prizes.
Two winners have lost their money and won't appear on screen after ESR laboratory tests picked up the prescription medicine beta blockers.
Julie Christie, boss of Kiwi production company Touchdown, was shocked by the positive tests.
"They were warned so many times and they signed contracts that they're not taking any medication, and yet they still did," Christie told Sunday News.
"They must have thought we were seriously stupid.
"Cheating's pretty unusual for TV because you always get found out."
One of the busted men, a Howick company director in his 30s, lost $5000 winnings.
The other, a manager from Mangere, also in his 30s, lost $3100.
Christie - in Spain to promote The Chair - said contestants who failed drug tests lost their winnings and wouldn't be screened on TV.
She would not take further action for breaching contracts.
"Depriving them of the money's enough," she said.
An ESR spokeswoman said a third man failed a drug test but he was on asthma medication - which produced a similar laboratory result.
The Chair is the first game show in the world to insist players take a drug test.
In America, where the show was fronted by tennis great John McEnroe, players were even banned from having high levels of caffeine and nicotine in their systems.
The Chair is an international TV sensation.
It has been sold to 22 countries, including Germany and Egypt.
McEnroe will host the show on the BBC in Britain.
