Mr Wong wins Hard Quiz!

Local legend and University High School Latin teacher Cyrus Wong made a TV appearance on 26 April when he won Hard Quiz - his expert subject being the Western Bulldogs. Against contestants with subjects The Sims (Naomi), the Cuban Missile Crisis (Justin) and George Michael (Jane), Mr Wong stole the very first question of the game from Justin - later revealing that the answer came from his knowledge of Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ - and finished the Expert Round in the lead with Jane.

In Tom’s Round - Onions (a now loathed vegetable) - Mr Wong’s Latin knowledge helped him with the first question, allowing him to correctly answer that the lachrymatory factor synthase enzyme is responsible for an onion’s vapours - ‘lacrimae’ being Latin for ‘tears’. The rest of the onion trivia included questions related to Tony Abbott, Game Of Thrones and common onion diseases - and by the end of Tom’s Round, it was Naomi who had been eliminated, but Mr Wong had surrendered the lead (although just one question separated the three remaining contestants).

Against the clock in The People’s Round, Mr Wong, Justin and Jane all answered questions about anything and everything, and as time expired, with scores deadlocked at thirty apiece, Jane buzzed in. Answering incorrectly, however, when asked about the host of Australian Survivor, she was eliminated, leaving Mr Wong and Justin to go head-to-head.

In the Final Round - the Western Bulldogs versus the Cuban Missile Crisis - Mr Wong and Justin took turns answering questions on their expert subjects. It was soon clear, though, that one competitor was falling behind; Justin with three incorrect answers to Mr Wong one. On Justin’s fourth question, failure to answer correctly would mean victory for Mr Wong - and when Justin guessed incorrectly, Mr Wong was the Hard Quiz champion.

Following the airing of his episode - a closely-guarded secret for seven months - Mr Wong brought his spoils to school, sharing not only the achievement with students and colleagues alike, but also a Big Brass Mug of Skittles with his classes!

On behalf of the Uni High community, congratulations on your win, Mr Wong!

Pearl McDermott (10T3)