Eddie used to prompt the contestants he liked by asking them “final answer?” when they chose the wrong multiple choice answer. What he was really  was telling them was  “Your answer is wrong so think again and choose another one of the other three multiple choice alternatives.”

He did this when the candidate was one he thought would be popular or good value for the show.  It was best if you have a schmaltzy sob story of what you would do with the money if you won it such as feed the hungry,  save the planet,  pay for your nanna’s hip operation.  And then Eddie would gush and utter “Gosh, I  hope you win. We want him to win, don’t we?”

People began to catch on to what he was doing.  After all, one cannot describe the show as a genuine quiz.  It is merely show business.

You had more chance of winning if it was Monday night and Eddie wanted to suck in the viewers to watch the rest of the week.  Nothing unfair about that but it is becoming predictable.  Monday night,  winning,  coincidence?

Unfortunately for Eddie and Channel 9,  people began to recognise a pattern of prompting so he adjusted his “Final Answer?”  to  “You tell me what to do.”

This directive actually means ” For crying out loud, choose another answer, cause this one’s wrong.”  And he often emphasises his prompting with  “Lock it in?” and the contestant locks in the answer which,  surprise, surprise,  is the correct one.

On occasion the contestant fails to catch on to his hints and doesn’t lock it in so Eddie becomes quite frustrated and turns to the audience and shrugs his shoulders apologetically as if to say “I did try…”