How a joke tweet turned into a job offer

IN MAY, Mark Humphries retweeted a two-year-old joke and promptly forgot about it. Then he got a phone call from a TV producer.

IT’S perhaps the most unlikely way anyone has ever landed a prime time gig on TV, but for Mark Humphries it’s the stranger than fiction story of how he became Network Ten’s newest game show host.

Two years ago, the SBS star was watching re-runs of UK game show Pointless on the ABC when he jumped on Twitter.

“I just loved it immediately, I just thought the concept was so clever and so unlike any other quiz show,” Humphries told news.com.au.

I want to host an Australian version of Pointless, @ABCTV. Best game show on TV.

— Mark Humphries (@markhumphries) August 29, 2016

“I put this tweet out saying if they ever make an Australian version of Pointless I’d love to host it, and I never really thought about it again.”

Then when reports emerged in May that Ten was commissioning a local version of the series, Humphries repeated his offer, this time embarking on what he calls a “very weak” and “desperate” Twitter campaign.

Two years on, offer still stands @EndemolShineAU @channelten https://t.co/3WSaxSoYfE

— Mark Humphries (@markhumphries) May 17, 2018

“I just half jokingly retweeted myself and added, ‘offer still stands @channelten, @endemolshine’ and then again thought nothing of it for the next couple of months,” Humphries said.

“Then I, out of the blue, got a call from someone at Endemol Shine (saying), ‘We’ve got this tweet here, are you being serious or are you being satirical?’ I’m like, ‘No I am serious. All right well, let’s talk.’”

Fast-forward to today and Humphries is the host of new Ten game show Pointless alongside Dr Andrew Rochford.

Taking over from Family Feud’s 6pm weekday timeslot, Rochford admits that Pointless’ rules can be hard to get your head around, but believes it will make sense once audiences watch the first episode.

MORE: Grant Denyer confirms ‘Family Feud’ is over … for now

Mark Humphries and Dr Andrew Rochford arrive at the Logie Awards earlier this month. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Like Family Feud, 100 people are surveyed but are instead asked obscure trivia questions. Contestants on the show must then choose the answer that the least amount of people gave in order to score the lowest amount of points to win — sounds confusing right?

“My kids know how to play it, they’re 10, and they figured out how to play it by watching it,” Dr Rochford said.

“I think that we can get a little bit too caught up in the cleverness of it. People will get it, that’s my belief.”

The show has also got big shoes to fill, with Pointless already copping a backlash on social media from diehard Family Feud fans who have been “very vocal” about it being moved from the 6pm timeslot.

“Facebook fans of Family Feud I have seen say, ‘I will never, I will never watch Pointless you took away my Grant,”’ Humphries said.

“I would hope that those people would just give it a go, because when Family Feud started I was someone who was like, ‘Really?’ But then when it happened, it clearly did work.”

Pointless premieres Monday July 23 at 6pm on Network 10.