Michael's Mastermind appearance 'exhilarating'

Rotorua's Michael Brady says putting his knowledge to the test on Mastermind was an exhilarating experience.

Mr Brady placed fourth on the TV One quiz show on Sunday night, with his specialist subject being the music of Brian Eno. His friends and family were incredibly proud, he said.

Mr Brady, a landscape gardener with Urban Green, said when the lights went down in the studio, the spotlights went on and he knew there were four or five cameras focused on him, it was pretty exciting.

At the same time, his brain was turbo charged to answer the questions, he said.

"Every fibre of my being was right on edge."

He said it was a "fabulous experience" and would recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat.

Mr Brady said he believed everybody should do something which was a little bit scary in their life, and Mastermind had given him that challenge.

There had been a certain amount of stage fright beforehand, but nothing he could not handle, he said.

With a 37-year career as a radio announcer, he said he had learned how to deal with nerves and how to "get the butterflies flying in formation".

He had done extensive study and reading around his specialist subject, which he said was the only one of the three categories that could be prepared for.

There were three 90 second categories of questions which consisted of the contestant's specialist subject, general knowledge and New Zealand general knowledge.