Quiz fail: How this contestant’s hilarious mix-up cost him $100K
A contestant on a US game show has made people scratch their heads after they witnessed what could go down as the most embarrassing quiz fail ever.
Brooklyn comedian Evan Kaufman faced internet scrutiny after he made a terrible attempt at answering a seemingly simple question on the ABC’s The $100,000 Pyramid on Sunday (local time).
Playing for $50,000, Kaufman was asked to name someone who has the surname, Obama. Mr Kaufman panicked and blurted out the name of former Al-Qaeda leader – Osama Bin Laden.
What followed was Saturday Night Live alum Tim Meadows sitting across from Kaufman, stunned and unable to register what he had just heard. Alongside the backlash from those on social media.
With some people laughing at the seemingly innocent mistake, many were labelling Kaufman as a racist for not knowing the difference between Obama and Osama.
One Twitter user asked: “What kind of idiot would think, ‘People with the last name Obama’, would think Bin Laden?”
The video, which has now gone viral, has prompted the comedian to respond to the backlash via his Twitter account.
In a series of tweets, Kaufman explained that he and his partner had just recently welcomed a baby and the exhaustion had gotten to him.
“Let me tell you the story about perhaps the most embarrassing moment of my life,” he starts off by saying.
“The first square flips. I breathe. I read, ‘People Whose Last Name is Obama.’ I freeze. There’s only one. BARACK OBAMA. The man I would have voted for three times,” he wrote.
“What I should have said was, ‘Michelle, Sasha, Malia, Bo! The PORTUGUESE WATER DOG BO!”
But what seemed to be a mind blank quickly became one of the most unforgettable moments of Kaufman’s life.
“Here’s what my brain decided. Who is associated with Obama? Who did he kill? What sounds like Obama!” he admitted.
While he didn’t take home the top prize, Kaufman walked away with a cool US$8,500 (A$11,740) and managed to leave plenty of laughs behind.