[quote name=\'pyrfan\' post=\'135269\' date=\'Oct 21 2006, 09:20 PM\']
This may have been an error in judgment or logic, but incredibly stupid? Not in my opinion.
[/quote]
Let's throw some Monty Hall statistics in to the mix:
When he was presented with three choices, the probabilities of each answer being correct, should the person randomly guess, were:
A. McClure (1/3), B. Lynch (1/3), C. Sierra (1/3).
If the mob's choice of answers were completely random, on average 18 people should answer each: A, B and C. The probability of 4 or less people in a group of 54 randomly selecting Lynch is 7.20E-6, or about 1 in 138,825. Of course, not every member of the mob chose at random! To see his answer so unpopular should have been cause for alarm (didn't he ever watch WWTBAM's "Ask the Audience"?)
Yes, the contestant had no feel for the Sierra vs. McClure support in the mob, but the minute Sierra was removed, the simple probabilties shifted to:
A. McClure (2/3), B. Lynch (1/3).
Hmmm... NOW what should he have done?
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On a separate note-perhaps someone can clarify for me: is the selection of 2 mob members meant to be random? I can't recall the disclaimer... is it set to be that the two picked must have different answers? Must one of the two picked match the contestant's response?
Similarly, what if neither of the two chosen agree with the player's response (e.g., the mob votes unanimously for a different response than the player)?