The controversial situation of 'giving up' the right to answer at Olympia, what did the organizers say?

In the last question in the Finish Line contest at the final round of the Road to Mount Olmypia, contestant Nguyen Minh Triet (Quoc Hoc High School for the Gifted, Thua Thien - Hue ) decided not to answer the question to give way to two contestants who were very close in score.

The final question in Minh Triet's Finishing round was: "Given four distinct positive integers such that the sum of every two numbers is divisible by 2 and the sum of every three numbers is divisible by 3. Find the smallest value of the sum of these four numbers?". This question is worth 30 points.

The controversial situation of 'giving up' the right to answer at Olympia, what did the organizers say? - 1

Minh Triet shared: “Currently, I think both Xuan Manh and Trong Thanh are worthy of the championship. To be fair, I will give up this question so that the two can compete.”

At this time, MC Khanh Vy of the program continued: "This is something that seems to be unprecedented in the final round of the Road to Olympia."

At this time, Nguyen Trong Thanh (Tran Phu High School for the Gifted, Hai Phong ) has 215 points, and Le Xuan Manh (Ham Rong High School, Thanh Hoa) has 220 points.

Contestant Trong Thanh then pressed the bell to answer, but the answer was incorrect and contestant Xuan Manh won the laurel wreath.

However, contestant Minh Triet’s performance caused controversy. Some people thought he was very “fairplay”. But others said he did not give his all. One audience member commented: “It would have been better for Triet not to answer or to answer incorrectly. This is exactly how he is giving way to Trong Thanh, not both.”

Because of this situation, Xuan Manh pressing the bell to answer will be very risky, if he answers wrong, Xuan Manh will be deducted 15 points and lose the laurel wreath. There are also opinions expressing concerns about whether giving up the right to answer the question violates the rules of the game.

“I do not appreciate Minh Triet’s action of giving the answer to the other two contestants. If he knew, he should have answered to compete fairly with the leader. It would be irresponsible if two contestants had the same score, but if one had a higher score. In case the other two contestants had the same score, the organizers would have had an additional question to decide,” member NL shared.

Another member also said: "Assuming that this last question was "given", Nguyen Trong Thanh answered correctly and surpassed Le Xuan Manh to win the championship, it would create a bad precedent in future competitions."

In response to VietNamNet 's question about whether it is correct for a contestant to give up the right to answer in this case, Ms. Ta Bich Loan, Head of Entertainment Program Production (VTV3) - Vietnam Television, said: "That is another way for contestants to say they cannot answer. When a contestant cannot answer a question, the other contestants are automatically given the right to answer."

According to Ms. Loan, whether the contestant “gave in” or did not give an answer, the program only recorded that they did not give an answer. “We only consider the consequences of the event, not the way of speaking,” Ms. Loan shared.

A member of the production team of the show Road to Olympia added: "When contestants enter the show, they are in control of all the progress of their game and no one has the right to interfere."

According to this person, the program does not specify any additional rules. Also according to this person, in fact, similar situations of “giving up” have occurred in the Road to Olympia programs over the years.

With the laurel wreath of Le Xuan Manh, up to now, there have been 18/63 provinces and cities with champions of Road to Olympia, including: Vinh Long, Ha Tinh, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Binh, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Thua Thien Hue, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Bac Giang , Tien Giang, Quang Tri, Nghe An, Ninh Binh, Thai Binh and Thanh Hoa.

(Source: Vietnamnet)

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