I made Tipping Point history as first deaf contestant – fans won’t have even noticed thanks to clever tricks
TIPPING Point history was made after the first ever deaf contestant competed, with bosses takes measures to ensure everything ran smoothly.
Martine Monksfield has advised other deaf people who might consider going on game shows to 'absolutely go for it!'.
In a recent interview with Limping Chicken, mother of twins Martine spoke about her experience as the first-ever deaf contestant to appear on the show.
After a year on maternity leave and bingeing on Lingo, Tipping Point and then The Chase, she decided to give the ITV quiz show a chance.
In March 2022, Martine finally decided to apply for Tipping Point.
During the vetting process, she was required to complete an online application form and a phone interview via a British Sign Language interpreter.
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When asked why she applied for the show, she jokingly said: "I thought no deaf person had been on it before, and it would be nice to be the first – play the deaf card where possible eh!"
She recalled that some trial questions over the phone akin to Tipping Point were an 'absolute disaster' which was no fault of the BSL interpreter.
Martine explained: "It was because there was no preparation for the BSL interpreter to see the questions in advance to ensure translation was accurate."
After the interview, they agreed that she would have live captions for Ben's questions but stressed that she would also need a BSL interpreter for the conversations in between and for other players' answers.
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Soon after applying, in June 2022, Tipping Point confirmed that she would be starring in the show a week before her maternity leave ended.
She was appointed with a behind-the-scenes team member called Callum, who updated her on filming dates and other critical aspects of the show.
When she finally met him in person, she was impressed to discover that he had read her application form and saw that she stated ‘deaf’, so he emailed her back to ask what adjustments they needed to make.
During show rehearsals, the Tipping Point team checked the access arrangements would work and added a TV above Ben’s head with live subtitles and a BSL interpreter beside him.
When asked whether the show host was nice, Martine confirmed: "He was.
"In fact, I was really quite impressed with how ‘nonchalant’ he was about my deafness and took it in his stride."
Once that rehearsals were over and all necessary adjustments had been made, the show was on the road.
Martine travelled the night before, filmed in the morning, and then headed home in the afternoon.
She described her time on the show and said: "The actual game itself flew by very quickly, and of course, if you have seen it by now.
"I think I made a mistake not taking the 2nd go after getting an answer right and passing it to the eventual winner, Tom! The machine loved him on the day."
She added: "Of course, it would be nice if I could end the article saying I won £10,000, but it definitely wasn’t my day.
"Hopefully, I made up for it by making people laugh a bit, watching me!"
Martine's experience on the show was so positive she is confident that the Tipping Point team would have gone over and beyond to make her comfortable on the show.
Her advice to anyone who is deaf and doubting that they can enter TV game shows was: "I certainly think if you’re keen to apply to gameshows, you should go for it! There is certainly something in the air about seeing more deaf people on TV."
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Martine is sure that people working behind the scenes in TV are willing to work with deaf people and have become very much aware of how to make it accessible for them, with Tasha on The Great British Bake Off currently breaking barriers.
Tipping Point airs weekdays on ITV at 4pm.
