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You're not the Weakest Link!
Aug 22 2003
By James Cartledge, Evening Mail
Brave teenager Ben Sperring went head-to-head with "Queen of Mean" Anne Robinson and emerged the youngest ever person to win the infamous Weakest Link television show.
But 18-year-old Ben, from Lichfield, claimed today that viper tongue Robinson had failed to unnerve him as he won the quiz show's £2,800 prize money infront of millions of viewers.
"Young people usually get voted off the show really early on for some reason so I was just hoping to get to the third
round," he said. "It was my mediocrity that helped me survive all the way through the rounds. "Anne wasn't nasty to me at all. She called me a baby but that was just a bit of fun."
Ben, a former student at Queen Mary's Grammar School in Walsall, plans to use his winnings to support himself at Manchester University, where he starts next month. "I'll be studying drama with English at Manchester and I only applied for the show so I could see how it worked
behind the scenes. But I am really proud to be the youngest winner of The Weakest Link."
Ben has always been 'brainy' however.
He left school with three As and a B from his four A-levels and a distinction from an extra qualification, the advanced English award.
Ben's proud father Alf, watched mesmerised when the episode was screened on Monday. "I knew he was going on the show but I was surprised he did so well," he said.
A BBC spokeswoman confirmed Ben was the youngest person to win an edition of the show.
