Could this be the most tense 9 in 10 ever?

  • 06/07/2017

Civil society was almost thrown into discord on Thursday morning as an urgent assembly was forced to make a decision on a tense 9 in 10 on The AM Show.

Jamie Rupene-Ryan from Christchurch was told to name nine countries in the United Nations in 10 seconds. If he could manage the task, he'd be taking home a prize pack worth $15,000 thanks to 1-Day.co.nz.

Rupene-Ryan got off to a very solid start - New Zealand, Fiji, America, England were rattled off in seconds, followed by Switzerland, Germany, Poland, France, and "Welsh" before the buzzer sounded.

As the live broadcast cut to a break, producers desperately deliberated in the control room.

The contention was over whether Wales and England are countries in the United Nations. The United Kingdom is a UN member state and Wales and England are part of the United Kingdom, but they are not individual members.

Poor Rupene-Ryan had to wait through the break as producers made the call.

Coming back to air, Duncan Garner did a stellar job of stringing out the answer.

"This is a really difficult one," he said.

"We asked you for countries in the United Nations and you said England and Wales as separate countries. Now, England and Wales are represented at the United Nations under one banner because Wales comes under the United Kingdom banner."

Jamie waited patiently.

"But in terms of them being represented at the United Nations, the Welsh still have a voice under the UK banner, and they are a country, so Jamie, we have had to decide whether you're right or wrong, because if we don't give you Wales, you're at eight. If we do give you Wales and England, which you named, you're at nine."

Jamie let out a huge cheer as Garner announced that he had named nine countries in the United Nations.

"That's awesome. I'm over the moon. I'm wrapt," Jamie said.

Newshub.