Last updated 19:41, Thursday, 15 May 2008

QUIZ fanatic John Hastings made it into the sixth round of The Weakest Link on Wednesday.

In the BBC 1 show, hosted by Anne Robinson, John, 36, of Mossbay Road, Workington, was the strongest link once and banked £1,230 for the team, which made up 55 per cent of the final winnings.

After a faultless first round, Anne asked John what he did when he was not working on Derwent Howe as an administration officer for the Rural Payments Agency.

John said that he loved the Eurovision Song Contest. He told her: “We all have our guilty pleasures. I love the razzmatazz and the excitement of it.”

Love Shine a Light by Katrina and the Waves, the 1997 winner of Eurovision, is John’s favourite all time performance at the singing competition, and Anne made John sing a line.

He said: “I was prepared. I said I was a Eurovision fan and she made me sing. I am a karaoke fan so I didn’t mind.”

John said of Anne Robinson’s character on the show: “It’s an act. We were told when we were getting ready that it’s a pantomime and there is a villain.”

“We were told not to wear black because she was the only one who wore it on the show.”

John had only got one question wrong until the sixth round, and was the strongest link in round four.Other contestants had even tipped him to win. One described John as “on the ball” but unfortunately for John, in the final four, he only got one question right in the round and was voted off.

He said: “The experience was fantastic. It didn’t kick in until the first round when she said start the clock.

“My objective was to bank as much money as I could. It was lucky that I did that because when I banked £750 and £450 the contestant after me got the questions wrong.

“I got as far as the final four. It was close. I set out to get half way. Anything else was a bonus. I didn’t have time to be disappointed when I was voted off. I was still on a high.

“I hope I did enough to make Workington and my colleagues proud.”

“I took Anne on head on. It wasn’t a walk of shame it was a walk of defiance. I was proud of how I had done.”

John has appeared in the final of Countdown and has applied to appear on Mastermind, Golden Balls and Duel and plans to apply to appear on Deal or No Deal.