Tom Gleeson is quick to share there have been a couple of tears on the set of Hard Quiz Kids , the spin-off for contestants aged 10 to 12. But not for the reason you might think.

The Hard Quiz franchise has become a success in large part thanks to the dynamic between Gleeson and the contestants, where he roasts them and they give back as good as they get. But on Hard Quiz Kids it’s not any teasing from Gleeson that causes sobs, but simply good old-fashioned competitiveness.

“Sometimes I’d boot a kid out and I could see the tears starting as they had to go backstage,” says Gleeson. “But invariably, they’re upset that they’d lost. They’re not really worried about what I say at all. I’m just a boring old man to them.

“It was [like] seeing a kid at an athletics carnival, who probably

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