Аlexandr Abramovich Drouz (, 10 May 1955,

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

) is a veteran contestant of the Russian TV gameshow '' What? Where? When?'', first of the currently five "Magisters of the Game"; Vice-President of the International Association of Clubs ''What? Where? When?'', director of the Saint-Petersburg branch of the ''What? Where? When?''

Biography

Aleksander was educated at a Leningrad school specialising in mathematics and physics, now known as the

Saint Petersburg Lyceum 239 Presidential Physics and Mathematics Lyceum No. 239 (), is a public high school in Saint Petersburg, Russia that specializes in mathematics and physics. The school opened in 1918 and it became a specialized city school in 1961. The school is not ...

. In 1975, he left the Leningrad College of Industrial Education, and in 1980 graduated from Leningrad Institute of Engineers of Railway Transportation, now named St. Petersburg State Transport University (see also ...#Graduates), specialising in the field of "electronic computing machines" (EVM). Drouz is a certified systems engineer.

What? Where? When?

He first appeared as a contestant on '' What? Where? When?'' in 1981 and his active participation in the gameshow has been uninterrupted since then. He holds a record for the longest uninterrupted participation in the TV version of ''What? Where? When?''. He also holds a current record on the number of the conducted TV games (100) and victories (59). He was awarded a "Crystal Owl" as the best player of the intellectual club (1990, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2006, 2012). In 1995, he was named the first "Magister of the Game". As of 2014, Drouz is the three times WWW World Cup Champion. He was captain of the ''What? Where? When?'' team «Transsfera» (sporting version of the game), which he led to victory at the 1st World cup (2002). The team also won the "Mayor of Saint Petersburg" Cup in sporting ''What? Where? When?'' nine times in a row.

Brain Ring

Drouz was champion of the TV show ''Brain Ring'' (a gameshow closely related in principle as well as personnel to ''What? Where? When?'') in 1990, 1991, 1994, 2010.

Svoya igra (Russian version of Jeopardy!)

He twice became a champion in the Russian TV gameshow '' Svoya igra'' (1995, 2003). In the history of the TV game, he scored the maximum number of points in one game – 120,001. During the game, the score on the scoreboard exceeded 100,000 even before the end of the 3rd round, and the host of the program Petr Kuleshov had to glue a piece of paper with on it with a marker number "+100000", and the score on the scoreboard began to be kept from scratch, since the creators of the program did not expect that someone would be able to collect a six-figure sum. He broke his own record set by him earlier – 80 074. The record has been held from 2003 to the present.

Television

Author and anchorman of gameshows and other programs on various Russian TV channels.

Controversy

Drouz appeared on the Russian version of

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (WWTBAM) is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Televis ...

, known as Kto khochet stat' millionerom? on December 22, 2018 with Viktor Sidnev. He won 200,000 rubles but the winnings were not granted on due to allegations of misconduct.

Other projects

On 5 April 2008, Aleksandr Drouz became one of the Russian torchbearers of the

2008 Summer Olympics torch relay The 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from March 24 until August 8, 2008, prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics, with the theme of "one world, one dream". Plans for the relay were announced on April 26, 2007, in Beijing, China. The relay, a ...

. In 2015, he participated in the

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charity event designed to raise money for the treatment of sick children. In 2016, he worked as a

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

driver in the St. Petersburg company "Taxovichkoff" as part of a charity event, all the funds raised from which were transferred to the AdVita charity fund that helps cancer patients. In 2017, he appeared in a commercial in support of a

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lifestyle. In 2018, he took part in the project of the Warm House charity fund, which helps families in crisis situations.

Family

Drouz is married and has two daughters: the elder Inna Drouz and the younger Marina Druz. Both daughters have followed in their father's footsteps and participated in the "What? Where? When?" program.Evening Urgant. Alexander Druz visiting Ivan Urgant (05/26/2015)
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References

External links

Biography from the official site “What? Where? When?"

Alexander Druz on radio "Echo of Moscow"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drouz, Alexander 1955 births Mass media people from Saint Petersburg Living people Russian television personalities Soviet engineers Engineers from Saint Petersburg Soviet Jews Russian Jews