GOTG 2015 - Round 3 - November 2014

Round 3 Winner - Steve Collison

Film-maker, photographer, musician...chartered accountant. Part man, part renaissance chameleon, Steve Collison is back for a second shot at Gift of the Gab: this time with more than a day's notice. Hailing from Surrey, but with Ireland in his blood and a Budapest veteran of five years, Steve will undoubtedly have a little something for everyone. Heckle at your peril, as Steve – our resident photographer – might just publish that 'bad' photo of you on the Speechslam website!

Round 3 Competitors

Although Andrea Rimaszombati was born and raised in Hungary she has never been a typical Hungarian. She's not really a wailing type, but tries to find a solution for every situation. As an economist she didn’t want to be a stereotype, so she found something totally different to do as a hobby: she became a foreign affairs journalist and a translator. In college Andrea also tried herself in teaching, which was not a total failure – but if she had to describe herself, she would say that she's a full-time accountant and tax advisor. Andrea would prefer not to talk about her age – her motto is that you are as young as you feel. So it’s constantly changing anyway.

Michael Sexton hasn't been in Budapest for very long, but he's certainly made himself at home in the city. A first-year Med student at Semmelwies, Mikey wants to be a doctor when he grows up. The Liverpudlian is never short of a few words and quite fancies his chances on stage. If the medical stuff doesn't work out, it could be a good fall-back.  

Francesca Bard, a computer science graduate, who having realised her love for life extended beyond that of the digital realm and inanimate objects, is now a 4th-year Budapest vet student. Her Surrey bubble having long since burst, she has embraced the Budapest experience, bringing its own Anglo-Irish-Hungarian sense of what it is to have the 'craic', the latter being the very reason she finds herself on stage for  the first time in her life.  Will this lady who spends most of her time talking to animals, namely her dog Alfie, be able to get some tail wags from the audience? With a couple of G&Ts she sure hopes so…

Tim Bender arrived in Hungary in October 1990. Married to Erika  wtih four children -  Alexandra 22, Jonny, 20, Lewis 18, Florence 10 - Tim's been in magazine publishing since 1993. That's not all he does, though. He has various other business activities, mostly in Hungary so it looks like he's here to stay. No stranger to the boards, he worked at Merlin Theatre for its inaugural season in 1991. Tim  lives in Páty - which is about half an hour from the city. Last month was his first time at the GOTG and he was that taken that this month, he thought he'd try it for himself.

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