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He had a knack for coming up with “creative” answers to some hard-hitting questions during his stint as Taoiseach, but it seems that Bertie Ahern’s fast-thinking skills aren’t what they used to be.

The Irish Daily Star reports that the former Taoiseach has given the thumbs-down to appearing on a celebrity version of question-and-answer show Mastermind.

TV3 will be screening the new series in the coming months. The show sees contestants being asked a range of tough questions in an intimidating and serious atmosphere to see if they have a ‘master mind.’ Fronting the programme will be former Fine Gael Justice Minister Nora Owen.

Unfortunately Ms Owen won’t get to say the immortal line: “I’ve started so I'll finish” to Bertie because he just isn’t interested in being asked difficult questions. So nothing has changed since he gave up his post of Taoiseach then…

Producers of the game show wrote to Mr Ahern’s office inviting him to take part in a special ‘celebrity’ version of the show. However, it is reported that within an hour of the letter arriving, Bertie rang back and immediately turned down the invitation.

If he had agreed to take part, TV3 would definitely have gotten the lion’s share of television ratings when the programme was broadcast. Unfortunately, Bertie just won’t play ball.

We wonder why he’s so quick to refuse the offer - he’s already had loads of experience when it comes to answering hard questions and thinking on his feet.

Then again, the show would probably expect the correct answer rather than something thrown together just to appease the public.