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Former Mastermind champion Hamish McDouall will run for Parliament next year, turning the campaign for the Whanganui seat into a contest of brains versus brawn by pitting himself against National MP Chester Borrows, a former policeman.
Mr McDouall, a 39-year-old author, will be Labour's candidate in the electorate, which National holds with a majority of 2402 votes.
His selection is one of several made to replace MPs as Labour rejuvenates its ranks - he stands in place of Jill Pettis, who lost the seat to Mr Borrows and returned to Parliament from the party list.
Mr McDouall shot to prominence in 1989 when he won Sale of the Century, followed by Mastermind in 1990 on his expert topic of the life and works of David Bowie.
A former lawyer, he now writes non-fiction books and was the author of a biography on cricketer Chris Cairns, as well as producing a Verlaines compilation record and this year fronting the National Spelling Bee.
Mr McDouall said his decision to run for Parliament was partly the result of the birth of his child this year. "It changes the way you see the world and Labour makes it much harder for children to grow up in poverty."
Although he has lived in Auckland for the past 18 months, Mr McDouall was born and bred in Wanganui, where his father Gerald was deputy mayor in the 1990s.
He intends to move back in March and may already have lost Mr Borrows one of his votes - Gerald McDouall is a strong National Party man but is reviewing his voting pattern following his son's selection.
"He suggested he might vote for me for the electorate vote, but National for the party vote," Hamish McDouall said. "So that's really magnanimous of him."
Hamish McDouall said he knew Mr Borrows as "an affable character" and predicted the campaign would be "a gentlemanly stoush."
Meanwhile, National has had to re-open nominations for its safe Selwyn seat in the South Island after complaints that potential candidates were pressured not to stand against a sitting MP.
List MP David Carter was initially selected unopposed, but three party chairmen complained that the selection committee breached the rules by getting rivals to stand aside in a bid to protect him.
Party president Judy Kirk has ordered the selection to be re-run in February.
Mr Carter lost the Banks Peninsula seat to Ruth Dyson in 2005.
