British TV Host Tells Teenage Tetris Whiz To ‘Go Outside’

Normally, when you do something amazing like winning a tournament or beating an impossible game, you celebrate and get congratulated for your accomplishment. That was definitely true for 13 year old master Willis “Blue Scuti” Gibson, . However, one anchor at British news outlet thinks that’s a load of shit, as she said the boy wonder should “go outside” because “beating isn’t a life goal.” On January 4, features editor Chris Scullion of a segment on Twitter.

The segment featured anchor Jayne Secker, who’s been with the British free to air news network since 2002, reporting on Blue Scuti’s monumental achievement in a mocking tone, chuckling as she dismissed the feat by saying the teen should “get some fresh air.” “Now, has long been touted as a video game that just can’t be beaten because it just goes on and on,” Secker said.

“Well, 13 year old American Willis Gibson has technically proven that wrong. He beat the original Nintendo version of the game by reaching such a high that the coding froze, [which] left the program unable to generate any more falling blocks. As a mother, I would just say step away from the screen.

Go outside. Get some fresh air. Beating is not a life goal.” As you can guess, folks dragged the anchor for her comment about Blue Scuti. Some were that would deem the story worthy of coverage only to laugh at the teenager in the end. Others they would be proud if their child accomplished something similar.

Most it was of Secker to say such things about games. Even Bhavina Bharkhada, the head of communications at the UK’s games industry trade body UKIE, , saying that if Blue Scuti was a child chess champion instead, he’d “be invited to Downing Street to play chess.” Let’s put our pitchforks and torches away for a moment to contextualize this.

It’s no secret that screen time among adolescents and kids has risen since the covid 19 pandemic, with it jumped 17 percent between 2019 and 2021. Researchers are reportedly worried that over the last few years, which could lead to if left unchecked. However, those are broad, big picture statistics and cultural concerns, and Gibson is one individual kid.

Secker has no idea whether or not Blue Scuti is truly spending an unhealthy amount of time playing . Even Blue Scuti’s mom, Karin Cox, , said that she doesn’t mind her son playing video games—as long as his chores are done. “I’m actually OK with it,” Cox, a high school math teacher, said.

“He does other things outside of playing , so it really wasn’t that terribly difficult to say OK. It was harder to find an old CRT TV than it was to say, ‘Yeah, we can do this for a little bit.’” reached out to for comment. So, yeah, should reconsider making such sweeping judgments before mocking .

Blue Scuti is a master player for reaching the iconic puzzler’s “true kill screen,” as the competitive community has called it. Go get your bag, Blue Scuti. You deserve it..