It’s unclear whether these newspapers produce the quiz in-house or commission it from a third-party service. The Quizmaster section is also distinct from a separate quiz, The Shark Quiz.

The Herald and The Age asked News Corp who was behind the Quizmaster section and for a response to the accusations of plagiarism, but a reply was not received.

“Just some acknowledgement would be fine,” Glaspole says. “It’s not really the money I’m concerned about. It’s just that it’s my IP. It’s my wording. It’s my style. And also, I just think they really could give that job to a writer who needs the work.

“A lot of writers out there could use the money, and instead they’re just cribbing it from a show on TikTok.”

Though it started as a way to simply “stave off boredom” during lockdown last year, the TikTok10 has become a real sensation. The account – which features videos of Glaspole running through 10 rapid-fire questions while sitting in his car – now boasts more than 615,000 followers.

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Glaspole, who works freelance in the TV industry and has previously contributed to shows like Hard Quiz, mainly produces the show to sustain the “loyal and kind” community it’s created. Like most Australian TikTok creators, the only money he’s making from the account is off the odd branded video.

“[The TikTok10] is something that people do as part of their daily routine and part of their bonding with other people,” he says. “I get messages all the time, saying, ‘This is something I do with my girlfriend every night’.”

Sitting “on the same wavelength of Wordle”, the TikTok10 is really just a new, digital version of the kind of quizzes and puzzles you’d ordinarily see in the paper. But Glaspole says that doesn’t give any publisher the right to lift its content for free.

This is why he decided on the subtle theme of last night’s video. Other questions in the quiz concerned Xerox, the term “deja vu”, and the copy and paste function on Microsoft.

“If any particular multinational media conglomerates want to pinch any more of my questions, they’ll be pinching questions about copying.”

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