I think it's just a reference to the latest American TV craze, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?". Each new player in this most trivial of all trivia games is chosen from a pool of ten (seated in a bunch off on the side of the stage) through the stratagem of being the quickest to answer one (1) question. So just to qualify for this 1 in ten opportunity, you have to "secure a contestant's seat".

http://members.aol.com/tsuwm/