In It To Win It Amusement

On TV earlier:

Question: Which 19th century author wrote Middlemarch and Mill on the Floss?
Options: George Eliot, Jane Austen, Mrs Gaskell

Contestant: "Since it's 19th century I don't think it's George Eliot or Jane Austen so I'll go with Mrs Gaskell."

Now, I know not everyone is interested in literature so I'm not criticising him for not knowing the answer, it's more the confidence with which he dismissed the first two options that I find funny. And the fact that the wording of the question indicates they're all 19th century authors so his reasoning is slightly misguided completely stupid.