I recall that the blue chip is also very bright to at least one of the near-IR filters(intentionally, I gather those chips aren't just cheap pieces of plastic, they have some very specific and not simple spectra). Likewise, the filters are quite narrow -- 20nm typical bandwidth, I believe, which is much different than the broadband RGB filters in a consumer digital camera (or the response of 3-layer color film).

If the they are actually using a near-IR channel for red, that could make the blue chip look bright red. I believe they said in the news conf today that the wavelengths were 710, 580, and 480. 710 is a very deep red at best, it's near the limit of human sensitivity. I'd be more confident of my theory if the wavelength used for red was more like 800 or 900 -- if bright at 710nm I'd think the blue would look a bit purple -- but maybe there is somethig to it.

Why they would use near-IR for red instead of using red, I'm not sure.