Tuesday 6 May 2014

Only Connect: Series 9: First Round Review

OK guys, I've put off talking about Only Connect here long enough. I've decided to review this series round by round, thus meaning I can still cover the show, which I do want to do, without having to go into great detail.

It's been a good first round, setting the scene for some good matches in the next stages.

Match 1: Heath Family vs Exhibitionists
We began back on the 14th with the Heaths, Kip, Alan and Heather Heath, taking on the Exhibitionists, Keith Andrew, Tim Westcott and Eric Kilby. Despite having more quiz pedigree (Mr Westcott has been on WWTBAM, and his colleagues are prolific too, I gather), the Exhibitionists struggled in the early rounds, tending to miss answers narrowly and unluckily, allowing the Heaths to build up a strong lead. Despite a rally to respectability late on, the Exhibitionists had too much ground to cover, and the Heaths won 22-14.

Match 2: Europhiles vs Relatives
Next up, on Easter Monday, we had the Europhiles, Douglas Thomson, Mark Seager and Khuram Rashid, and the Relatives, Hamish Galloway, his wife Davina and her son Nick Latham. This was a much closer match than the first, though it was a low scoring one. The walls, in particular, were especially difficult. It came down to a shoot out in the final round, and the Europhiles narrowly emerged on top 17-14.

Match 3: Welsh Learners vs Software Engineers
Moving on to Week 3, and we saw the Welsh Learners, Margaret Gabica and Stuart and Chris Hern, and the Software Engineers, Stephen Mcintosh, Chris Howlett and Anne Harrison. This was the only real case in the first round of one team obviously eclipsing another, as the Learners took a strong lead in the second round, and the Engineers just couldn't catch up from there on in. Again, they managed a late run to a fair score, but the Learners won the match 30-14.

Match 4: Erstwhile Athletes vs Record Collectors
And finally, last night, we had the Erstwhile Athletes, Daniel 'Quiz Addict' Fullard and Chris and Brendan Curtis, and the Record Collectors, Adam Barr, Rachael 'Cherryade' Neiman and Richard Gilbert. This was the best match of the round, and I'm not just saying that due to the presence of Dan and Rach (who, coincidentally, also appeared together on Brain of Britain late last year). The Collectors had the better of the first two rounds and the Walls, with Rach using a seperate braille wall, and though the Athletes managed a gallant fightback late on, they couldn't quite get there; the Collectors won 24-19.

A good first round overall; some fine quizzing shown by all sides, and the scene is set for some great matches in the next stages. I will be summarising the two elimination matches in two weeks' time.

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