OK people, time for me to give a short-ish review of the Only Connect Grand Final. I won't give a very detailed review; Messrs Clark and Weaver will do that at the weekend.
Anyway, the teams in Monday's final were the Orienteers, Paul Beecher, Sean Blanchflower and Simon Spiro, and the Chessmen, Henry Pertinez, Stephen Pearson and Nick Mills. All serial quizzers; two University Challenge champions and two UC semi-finalists amongst them. Also, the Chessmen came third in Series 2 of OC, while Messrs Beecher and Spiro were part of the Cambridge Quiz Society team that came second that series.
The Orienteers came straight to the final, beating the Romantics, the Gamesmasters (twice) and the QI Elves; the Chessmen lost their first match to the Linguists, but went on to beat the Wandering Minstrels, the Felinophiles, the Gallifreyans and the History Boys. Whoever won would deserve the title.
As you'd expect, the questions were the toughest they've been all series for the final. The Orienteers took one from their first question; the Chessmen missed their first, but the Orienteers couldn't convert. The Orienteers got the audio set, and took one point identifying all those heard as being born in India. The Chessmen got a nice set on the year 2014 in different calenders; they also picked up a bonus on the Orienteers' final question of the round with (what looked like) a lucky guess. The Chessmen finished the round with the picture set, but neither side spotted that they all represented transport cards. A tough first round, after which the sides were tied 2-each.
Sequences next. The Chessmen picked up a bonus on the Orienteers' first question, spotting the sequence of eponymous SI units going backwards. An occational audio sequence went to the Chessmen, but it was the Orienteers spotted the sequence that they were John Lewis Christmas ads music! They also got the picture sequence; neither they or the Chessmen spotted a very tricky sequence for that. A great question followed, showing phrases with months of the year hidden; the Chessmen spotted it for two good points. Two very tricky questions saw out the round; the Orienteers did well to get two points for one of them. The sides were still deadlocked, 5-each.
So, what were the odds that the sides would still be tied after the Connecting Walls? The Chessmen solved their wall, and worked out all the connections, thus earning them ten well earned and much needed points. The Orienteers needed to match that, or at least get seven to stay in touch; they took somewhat longer, but they did sweep clean too, so ten points too! So, it remained deadlocked at 15-each! What a great final!
So, Missing Vowels would decide the series for sure. Things that usually come in threes came first, and the Orienteers took that 2-1. Impressionist paintings and their painters followed, and both sides took their time, but the Orienteers won that 3-0. And that proved decisive, as the show ended afterwards. The Orienteers won the final and the series 20-16.
Great final to end a great series. Unlucky Chessmen, but a great series effort after a rough start; very well done for getting so far. Very well done to the Orienteers though; very deserving and well earned champions!
So, that's it for Only Connect for another series. It's been a great first series on BBC2, with some great matches and questions throughout. We were a bit worried for the show after a couple of tough question sets in Series 9, but we needn't have been. I look forward to the show's return in the Autumn.
Also, I'm still considering retro-reviewing Series 1 of Only Connect so I have something to do on here over the Spring quiz recess; views on that will be welcome.
I'll be back on Monday with my usual UC summary.
The first series had the easiest questions of anything outside of possibly the first few episodes of Series 10. Series 5 was the best series because everyone thought the show was about to get cancelled, and so they let so many great quizzers on.
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