OK, you may have noticed I've gone back and changed the titles of my previous reviews of this series. I've done so for reasons that will become clear at the end of this review. Whatever the case, this was the final match of the top half of the draw, and the runners-up would need to beat 13 to definitely come back. Playing were the Korfballers, Taissa Csaky, Niall Sheekey and captain Michael Jelley (brother of Simon Jelley of the Technologists from Series 5) and the Channel Islanders, Sean McManus, his wife Caroline, and her daughter captain Tabitha Osbourne.
Round 1. The Islanders went first, and kicked off the show with Eye of Horus: 'Rugby league: Keegan Hurst', then 'Cricket: Steven Davies', then 'Football: Thomas Hitzlsperger', and finally 'Rugby union: Gareth Thomas'. They offered that they all moved in from another sport; not right. Their opponents offered that they were the first players of those sports to come out as gay; close enough: they weren't the first, but they are all openly gay sportsmen. For their own first question, the Korfballers chose Two Reeds: 'Cold Mountain', then 'Litchfield', then 'Slade', and finally 'Azakaban'. They mentioned it at the third clue, but got it for sure at the fourth: they are fictional prisons. The Islanders chose Lion next: 'Perforated number', then 'Three-dimensional watermarks', then 'Ada Lovelace, Anish Kapoor and the Penny Black', and finally 'Embedded RFID chip containing image of holder'. They didn't get it, and their opponents didn't get it precise enough: they can all be found on UK passports. The Korfballers chose Twisted Flax next, and got the music question: we heard Alan Price's 'Don't Stop the Carnival', then Rihanna's 'Don't Stop the Music', then 'Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough' by MJ; this was enough for them to offer 'Don't Stop' for two points, having not recognised the first track, but they did know the other two. The Islanders chose Water next, and got the picture set: we saw a drawing of Shakespeare's the Tempest with Miranda circled, then a map of the US with the city of Charlotte highlighted, then the I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue panel with the empty seat for Samantha circled, and finally Stephen King's Carrie. They didn't get it, and their opponents didn't either. I did though, and they saw it too late: they are characters from Sex and the City. Left with Horned Viper, the Korfballers saw 'Annabel Lee', then 'Delilah', then 'Rebecca', and finally 'Weekend at Bernie's'. They didn't quite get it, their opponents hit the nail on the head: they are works where the eponymous character is dead. At the end of the first round, the Korfballers led 4-1.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Islanders kicked the round off with Two Reeds: 'Baht', then 'Riel', and then 'Dong'; they correctly offered 'Yuan' for two points, the sequence being Asian currencies going west to east towards China. The Korfballers chose 'Lion' next: 'Quantity of fights: 5', then 'Quantity of fighters: 4', and then 'Cessation of fighting: 3'. They didn't get it, nor did their opponents. They are the rules of Fight Club, so 'Secrecy: 2' would complete the set. (The numbers represent the number of the rule, rather than a quantity) The Islanders chose Twisted Flax next, and got the picture set: we saw Sir Elton John, then John Hannah, and then Hannah Gordon; they offered 'Gordon Brown' for two points, the link being a simple overlapping of names. (As someone has pointed out, they surely wouldn't have been able to get that until the third clue) The Korfballers chose Eye of Horus next: 'Kings' (crosses out), then 'Elvis' (ditto), and then 'Zimmerman' (ditto again). Neither side got this very obscure question: it is John Lennon's song 'God' and what he claims not to believe in, so 'Beatles' (crossed out) completes the set. For their final choice, the Islanders chose Water: 'Georgie', then 'David', and then 'Bertie'; they offered 'Lilibet', correct for two points, the sequence being family nicknames for the four most recent monarchs. Left with Horned Viper again, the Korfballers saw 'Buenos Aires (3)', then 'La Paz (4)', and then 'New York (5)'. They didn't get it, their opponents did: it is simply places that are 3, 4 and 5 hours behind UK time, so 'New Orleans (6)' would acceptably complete the set. At the end of the second round, the Islanders led 8-4.
On to the Walls. The Korfballers, having not scored since the first round, chose the Water wall. They spotted two links, and fairly quickly resolved them: 'Houston', 'Amarillo', 'Austin' and 'Corpus Christi' are places in Texas, while 'Exeter', 'Balliol', 'Regent's Park' and 'Merton' are, as any UC fan will know, Oxford colleges. (Regent's Park, of course, defeated A. Guttenplan's Emmanuel in the first round) They carefully looked over the remaining clues, and, on their final go, resolved it: 'Bike', 'Lion', 'Range' and 'Standard Time' can all follow 'Mountain', while 'Ash', 'Ripley', 'Dallas' and 'Lambert' are characters in Alien, both of which they got. A full house there, so ten points.
The Islanders thus needed a good result from the Lion wall to maintain the pace. They also spotted some links, and eventually isolated 'Bergamot', 'Seville', 'Navel' and 'Blood', which are types of orange. They then fairly quickly spotted and isolated 'Cadiz', 'Santander', 'Alicante' and 'Barcelona', which are Spanish ports. They tried to resolve what they had left, but, not recognising any links, ran out of tries. 'Lion's', 'Damascus', 'Dung' and 'Jaffa' are Jerusalem Wall gates, while '1977', 'Toaster', 'Valencia' and 'X Pro II' are filters on Instagram, neither of which they got. So four points there, which meant the Korfballers led 14-12 going into the final round.
So, the match, and the play-off teams, would be decided by Missing Vowels. 'Fictional nobility', such as 'COUNT DRACULA', went to the Korfballers 4-0. 'Words that rhyme with 'clues'' went to the Korfballers 3-0, with the Islanders getting one right but one wrong. 'More is worse', such as 'POINTS ON A DRIVING LICENSE', went to the Korfballers 3-1. 'Types of insurance' saw the Korfballers get the first one right, and the Islanders get timed out before they could answer the second. The Korfballers won 25-13.
A good match between two close teams who were pretty much level right until the end. Well done Korfballers, and best of luck in the next round! Unlucky Islanders, whose score means they are joint third with the Bardophiles and the Cousins. So, in this situation, the two who scored the most points in the first two rounds go through, so it's the Cousins, who scored 4 to the Bardophiles' 6 and the Islanders' 8, who miss out. Hard lines to them, but best of luck to the Islanders in their play-off.
Next week's match: the Bardophiles vs the Taverners in the first play-off. Presumably followed the week after by the Verbivores vs the Channel Islanders. So, now you know why I changed the names.
Incidentally, I may be away next week, so my review of next week's show will be the week after alongside that week's show.
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