OK, I haven't been watching Only Connect much as of late, but I have been following the series, and keeping track of where we are. And last night, we arrived at the final. Both teams took the scenic route to get this far, winning their first match, then losing their second, but winning their third. And, though both went into their semis as the underdogs, they both won through comfortably. Whoever won would deserve the title.
Taking part in last night's final were: the Bakers, Tim Spain, Matt Rowbotham and captain Peter Steggle; and the Board Gamers, Hywel Carver, LAM and JOW reader Michael Wallace and captain Jamie Karran.
Off we set, starting as usual with What's the Connection. The Bakers went first, and their first question concerned crossword clues to 'Victoria', some of which I didn't understand until I watched it back just now. The Board Gamers got the dreaded music question, which turned out to be about songs on the subject of song writing. The Bakers dropped their next question, and the Board Gamers failed to convert, but did come up with a good alternative answer!
The Board Gamers' next question was about Number 1s on scales, which they didn't get, allowing the Bakers to get a bonus. The picture question also went to the Bakers, but they didn't manage it, and it was the Board Gamers' turn to pick up a bonus. Karran and co ended the round finely, getting three points after just two clues in a question about unwinnable positions. At the end of the first round, they led 5-3.
Moving on to the sequences round, and the Bakers dropped their first question, leaving the Board Gamers to come up with an amusing but wrong answer, which VCM seemed genuinely amused by. But they made up for that by taking three points on their next question. But the Bakers outdid them by getting their next answer after just one clue for a full five points!
The rest of the round saw the Board Gamers get two from one of their questions, and drop their other, giving the Bakers a bonus; the picture round went to the Bakers, but neither they nor their opponents could take the points. At the end of the round, the Board Gamers were just ahead, 10-9. Close final!
And it got even closer in the next round, where both sides got a full 10 out of 10 out of their Connections Walls (in both teams' case, the first time they'd successfully done so). This meant, going into the final round, the Board Gamers were still ahead, 20-19.
Everything to play for in the Missing Vowels round. Though the Bakers buzzed well in this round, the Board Gamers buzzed better. The highlight of the round was a set of questions on X-rated parodies of famous films, which provided a bit of light hilarity. But, at the end of the round, and the show, the Board Gamers had won it, 28-21.
Very well done to the Board Gamers, on a very well deserved victory! But well done to the Bakers too, who did very well to get to the final as well, especially as, as Michael Wallace said on Twitter last night, it was their first attempt at a quiz show. And to reach the final of Only Connect is always a pretty good achievement, whether you win or lose.
Well done to all involved.
And so concludes the final regular Only Connect on BBC4. The show has been promoted to BBC2 for its next run, so will presumably follow on immediately after UC.
Speaking of which, the standard of this years' Christmas UC seems to be a bit higher than previous years, though still a bit more low scoring than usual. I will post a summary of the series so far on Friday.
Until then, take care, and have a Happy Christmas!
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