Christmas University Challenge 2013: Matches 6-10 (Monday 30th - Friday 3rd)

Well, I hope everyone had a good New Year. I had an OK one, I guess. In Ayrshire, as usual.

Anyway, on with the second half of Christmas UC.

Monday 30th: Leicester vs Sussex
Leicester: Heather Couper, Nigel Henbest, Sue Cook, Natalie Bennett
Sussex: Rob Bonnet, Alice Arnold, Simon Fanshawe, Claudia Hammond

Again, not a terrifically close match, or high scoring. Highlight of this rather dour affair was an early set of bonuses related to the physics of snowball throwing, which provided much hilarity as Leicester tried to work them out. At one point, Paxo actually let out an exclamation at a confer rather than an answer! Simon Fanshawe also had a late argument with Paxo over an answer, which was made even funnier by the gong going during it, and it continuing on after the applause died down! Leicester won 125-60, which was not a high enough score to get them into the semis.

Tuesday 31st: King's College London vs Southampton
King's: Arthur Butt, Susan Hill, Rory Bremner, Anne Ashworth
Southampton: Jason Cowley, Claire Tyler, Stefan Buczacki, Matthew Taylor

Rather unfortunate to have Mr Bremner on the show on the day his long time collaborator John Fortune passed away. He and his colleagues were very much on level terms with Southampton for most of the match. It wasn't until the final minutes when Southampton began a run on the buzzer, and pulled into a strong lead. A good showing from both sides, but at the gong, Southampton won 185-105, which, of course, was good enough to bring them back.

Wednesday 1st: Semi-Final 1 - Emmanuel vs Southampton
A good match this. While Emmanuel led throughout, they never quite managed to pull into a match winning lead, and were kept in close touch by Southampton throughout. Again, it wasn't until the final minutes that the Cambridge side managed to pull away into a match winning lead, through Southampton did manage to reach respectability. They did manage a late comedy moment courtesy of the old 'same answer three times' trick, answering Loch Ness to all three bonuses of a round on Scottish lochs! Emmanuel won the match 175-105.

Thursday 2nd: Semi-Final 2 - Lancaster vs Caius
This was probably the best match of this mini-series. While not exactly high scoring, the teams were pretty much level all the way through. It wasn't until the very end, when Caius got a run on the buzzer late on and seemed to take their time with the bonuses, that the match was secure. An unlucky defeat for Lancaster in the end, with Caius winning 185-140. But a good match all the same.

Friday 3rd: The Final - Emmanuel vs Caius
An all-Cambridge final it was, then. And it was a pretty decent match. Caius led throughout, though their bonus rate was poor in the mid section, with at least three bonus sets in a row being completely dropped. This meant they weren't able to pull away into a match winning lead as they could've. Later on, however, their rate picked up, and, combined with their buzzer work, they managed to pull away. Though Emmanuel did rally late on, and climb up into respectability, there was too much ground to catch up. At the gong, Caius won the match, and the series, 175-140. But well done to both sides, who were both great sides throughout, and well played by all involved.

A good mini-series, in my opinion. The preliminaries were rather low scoring, and a bit dour, but things picked up afterwards, with a good trio of matches in the final three. Well played by all involved.

So, back to normal now then. Tomorrow, the regular series resumes with the final second round match, which, presumably, will be between SOAS and Reading.

On another note, we have also seen a rather intriguing new addition to Deal or No Deal this week as well. I may decide to go into it in more detail on here next week, once it has been used for a full week.