Quizzy Mondays 2025-26 Week 37: University Challenge Grand Final, Mastermind Grand Final

Hello my friends, and welcome to the last Quizzy Monday of the season! Yep, we're done on all fronts tonight with UC and Mastermind both reaching their conclusions! I'm not sure if this makes the two month break Mastermind took over the New Year worth it, but it's certainly very neat indeed! Write-up of that coming up, but, firstly, the final of one of the most fascinating series of UC for a while, between two teams neither of whom looked like champions going into the second round, let alone the QFs, but whoever did win would be a most worthy winner.

 

Edinburgh got here undefeated with victories over Newcastle in Round 1, Trinity of Cambridge in Round 2, their opponents tonight in their first QF, Merton in their second and Darwin in their semi-final 155-110. Hoping for a second title for their university were:

Parthav Easwar, from Portland, Oregon, studying Sustainable Lands and Cities

Johnny Richards, from Los Angeles, studying Ancient DNA

Captain: Alice Leonard, from Portsmouth, studying Environment, Culture and Society

Rayhana Amjad, from Dublin and Glasgow, studying Computer Science

 

Manchester defeated New College of Oxford in the first round and L.S.E. in the second, then lost their first QF to their opponents tonight, recovered by beating U.C.L. in their second and Sheffield in their third, before easily winning their SF against Imperial 250-70. Hoping for a joint record fifth title were:

Ray Power, from Bangkok, studying Film Studies and English Literature

Kirsty Dickson, from Morley Green in Cheshire, studying Medicine

Captain: Kai Madgwick, from Fowey in Cornwall, studying AI and Astrophysics

Rob Faulkner, from Norwich, studying Physics with Astrophysics

 

The final began with... neither team getting the first starter! The second was very quickly answered by, who else, Kai Madgwick, and their team took two of their first bonuses. Edinburgh's own lead buzzer Rayhana Amjad took the third, and they took opened with a pair of bonuses. Mr Richards then gave Edinburgh the lead with a starter and all three bonuses. The first picture round went to Manchester though, which allowed them to cut the gap to 45-30. And now the Manchester captain hit their stride, taking three starters in a row as they eked into a strong lead. Edinburgh got going again with the music round; after the music bonuses, they now trailed 90-55.

 

Another starter was dropped before the Manchester captain put their side into three figures first, which was followed by one bonus. But back came Edinburgh with two starters in a row, but only one bonus followed from the two sets. The second picture round went to Manchester, after which they led 115-80. Still either team's game, and Mr Easwar kept Edinburgh in the game with the next starter, which was followed by a single bonus, and a(n unlucky) penalty to Manchester left the gap at 15. But who else by Kai Madgwick steadied their ship with the next starter, which was, again, followed by one bonus. And, when the Manchester captain took the next starter, that was game over. Edinburgh did take the final starter to deservedly reach three figures, but there was no time for any bonuses. At the gong, Manchester won the match and the series 145-105!

 

For the second series in a row, we went on location, this time to the Clapham Grand theatre, where the chairman and the two teams were joined by the legend that is Miriam Margolyes, who was, of course, a contestant on the show way back in its very earliest days. She said a few words, before handing Kai Madgwick the trophy.

 

An excellent end to the series; well played both teams! Hard lines to Edinburgh, but they definitely played their part and would've been worthy winners as well; well played and thanks for playing! Very very well done Manchester, worthy champions; many congratulations indeed!

 

The stats: Kai Madgwick was, yet again, the best buzzer of the night, with all NINE(!) of their team's starters, giving them a final total of 57(!) over seven matches (surely some sort of record), while Rayhana Amjad was best for Edinburgh with four, and was also their best for the series as a whole with a total of 25 over six games. On the bonuses, Edinburgh manged 8 out of 19 (with one penalty) and Manchester 13 out of 27 (with two penalties).

 

And that's it; we're done! Thanks to all involved on another great, and fascinating, series; here's to the next!

 

Mastermind’s fifth Grand Final of the Clive Myrie era was opened by Lorna Frankel, who was answering on Dame Julie Andrews; the traditional pre-SS round video clip saw her, among other things, practicing for the show, with her boyfriend and former OC teammate Steve Barnes as question master. She made a couple of mistakes, but kept a good pace and finished the round with 11. She was followed into the chair by Ross Taylor, who was answering on the films of Danny Boyle; his pre-round clip also saw him having a practice, with his young son asking him the questions. He made just a single mistake in his round, and took the lead with 13.

 

Next up was Danielle Connolly, who was answering on Beatrix Potter, with his VT showing her visiting the author’s home in Camfield in Hertfordshire and getting a good luck message from Dawn French, who played her on screen; she also made a couple of mistakes, one of them a pass, but did still manage to equal Lorna’s score of 11. She was followed into the chair by David Ford, who was answering on Robert Burns, which I thought would see him visit Alloway for his TV, but instead, he went to Burns’ farm near Dumfries where he wrote a lot of his work; he didn’t make any mistakes that I noticed until the very last question of the round, which saw him finish with 10 points.

 

Next up was Miles Searle, who was answering on Notre-Dame Cathedral; despite being a student studying in Paris, his VT didn’t actually see him go there himself, but instead have a virtual chat with an expert on its history. The round started well, but then a run of wrong answers sent him off the pace; a late rally saw him reach 8 points, but, you’d have to say, that probably ruled him out of the running sadly. Finally, Diane Howe was answering on the astronaut Jim Lovell, with her VT seeing her visit the National Space Centre in Leicester and get a good luck message from Tim Peake; a single wrong answer aside, and only just at that, she squeezed into second place in the half-time table with 12.

 

So, to GK to decide the champion. Miles returned first, knowing he was probably out of the running, and a few wrong answers early in the round confirmed this; he at least did enough to take the lead, scoring 9 for a perfectly fine total of 17, which wouldn’t be a winning score, but he’s still a Mastermind finalist and that can never be taken away from him. David returned next, and quickly equalled Miles’ total, before a run of wrong answers stalled his round completely; he did recover for a late rally to score another 10, taking his total to 20, also probably not a winning score, but still very decent indeed.

 

Lorna was next, and seemed to have gone for the tactic of staring into space so as not to be distracted by anything, a good tactic used by at least one previous winner; it worked well too, as she rattled through the questions well, not dwelling on mistakes, and scored a very good 14 for a great total of 25, which really did put a benchmark down for the remaining contenders. Danielle didn’t manage to better it, but did put down a perfectly decent round, scoring 10 for a total of 21.

 

Next up was Diane, who started strongly, then, as she approached Lorna’s score, began to slow down a bit; just in time, she picked up the pace again and finished having scored 13, and thus equalled Lorna’s total of 25! And, with neither having either passes, left the prospect of a tie-breaker very much open!

 

Unless Ross could beat it of course. He started strongly, but then also hit a run of questions he didn’t know, and then incurred two passes, which meant he’d now have to beat the two ladies’ score to win. With time running out, it looked like he wouldn’t make it, and indeed he fell just short, scoring 11 for a still very good total of 24.

 

Which meant Lorna and Diane, both with 25 points and no passes, would indeed face a tie-breaker to decide who was the winner. And, when Diane was revealed to have gotten the third question correct where Lorna hadn’t, we knew then that she was the winner! And indeed she was, with 28 points to Lorna’s 27. Many congratulations to her, a most worthy winner! And many thanks to the others, Lorna especially who came so close (and kudos to Clive and Diane for acknowledging that at the end), on an excellent end to the series! Here’s to the next when it starts!

 

(And, when it does, hopefully TPTB will have finally taken on board the need for some form of second chance for high scoring first round runners-up)

 

And that's it for the final week of the season! Thanks as ever for reading, both tonight and throughout the year; we'll go again in July hopefully. In the meantime, I'm not sure whether I'm going to do any Spring filler this year; I had an idea, but I'm not sure if I'm up for doing it or not, watch this space. So, for now, until we next meet, sayonara...