Hello again my friends, and welcome back to another Quizzy Monday! And a happy one as, for the first time in nearly two years, we have an ultra-complete line-up of the three BBC2 quizzes, plus Brain of Britain is finally back as well! But not exactly the same as before; more on that later. But, for now, on with the TV quizzes, beginning with UC; hope you weren't all caught out by the slightly late start due to that Romesh trailer being shown in full beforehand!
University College Oxford (Univ from here on in as I go against Roger T for the first time in this blog's history!) won the show twice during the ITV era; its best BBC era performance was reaching the SFs in 2000-01, and its last appearance in 2022-23 saw its team go out in the second round. Playing for them this year were:
Adam Sakabani, from Purley in London, studying Physics
Deepro Choudhury, from Tonbridge in Kent, studying Statistics and Machine Learning
Captain: Delia Cropper, from Loughborough, studying Theoretical Physics
Shaaon Bhattacharya, from Cambridge (originally New Hampshire), studying PPE
St John's College Cambridge has appeared in seven previous BBC series, of which its best showing was when it won the 2017-18 series; its last appearance was in the 2021-22 series, where its team had a marathon run to the QFs before being defeated by eventual runners-up Reading. This year's team comprised of:
Callum Thomas, from Queensland, Australia, studying Zoology
Jonathan Watts, from London, studying Maths
Captain: Liam Plimmer, from Dorset, studying English
Aurelia Walker, from London, studying Maths
Univ took the first two starters of the match and all six of the resulting bonuses; St John's maintained this run by taking all three of their first set as well. We finally got a wrong answer during the first picture round, after which Univ led 65-25. St John's took a couple of starters to pull within five, but Univ duly pulled away again. St John's kept the pressure on though and, after the music round, they'd narrowly taken the lead 90-85.
But a penalty allowed Univ to retake the lead again, their captain Delia Cropper taking a fourth starter of a productive night, followed by a fifth with a memorable answer of 'Mario 64'! A further two starters to the Oxonians ensured all four of them had a correct starter and, after the second picture round, they'd opened up a lead of 160-85. Another starter and it looked like Univ had the game won, but St John's got a run of starters going, the bonuses fell very nicely for them with three full sets in a row, and suddenly they were just fifteen behind! But a penalty handed Univ back possession, their captain took the final starter of the game, and that was game over. At the gong, Univ won 200-170.
A very good game indeed, two excellent teams, well played both! Well done Univ, their captain especially, they look a very good team at this early stage; best of luck to them in the second round! Hard lines to St John's, who so nearly pulled a massive rabbit out of the hat there, but a score that good will almost certainly bring them back in the play-offs; best of luck to them in those!
The stats: Delia Cropper was easily the best buzzer of the night with EIGHT(!) starters, while Messrs Watts and Plimmer were joint best for St John's with three each. On the bonuses, Univ managed 19 out of 30 (with one penalty) and St John's 19 out of 27 (with three penalties), and all eight players contributed at least one correct starter.
Next week's match: Guildhall School of Music and Drama vs Darwin College Cambridge
Only Connect’s third heat was
contested by the Sinistrals, Mia Eaglesham, Geena Baird and captain Millar
McGroarty, and the Merseyside Eyes, Tolu Ajayi, AJ Dowler and captain Elliot
Otty.
My Dad claims the same two points
as the Sinistrals on the football rivalries question in the first round; they
led 3-2 at the end of that. I think I got the ‘seven’ question in the second
round at the same time as the Sinistrals; they led 8-7 afterwards.
On to the Walls, and the Sinistrals
polished off theirs in pretty short order, a full ten there. The Eyes took
longer, but they also got everything right, another full house (six out of six
so far this series I believe), so, as you were, they trailed 18-17 going into
Missing Vowels. The Sinistrals fared considerably better in that, winning each (completed)
set 3-1 and running out winnings 28-10. Another good contest, well played both,
best of luck next time!
Next week’s match: Frenemies vs
Marvins
Mastermind was won by Piers Marchant
(who I’m pretty sure was on UC not long ago), who only just snuck home ahead of
second placed Lorraine Behrens; both scored 19 points, but Lorraine had passed
once whereas he hadn’t at all, thus giving him the win. Han Ket Li and Dom Mottram
also participated, finishing with 10 and 15 respectively.
Brain of Britain returned
yesterday after a year’s absence, and has some new rules. Beat the Brains has
been done away with, which is fair enough as it allows for more rounds of
questions. More significantly, each contender gets a ‘Specialist’ round where
their run of up to five questions is on a subject of their choice; same rules
apply though, get a question wrong, it goes open to the other three for a bonus
and their go is over. Not sure where I stand on this yet; will come back to it
after a few more shows.
Anyway, Claire Reynolds, recent
Mastermind runner-up, was the first winner of the series, running away with it
in the third round, her specialist round, and didn’t come close to getting
caught; she ended up winning with 21 points, twelve ahead of second placed Adam
Macleod (for whom his specialist round was also his most productive) with 9.
Olivia Woolley and Jacob Roberts (both alumni of UC and Mastermind) also
competed, finishing with 6 and 4 respectively.
And that's it for another week! Thanks as ever for reading; it's good to have a very complete line-up of shows back at last, though we fear it won't be long before Mastermind (at least) starts having weeks off again. And as for the matter of Lucy Porter's new Friday night show Current-ish, it's very meh, and, given the choice, I'd definitely choose Deja News over it. Watch this space for Ian Smith's show when it starts. Anyway, back with my write-up again next week, so, see yous then...
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