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[lystellion]

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On University Challenge (Illustrated)All kinds of things about the show and our three matches for anyone interested

Comments

[anonymous]

Hi, just stumbled across this, fascinating read! I thought your performance was great in the first 2 rounds and you really were just unlucky in the third, it's great that you just enjoyed the whole experience and took it with such good grace, I suppose that's what it's all about at the end of the day! Nice to read a measured account after all the hype and hysteria (most of it ill-informed) that surrounded last series and, I think, detracted from it, especially the nasty and incredibly sexist comments made about GT, who was after all just playing the game and playing it well!

I'm on the Manchester team whose match was screened on Monday (July 13th) and I understand what you mean about it not feeling real, our whole match against the Royal Veterinary College was very odd indeed, I knew we were being filmed, but somehow it just didn't seem as nerve-racking as we'd expected and we actually all seemed to really enjoy the whole match and be quite relaxed, apart from when I got a starter about Katie Melua right, I considered not answering it for fear of being branded a Melua fan (which I'm not honest!) but pointlust got in the way! It was strange watching it back though as I don't remember half of those questions, especially the bonus rounds we had, I've been very focused on my PHD though so I think all other thoughts had been put to the back of my mind, maybe that's why I was so relaxed during the match because I hadn't even had time to think or worry about the match beforehand, just turned up on the day and got on with it. I agree that learning long lists of things in preparation doesn't help much, that kind of cramming rarely works for me! It's interesting to read your account of all the stages as we've got all that to come (providing we're not knocked out of course) and I'm sure that future matches won't be as relaxed as our first one, though I'd have expected it to be the other way round. I suppose like you say nobody really knows what it's like until you're there in the studio with Paxman asking the questions. I also agree, he seems quite courteous in person!

Anyway, thanks for writing this,
Best wishes,
Rachael Neiman.

[lystellion]

Hey Rachael thanks for commenting! It's great to hear from other contestants, and I'm sure many others will read this comment over time.

"I suppose like you say nobody really knows what it's like until you're there in the studio with Paxman asking the questions."

Very much so! It all depends so much on the questions you get, and the opposition, as to how you experience it. Your opponents were unlucky not to get one or two more starters which would be in their fields of expertise a bit more - and they had some very nasty bonuses. That takes of course no credit away from your team, you got a very good score and I was very struck by how much it seemed a TEAM effort. I didn't come away thinking 'that person was really good, but that person was a bit quiet', I got the feeling you all contributed a lot.

Also, the face of your captain when the absolutely ridiculous question about physics was read out was wonderful. It's always nice to see someone else visibly just go 'all right, what the hell is this about'. Also I had to laugh when Paxman said to your opponents 'it's not the WORST score we've ever got, by a long way!'. Oh dear me. Whatever could he have been talking about?

I'm guessing you've already played your second-round match, I hope that went well!

Jacob