Sleb Mastermind - Show 4

Another day, another four celebs into the chair, for the last of these shows of 2010. First up was James Redmond. I’ll admit that wasn’t previously familiar with his work, but apparently he is and actor who has made appearances on Hollyoaks, Casualty and the like, but is now making a career for himself as a stand-up. His subject was he England Football team since 1990, and I’m afraid, like the England team in this year’s World Cup he really struggled to make much headway, finishing with 8 on what seemed a pretty decent set of questions.

Hattie Hayridge is also a stand-up, but is probably best known for being the second actor to play the computer Holly in Red Dwarf. He subject was a rather wide one – The Cold War – one of those catch-all subjects which can derail even the most thoroughly prepared of contenders. Hattie missed a bit of a sitter when she didn’t know that the term Cold War itself originated in the writings of George Orwell, but other than that acquitted herself quite well, with 10 points.

David Threlfall is an actor I admire, and I’ve enjoyed many of his TV performances. However I’m afraid he got on my nerves when he started arguing the toss with John when he wasn’t given a point when he mumbled “ that French thing about a dog “ when asked for the title of one of the Bonzo Dog Band’s albums. It was entertaining enough for about five seconds, but after that it just got on my wick. Still, even having said that, it wasn’t a bad performance on the round at all, even if it didn’t ask about my favourite Viv Stanshall quote – as Sir Henry Rawlinson – “If I had all the money I’ve spent on drink, I’d spend it all on drink. “ I digress. David scored 12.

To finish the first half Ortis Deley, presenter of The Gadget Show, offered Spiderman Comics. Now, I haven’t read a Spiderman Comic for well over 30 years – and anyone who says different is a liar – but I was quite pleased that I managed about half a dozen of these – and not just because I’ve seen a couple of the movies, either. Ortis, though, managed a praiseworthy 13, to put himself into the difficult last to go slot in the GK round.

In the GK round we had the interesting situation that the contenders went in exactly the same order as the first round. Alright, its not that interesting I suppose, but I thought I’d mention it. James Redmond managed 9 answers, to take his score to 17, which as John Humphrys told him is respectable. Hattie Hayridge, though, did considerably better. Alright, these are not the sort of GK rounds that are going to cause regular quizzers any sleepless nights, but nonetheless 16 was not a bad performance at all. In terms of the scores we’ve already seen so far this series, 26 isn’t that much to write home about, but you have to say that she looked as likely a winner at this stage as either of the contenders yet to come.

I’m afraid that David Threlfall had something of a brain freeze when it came to his turn. I think that he was still going on about the disallowed answer from the first round. In the end he added another 6 to his core, which was actually enough to put him into second place for the time being, but nowhere near enough for the lead. So it was down to Ortis. 14 points would give him an outright win without recourse to pass countback. For quite a while I thought that he was going to do it as well, but progress in the last 20 seconds slowed right down, and he fell a little short of the line with 12. So well done, Hattie Hayridge, our 3rd lady winner in 4 shows.

The Details

James Redmond	England Football Team since 1990	Fair Trade	8- 2	9 - 0	17 – 2
Hattie Hayridge	The Cold War	Princess Royal Trust for Carers / The Orangutan Foundation	10 - 1	16 - 2	26 – 3
David Threlfall	Bonzo Dog Band	Save the Children	12 - 1	6 - 2	18 – 3
Ortis Deley	Spiderman Comics	13 - 1	12 - 2	25 – 3