Mastermind 2017: Semi Final One

I do try not to wax lyrical about Mastermind too often. Sometimes, though, a contest comes along which just demonstrates why some of us love this show so much, and it’s difficult to hold myself back. The first of the semi-finals, which I watched earlier tonight, was quite the most exciting show I’ve seen since last year’s incredible final. Let’s begin with studying the racing form for a moment. Here’s the contenders in this first semi, and their first round form: -

Steve Lacey	The Films of Peter Sellers	12	0	16	1	28	1
Alan Morgan	The Films of David Fincher	12	0	14	1	26	1
Isabelle Heward	The Life and Films of Rita Hayworth	12	0	14	0	26	0
Robert Hemming	The Human Body	9	2	13	1	22	3
Daniel Adler	Borgen	16	0	15	0	31	0

Now, something might strike you when you look at this. There is a wide variation in the total scores – but all 5 of these contenders can handle a general knowledge round. There were only three points to choose between the 5 GK rounds they produced, and this made me think that maybe this semi would come down to who had the best second specialist round. Just goes to show how much I know.

Steve Lacey was this semi-final’s runner-up from the first round. Well, runner-up he may have been, but he was comfortably in the top 10 performers in the whole of the first round heats. Now, what do you really want to do in your specialist round in the semis? What else – shove in a perfect performance and answer all of your questions correctly. This is exactly what Steve managed to do – 13 from 13. Superb performance.

Next up was Alan Morgan. Alan had scored a good, solid 26 in his first round, not being noticeably weaker in either SS or GK. His subject tonight was Steve Ovett. Now, I love my athletics, and the 80s was something of a heyday for me, so I thought I was going to do quite well on these. Wrong. I had a mere 3. Yet Alan managed 9, and remember, this is the semi-finals, where you only get 90 seconds on specialist. Under any normal circumstances, 9 is a ‘keeping yourself in contention’ score. However, the fact was that Steve was 4 points ahead.

Had our very own Daniel Adler not been in the self-same semi, then Isabelle Heward would have been the lone recipient of the support of the Clark sofa. For the record, this was Isabelle’s 4^th semi-final in Mastermind. The three previous attempts did not see her progress to the final. Could she possibly break the hoodoo? Well, I did wonder if a wee incident at the end of her round might count against her. Isabelle gave an answer, which John seemed to accept, and then she corrected herself slightly, which stopped him from beginning another question right on the buzzer. Would that potential point dropped come back to haunt her? Well, again, 4 points behind looked a bit of an ask.

Rob Hemming used good GK to win his heat, but throughout his SS round in this show he looked a dead cert to improve on his first round score, despite having half a minute less in which to do so. Answering on the Life of Al Capone he produced the next best specialist score after Steve’s, and frankly, anything in double figures in a semi-final specialist round is a very fine performance.

Finally Daniel, our own Daniel, 2014 finalist, and Counterpoint champion. Considering the number of people who have played in more than one semi-final, the number of people who have appeared in 2 finals, although it’s grown over the last few years, is still very small. His 31 in the first round had been a stellar performance, but in this company it was imperative to reach those high standards again. Daniel’s specialist subject was novels of Robert Harris, and he too managed to get into double figures. If he could manage another GK round like the one he had produced in the first round, then all things were still possible.

Let’s put that first round into perspective. Nobody was out of contention. That’s unusual. Not one single solitary pass. That’s unusual.

Alan Morgan returned to the chair to set the target. The chances of staying at the top of the leaderboard while 4 more contenders have their shy at your target are never great, but he set about his task manfully. At one time I did think a score in the teens was possible, but a tricky last 30 seconds or so just contrived to put the brakes on. 11 put the target at 20 – and that’s a corridor of doubt score. He had done all he could.

What, I wonder, was going through Isabelle’s mind? Did she firmly believe that everything was still all there to be played for? Or did she think that the final was still as far away from her as ever? I couldn’t begin to say, but she began her round as if totally confident that she could do it. It was a close run thing, for she did drop a couple of gettable questions, but crucially she did not break her answering stride to brood on this. In the end it was close, mightily close, but she scored that vital extra point. We had still to see a first pass in the show.

Daniel came next, and for the first minute it was on. Sadly, in the second minute a few too many wrong answers put him behind the clock. There wasn’t a lot in it – and it certainly wasn’t a bad round. It wasn’t as good a round as he needed though – sometimes the questions just don’t run the way that you need them too. Hard lines Dan, but you’ll be back.

Still no passes.

Rob Hemming, like every contender so far in this show, started off his round in cracking form. Actually his round in some ways was rather reminiscent of Isabelle’s. He did drop a few questions in the second half of the round, and he wasn’t going to equal Isabelle’s GK score. But he didn’t have to do that. He had a two point cushion from the first round. If he could score 11 . . . he didn’t. If he could score 10, though, he could equal Isabelle’s total, and that’s just what he did.

Still no passes.

Only Steve Lacey remained. Steve had scored one of the highest GK rounds this year in his heat. Surely he could manage half of that score to give him a tie – and one point more for an outright win. Well, maybe it was nerves, maybe the questions didn’t run for him, who knows? Yet the fact is that he made fairly heavy going of his round. In a way, what happened was rather like watching the stagger unwind in a 400m race. He began the round comfortably ahead, but throughout the two minutes he was being reeled in, and on the line he was caught. He too scored 21 and no passes.

Let’s consider the history making aspect of this. Firstly, I can’t remember a whole show without passes before, although for all I know it may have happened on umpteen occasions. I do know, though, that we have never had a three way tie before. Fabulous. Right, I shall not lie. Whatever happened, Daniel wasn’t going through, so I felt no reluctance in transferring my full support to Isabelle. I was lucky enough that I knew the answers to the 5 questions asked firstly to Steve. He missed but one. Isabelle though, answered all 5 correctly. I wasn’t quite holding my breath while Rob answered, but if I had been, then I would have exhaled sharply when Rob dredged his memory for Slaughterhouse Five, and came so close, just missing out with Slaughterhouse Nine. By such a small margin did Isabelle achieve a well-earned place in the semi. Steve, Rob, you have all of my sympathy – but please take satisfaction from the fact that you gave it everything. Isabelle, if you’re reading, many, many congratulations, and the very best of luck in the final.

Great, great show. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Details

Steve Lacey	Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads	13	0	8	0	21	0	4	25
Alan Morgan	Steve Ovett	9	0	11	0	20	0
Isabelle Heward	The Daughters of George III	9	0	12	0	21	0	5	26
Rob Hemming	The Life of Al Capone	11	0	10	0	21	0	4	25
Daniel Adler	Novels of Robert Harris	10	0	8	0	18	0