Mastermind - Round One - Heat Three

So to heat three. A quick glance at the subjects showed me that I had a chance of nswering questions on 3 of them, and so maybe there was a possibility of exceeding last week’s specialist aggregate of 19. The first of the three subjects I might be able to pick up points on was offered by tonight’s first contender, Alan Burns. He was answering on Clint Eastwood. I felt that this was a fair to relatively gentle round, as I was able to pick up 8 myself, albeit that I was sitting in the comfort of the Clark sofa. Alan’s 11 points therefore seemed perfectly competitive, but not the sort of score which would end the competition by half time. 

Dan Martin, our second contender, was answering questions on the Tommy and Tuppence novels of Agatha Christie. I’ve never read any myself, but I’ve always viewed them as very much bargain basement Agatha Christie when compared with Marple and Poirot. My grandmother was a great aficionado (see last Monday’s University Challenge) of Agathat Christie, and she held that view herself. Coming back to Dan Martin, it seemed to me that he walked towards the chair with all the enthusiasm of a French aristo approaching Madame Guillotine, and this nervous appearance was augmented when he spent a couple of seconds before answering the first question. After that, though, he settled down, and produced a good round of 12 and no passes to take the lead. Incidentally, this round provided me with a guessed point, and considering the fact that I’d expected none, this was a result.

If you can remember the 60s, they say, then you weren’t there. What it means if you can remember the 80s, I’ve no idea, but I do, and so I felt there would be a few points for me on Duran Duran, the subject being offered by our third contender, Maggz Bennett. Indeed there were, four to be precise. Maggz did considerably better, as she too managed a round of 12 and no passes. Judging by the fact that there was only a point separating our first three contenders all the appearances were that the show was going to be decided on GK. 

So, recapping, I needed a score of 7 on the last round, on Eleanor of Aquitaine to set a new aggregate target of 20. I’ll put you out of your misery now, and tell you that I scored 4, to finish with 17 in total. Not bad, but no cigar. To take the lead, Robert Butlin needed to score 13. Well, he didn’t quite manage that, nor did he manage 12, or 11. SO the 10 he did score left him in 4^th as the half time oranges were being doled out. More importantly, though, only 2 points separated him from the joint leaders, so the matchmakers seemed to have got it right in this show. 

Experience shows us that in its current format, you really need a double figure lead in order to put those who come after within the corridor of doubt. Robert Butlin, making a swift return to the chair did at least manage to take his total to 20 – and if you can achieve any score in the 20s in Mastermind then you’ve justified your appearance in the show. However his 20 meant that if any of the following three contenders scored in double figures, then they would beat him. I felt that Alan Burns, in third at the turn around, was going to do it as well, until a horrible pause stopped him in his tracks. The poor chap was caught in two minds between answering and passing, and so, for a couple of seconds, he did neither, eventually passing. By the end of the round he too had scored 20 in total, but the look on his face showed us that this was a case of what might have been. 

After another very hesitant start, Dan Martin started to put together a good run of answers. I often play a game of ‘spot the quizzer’ while I’m watching the GK rounds. By this I mean that you can often tell who might be a regular quizzer from the sort of questions that they answer correctly, and of all the contenders tonight Dan was the one I got that feeling most with – sort of. I’ll explain that when we get to Maggz’ round. Having said that, his return of 10 points on the round was no better than Robert’s. H started two points to the good, though, and so led with 22.

Right, let’s get to Maggz’ round then. It really was a round of two halves. For the first minute or so she didn’t seem like a regular quizzer at all as she failed to grasp some pretty low hanging fruit. Then, all of a sudden it was as if a switch had been flicked, as Maggz began answering the majority of questions correctly, and not all of the ones she answered from this point onwards were by any means easy ones either. So in the end she not only made it, but put daylight between herself and Dan, scoring 12 to take her winning score to 24. SO well played Maggz, and best of luck in the semi final. 

The Details

Alan Burns	Clint Eastwood	11	0	9	1	20	1
Dan Martin	The Tommy and Tuppence mysteries of Agatha Christie	12	0	10	1	22	1
Maggz Bennett	Duran Duran	12	0	12	1	24	1
Robert Butlin	Eleanor of Aquitaine	10	0	10	0	20