Mastermind Heat 5

Another Friday brought us another first round heat, dearly beloved. First up was Monisha Rajesh. She was answering on the films of John Hughes. I’ll be honest, I’ve only seen about 3 or 4 of the films referenced during the round, so I wasn’t all that unhappy to only score 4 points of my own. Monisha, though, achieved what is still a relative rarity, a perfect round of 14 correct answers to 14 questions. Game on.

Now, I wouldn’t say that I’m especially knowledgeable about Billie Holliday, but I’ve loved her voice for years now, ever since I heard ‘God Bless the Child’ used on a TV advert donkeys years ago. So when Zoe Alford announced that she was answering on Lady Day, I didn’t expect to garner a cricket score. I was pretty pleased with the 6 I managed. Zoe didn’t quite match Monisha’s performance, but her 12 is a competitive score, of the kind you can’t achieve unless you’ve put the time and effort into preparation.

As Mark Grant stepped through the portal of portent, I announced to the empty sofa – “Here’s tonight’s winner.” Yes, very premature, I know, but I can be forgiven such hyperbole when you consider Mark’s track record. Brain of Britain winner. Member of the unbeaten (and possibly unbeatable) Crossworders from Only Connect. Twice a finalist in Mastermind, having placed 2^nd and 3^rd. I shan’t go on. Mark was answering on the poet Keith Douglas. He took 14 questions and supplied 14 correct answers, but only the last question caught him out. A fantastic performance.

Lightning is not supposed to strike twice in the same place. I’ll explain that in a moment. Emma Swift, final contender to brave the chair last night, was answering on Abraham Lincoln. I added another 6 to my score, for my second highest aggregate of the series so far. Emma, though, as had Mark and Monisha, ripped through her round, taking 14 consecutive correct answers. Lightning struck again when she failed on the very last question. Didn’t really matter, as 14 was enough to ensure that she would be the final contender in the GK round as well.

Congratulations to all 4 contenders for very fine specialist rounds. I know that I go on about this, but I don’t want to see contenders doing badly in specialist rounds, and all 4 contenders had obviously prepared thoroughly.

You can, to an extent, predict some of the things you’re likely to be asked about in specialist rounds, and because of that it is possible to prepare effectively. Not so with GK. This is why it can transpire that there’s such a difference between some contenders’ performances in specialist and in general knowledge. Zoe Alford was unable to reproduce the quality of her specialist round, and added 7 to her score to take her total, and the target to 19. As for Monisha, I may be wrong but her GK round looked badly affected by nerves, or possibly dwelling on a wrong answer given early in the round. She took her total to 18.

Mark’s round was interesting. Make no mistake, Mark is one of a number of players who could rip through a whole round of GK with a perfect round. For the first six or seven questions he was definitely on target. However then the round was becalmed with 4 wrong answers in a row, before he managed to get the show back on the road. In the end, one more wrong answers meant that he just failed to fulfil my prediction that he’d get to 30 points. Never mind, his 29 points looked a very good bet to fulfil my prediction that he was going to win this heat.

Which is not to say that Emma didn’t give it a try, because she did. 10 points in a first round GK set is a respectable score, and that’s what she managed. 24 in total gave her second place, but in all honesty I think it’s very unlikely to get her into the semi finals based on what we’ve seen so far in this series. As for Mark, well, I have no wish to jinx his chances by making predictions at this stage. However, I leave you with this to consider.  Last year’s series was won by Brian Chesney, who’d been runner up in Clive’s series. The season before was won by Isabelle Heward, who’s certainly also know the slings and arrows of outrageous Mastermind fortune. I’m not saying that there’s a pattern emerging. But let’s put it this way, Mark is very much a contender to watch.

The Details

Monisha Rajesh	The films of John Hughes	14	0	4	5	18	5
Zoe Alford	Billie Holiday	12	0	7	4	19	4
Mark Grant	Keith Douglas	14	0	15	0	29	0
Emma Swift	Abraham Lincoln	14	0	10	3	24	3