Mastermind 2019 - Heat 19

Good morning, dearly beloved. After the break for the European Indoor Athletics Mastermind was back on the screen last night. Well, team GB did better than we’ve ever done at last week’s event, so were we gong to see comparable fireworks from last night’s contenders?

First through the portal of portent was Karim Lalani. Karim was offering us Vivien Leigh. This would prove to be my best specialist round of the night. This is no great boast when you consider that I only managed 4 correct answers. Karim, on the other hand, did rather better than that. All the evidence was that he’d thoroughly prepared his subject, and he finished with 12 and no passes. That’s a good round.

Certainly it was a bit better than Elizabeth Boughton’s round on the Cazalet novels of Elizabeth Jane Howard. I’ve never read any of them, so was out with the washing on this round. Research shows it’s a five novel series, and was adapted for TV in 2001. Elizabeth was of course a lot better than I was. Nonetheless, there were a few occasions during the round when she was caught out, but smart fast answering pushed her into double figures. She finished her round with 10 points and 3 points.

Benjamin Meredith was third into the chair. He was offering a subject about which I know absolutely nothing, 1990s hip hop. Sadly we’ve seen a few contenders having a ‘mare on specialist during this series, and I’m afraid that Benjamin was another. For whatever reason, he was stumped by the majority of the questions, and finished his round with 3 points. Yes, quite right, that was three more points than I managed on the round. In all honesty he neither looked nor sounded like he had any problem with nerves, and so I think the most likely explanation was a lack of preparation.

So to our final round, with Anne Stewart answering on the Flight of the Earls. This passage of history occurred in 1607 when Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone and Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and about ninety followers left Ulster in Ireland for mainland Europe. Although Anne obviously had some depth of knowledge on the subject she was never quite convincing, and in the end finished with a respectable 8 and 2 passes, which left her some way off the lead.

I think Benjamin had an inkling that he’d be first back into the chair, indeed he almost got up before John had actually announced that he had the lowest score. I always think that it’s probably best not to allude to a low specialist score when the contender returns for GK, but John will insist on it. This time he said “You were having a bit of an off day, I suspect, Benjamin.” You think? I had a feeling that Benjamin probably wouldn’t do badly on GK – don’t know why, but just had a feeling, and indeed he raised his score to 15. Look, 12 isn’t an earth shattering score on GK, but it’s not bad, and certainly in this show it would have given him a pretty decent shot at a win had he just known his specialist subject. A lesson for all would be contenders there, I think.

Anne Stewart’s tactic seemed quite interesting for her own GK round. I think she may well have decided that if she didn’t know it quickly then she was going to pass. As a result she accrued 10 correct answers, but also a further 7 passes. I couldn’t see any way that 18 could possibly be a winning score for the show, but she had at least put herself in the lead for now.

She was still holding the joint highest total by the end of Elizabeth Boughton’s round as well. To be fair to Elizabeth, I felt her round was slightly trickier than the two previous round, but that’s all in the eye of the beholder as we know full well. She added a further 8 to her total, which meant that she had 18 as well, although five passes meant that she had significantly fewer passes than Anne.

So to Karim. Putting it into perspective a modest round of 7 correct answers would give him the outright win. To be honest he was making pretty heavy weather of it, picking up 5 passes, and really labouring to get the 6 he needed to get to 18. Then it was as if the handbrake was suddenly taken off the round. There were four questions remaining, and he answered every single one of them correctly, to finish with 22 and a clear outright win. Well done, sir.

Gotta be honest, folks, that wasn’t a great show. That’s the way that it goes, sometimes.

The Details

Karim Lalani	Vivien Leigh	12	0	10	5	20	5
Elizabeth Boughton	The Cazalet Novels of Elizabeth Jane Howard	10	0	8	5	18	5
Benjamin Meredith	1990s hip hop	3	6	12	3	15	9
Anne Stewart	The Flight of the Earls	8	2	10	7	18	7