Mastermind 2022 Grand Final Review

Well, dearly beloved, shall we begin the grand final review which inevitably begins with me apologising to all the contenders, and to all of you, for the fact that I had as much success predicting the outcome of this final as I had last weekend in picking a winner in the Grand National? Let’s do just that.

Kicking us off was Ian Wang. The highlight of Ian’s filmed insert was probably receiving a filmed message of encouragement from Sir Steve McQueen himself. He also received a visit in person from Jonathan Gibson, last year’s winner and the youngest ever Mastermind champion. His opinion is that records are there to be broken, and so wished the 23 year old Ian the very best of luck. Well, if you prepare properly, then luck doesn’t need to come into it. Ian has been pretty much perfect on specialist all series, and tonight was no different. 13 meant that he was going to be up among the leaders at the turnaround.

In her filmed insert Alice Walker said that she lives in the Peak District, so maybe being filmed walking amongst that magnificent setting was a little bit of a busman’s holiday. She didn’t seem to mind, though, and indeed, who could possibly complain about it? Alice scored a decent 11 on specialist in the heat, and an excellent 13 in the semi, and her round on the Peak District tonight topped that. A pretty much pitch perfect display saw her set the target at 14, one more than Ian’s score.

Eleanor Ayres’ film concentrated quite a bit on her own specialist subject, her namesake Eleanor of Aquitaine. She visited nearby Cambridge University to speak to ain impressive professor, who professed delight to see someone take Eleanor on Mastermind. There was also a message from Judtih Keppel, the Egghead and first winner of the million on Millionaire. Why? Oh, do pay attention 007! Eleanor of Aquitaine was the subject of Judith’s million-pound question. Eleanor scored 9 in the heat and 11 in the semi final on specialist, and I did highlight this as my main concern about her chances. She matched her semi final score, but this meant that she was now 3 points behind the leader.

Anthony Fish hadn’t really put a foot wrong in either first round heat or semi-final. His film concentrated on his family, and how they have supported his efforts to become a better quizzer, and to be successful in his chosen pursuit. The message of encouragement came from no less a personage than Sir David Jason – although this was in the form of a letter rather than a short film. In the first round Anthony scored 14 on specialist, and in the semi final 13. Sadly, the curse of the Clark tip struck him in his round tonight. He stumbled badly on an early question, and although he rallied himself well, he ended with 11. Being 3 points behind at half time isn’t necessarily a gap you can’t bridge, but it’s hard.

Patrick Buckingham explained in his film that his whole family used to watch the Magnus era of Mastermind together – I know the feeling, sir - but that he’d never found time in his life what with his intense career to do much quizzing until the last few years. He possibly has the best case for regretting that he wasn’t on the show 5 years ago, when his specialist subject of Carole Lombard would surely have bought him a trip to the US to make his film. Well, that was then, and this is now. If you read my preview you’ll know that Patrick was one of my pre-race favourites, and sadly I think the curse of the Clark tip did for him as well. Having scored a brace of 13s in his previous specialists, he languished on 10 after this one.

Finally Sarah Trevarthen got to sit in the chair, as we watched her own filmed insert. She showed us her winning appearance on Pointless with her husband, and again, seems to be another finalist whose interest in quizzing has really developed over the last few years. Her appearance in the recent final of Counterpoint is a pretty good demonstration of this. Like Patrick she came into the final with a brace of 13s in her previous specialist rounds. Unlike Patrick my tipping her for a podium position didn’t seem to do her any harm, as she completed a full set of 13 pointer specialist rounds on Dame Barbara Hepworth.

4 points off the lead, Patrick was looking like the outsider when he returned to the chair. If all the contenders matched their average GK scores from the heats and semis, then he couldn’t win. But nobody seemed to have told him that. Yeah, okay, so he was some way off the lead. It didn’t matter. He threw himself into his GK round, gripped it firmly in his teeth and never let it go until the 2 and a half minutes were over. 17 in a final is a terrific score, more than enough to place the rest of the field within the corridor of doubt. One thing that I was in no doubt about was that Patrick would not be finishing in 6^th place.

The only other contender to have scored 17 on GK this series was Eleanor Ayres, who was the next to take the chair. Eleanor had scored 17 in a brilliant round in her semi-final. This was 5 points better than she managed in the heat. So the big question was, could she reproduce this form? Well, for the first half dozen questions the answer was yes, certainly. However, a golf question stopped her momentum, and several wrong answers followed. By the time she got moving again, it was going to be a case of damage limitation. And indeed, a score of 11, for a total of 22 is absolutely nothing to be ashamed about at all.

So the question now had to be faced – could my pre-race favourite, Anthony, match Patrick’s general knowledge heroics? Well, he certainly gave it a lash. After a minute and a half I thought he was slightly slower than Patrick, but then he had started one point to the good. But he fell behind, and by the time the white line of doom began to snake around the score it looked as if 15 for 26 was going to be the best he could do. Which indeed it was. Another fine GK effort, even if it was not quite good enough on this occasion.

So to Ian Wang, just one point off the lead on 13. In my preview I said that I didn’t think Ian’s general knowledge was quite strong enough to win the big one at this early stage of his quiz career. Well, his first half dozen answers seemed to make a mockery of this observation. Sadly, though, the wrong answers began to creep in. He was never very far away from what he needed, but never quite got the run of five or 6 correct answers in a row when he really needed them. In the end, he levelled out at 12 for 25. So Patrick could not be worse than 3^rd, and with only 2 contenders to go could still end up as champion.

Sarah Trevarthen had scored 15 in her first-round heat GK, and if she could repeat that then she would go into the lead. And for much of the round it looked as if this was going to happen. And yet, when the white line made its first appearance she still wasn’t there yet. In the end it was only her last question which brought her a 14th point. Were we potentially in for a tie break? In a word no, because Sarah led by pass countback.

Finally, Alice Walker came back to the chair. She scored 15 in her GK round in the heat, and a repeat of that would do it with a little bit to spare. In the semi she scored 11, and that wouldn’t do it. Still, with two and a half minutes now, the title was hers to win or lose. What followed, over the next two and half minutes, must have been the round of her life. She faced 22 questions. She passed on none. She gave 3 wrong answers. The mathematically gifted among you will have worked out that this meant she gave 19 correct answers. Nothing slowed her at all. She won’t have realised which answer meant that she was the champion, nor the fact that she went on to give another 6 correct answers after that. It was a perfect example of a contender finding that wonderful head space where you are just totally in the moment, concentrating on each question and for the most part, finding the answers. It was a magnificent performance, and yes, I was standing up and applauding the telly. 33, as Clive pointed out, is the highest score of the series.

Thanks to all of the contenders, not just in this high-quality final, but in the whole series. Without you and your willingness to learn your subjects and brave the chair, then there is no show. Thank you to the production team as well for bringing us another fine series. Especially, thanks to Clive Myrie, for proving that my conviction that he was a good choice to replace John Humphrys was correct. But let’s end with congratulations to Alice Walker, Mastermind of the United Kingdom 2022!

The Details

Ian Wang	The film and TV works of Sir Steve McQueen	13	0	12	0	25	0
Alice Walker	The Peak District National Park	14	0	19	0	33	0
Eleanor Ayres	Eleanor of Aquitaine	11	1	11	0	22	1
Anthony Fish	Open All Hours	11	1	15	0	26	1
Patrick Buckingham	Carole Lombard	10	1	17	0	27	1
Sarah Trevarthen	Dame Barbara Hepworth	13	0	14	0	27	0