Mastermind 2023 - First Round Heat 2

Good evening. Already we’ve reached the second heat of Mastermind 2023, and thankfully, there's no controversy over tonight’s show.

First up was Ben Whitworth. Ben was answering on the History of the Orkney Islands. He would later explain that he has an interest in the subject, and being that it’s one which was particularly dear to Magnus Magnusson – the last of Magnus’ grand finals was staged in St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. It’s one that Ben had prepared very well, as he put on 12 correct answers, answering rather methodically, but very accurately. Good performance.

Anu Mitra gave us another subject after my own heart, he Films of Laurel and Hardy. I was disappointed only to manage a brace of answers myself. Anu managed to get 8 of these, but I dare say that he might just be a little disappointed, considering that it left him four points off the lead with another two contenders yet to come.

Elizabeth David, the famous cookery writer, was the subject offered to us by Eleanor Jardine, our 3^rd contender. I’ve no doubt that Eleanor knew her stuff, but a few of these questions came at her from angles she didn’t seem to be expecting – the reference to Mrs. Isabella Beeton being one of them. As a result she scored 7 – nothing to be ashamed of, I might add, but leaving her with a mountain to climb in the second half.

Finally our first recidivist of the 2023 series, Keshava Guha. Keshava reached the semi finals through the much-missed repechage slots in 2019. So he’s a contender with some series previous. Last time out his was a cricket subject in the 2019 semi finals and tonight he offered us the life of Sir Garfield Sobers. He did very well, too, although his 10 points meant that there was still daylight between himself and leader Ben Whitworth as the half time oranges came round.

Back amongst the wines and spirits, then, Eleanor returned to the chair for her own spirited general knowledge round. All of our four contenders managed double figure general knowledge rounds tonight, and that’s always pleasing to see. She started extremely well, but had a run of ones she couldn’t answer in mid round which rather took the wind out of her sails. Nonetheless she scored 10 to finish on a respectable 17.Anu did rather better, and managed an even doze on his own GK round. He’s a young chap, and if he decides to have another go at some time he’ll do better, having seen the level of detail in which you need to prepare a specialist round.

Whichbrings us to the main event – Keshava in the blue corner, and Ben in the red. It took Keshava a little while to build up a head of steam, but when he did he really began to build momentum and positively ripped through the second half of his et of questions. In fact I was a little surprised that he hadn’t scored more than fourteen for twenty four – it felt a bit of a better round than that.

All of which called for a cool head and steady nerves from Ben Whitworth in order to bring the 13 points he needed for an outright win. Again, his answering was measured, and not as quick as some we’ve seen. However, it was very accurate. With a little bit of time to spare Ben cruised past the target to eventually surpass Keshava’s GK total with his own excellent round of 15. That’s very good quizzing.

In his filmed insert shown during the titles at the end of the show, Ben showed great respect towards the show, and expressed his wish to get to the final. Well, on this showing, I won’t be risking the Clark 50p betting against you getting there, Ben. Very well done, sir.

Ben Whitworth	The History of the Orkney Islands	12	0	15	0	27	0
Anu Mitra	The Films of Laurel and Hardy	8	2	12	1	20	3
Eleanor Jardine	Elizabeth David	7	0	10	3	17	3
Keshava Guha	Sir Garfield Sobers	10	0	14	0	24	0