Mastermind 2023: First Round Heat 8

Have you had enough of Quizzy Tuesdays yet? I’m finding it a bit difficult, what with part of it being up against Bake Off. Nonetheless I’d rather have this than a two or three week hiatus of the kind they’ve given us in Mastermind in years past.

So let’s talk about tonight’s show. First up was Hilary Burton. Hilary was answering on the Lord Peter Wimsey novels of Dorothy L. Sayers, a good old traditional Mastermind subject if ever I heard one. As we were watching both Dan and I made the same observation at exactly the sme time, namely that Hilary seemed incredibly nervous. It wasn’t just the pair of us who thought so – Clive, good egg that he is, made a point of asking her if she was alright as she sat back in her own chair. Mind you, I’m a bit surprised that this was left in and not edited out. She needn’t have been nervous, as it worked out. Hilary knew her stuff in detail, and scored 11 – and only one longish pause prevented her from getting an even dozen I’d say.

As the show started I thought I recognised the gentleman in the second seat, and I was right. This was none other than Michael McPartland. Last time we saw Michael in the Mastermind chair was in the grand final of 2014. Mugs don’t get to Grand Finals. I confidently said to Dan that he needed to watch this round – I didn’t want to put the mockers on Michael by telling Dan that he was definitely going to win (but I thought that he was). Michael didn’t disappoint. He was answering on Arnold Schwarzenegger and he produced a performance on a very wide ranging set of questions that was right out of the top drawer. Fourteen points, and heaven help those contenders yet to come.

Nonetheless, both of the remaining contenders were not so daunted that they didn’t manage perfectly good rounds of their own. Sam Bowdery was answering on the TV series “The Wire”. Sorry, but I’ve never watched it myself, so I can’t possibly say whether the questions were as difficult as Michael’s, for instance. Yeah, the questions largely concentrated on the plot details, but that’s par for the course these days. At least we’re showing some consistency between shows here. Sam was caught out once or twice in the earlier part of the round, but rallied well to post his own double figure score of 10.

Paddy Storrie brought the specialist round to a successful conclusion with his round on the Falklands Conflict. I found myself having conflicted loyalties, what with Paddy being a Deputy Headteacher. In all honesty I cannot conceive how he found the time to prepare for his appearance, but prepare he did, since he too managed a double figure score. It must have been daunting to have reached double figures and still find himself four points behind at half time, but nonetheless all of our contenders in this show were really giving us a top notch contest for a first round heat.

Which, it must be said, continued through the GK rounds. Sam was first to return, and it must be said that he made an excellent start to his round. For the first minute or so it looked distinctly possible that he might post a mid-teen score, which would certainly make things interesting. Well, sadly he stumbled and lost a little bit of momentum in mid round, but nonetheless he scored 11 to take his score to 21. If by any chance you ever read this, Sam, all I can say is that as disappointing as it must be to come fourth, few people come fourth with a performance or a score as good as yours. Bad luck.

Which pretty much already gives the game away that Paddy beat Sam’s score. If you can manage 12 in GK, which is what Paddy scored, then you’ll always be competitive. It seems strange for me to be writing about good GK performances in the same breath as writing that the contenders who posted them still ended up among the wines and spirits at the bottom of the bill, but then this just was not any ordinary contest.

I will confess that I was worried about Hilary coming back for her GK round. Or worried for her. I needn’t have been. She favoured Clive with a shy smile as he began, and then proceeded to batter seven shades of whatsaname out of her round. With a three point lead at half time Michael was always going to be the favourite, but as Hilary kept on dispatching each delivery over the boundary rope the contest became more and more interesting. In the end Hilary finished with a most excellent 16. Putting this into perspective, Michael needed 13 just to force a tie break. I knew he was more than capable of this, but it meant that he’d have to pass through the corridor of doubt in order to do it.

Of course, he managed it. In fact he put in exactly the kind of round you’d expect from a quizzer of his experience and stature. His 17 and no passes was the best GK round we’ve seen this series, and although there is a little wiggle room, it will take some beating. In the current era of Mastermind, 31 is a hell of a score, and that’s the score that Michael managed. Congratulations to you, sir. Let’s not go burdening anyone with the pressure of being favourite at this early stage. But you have to say that this was the performance of a class act who looks good to go far. Spare a thought also for Hilary Burton. It’s no consolation I’m sure, but come the end of the heats you will, I am sure, have scored more highly than a lot of the semi-finalists and but for the luck of the draw, you’d have been one of them.

The Details

Hilary Burton	The Lord Peter Wimsey Novels of Dorothy L. Sayers	11	0	16	0	27	0
Michael McPartland	Arnold Schwarzenegger	14	0	17	0	31	0
Sam Bowdery	The Wire	10	0	11	1	21	1
Paddy Storrie	The Falklands Conflict	10	0	12	2	22	2