We’re whipping through the first round now, dearly beloved. Tonight’s Mastermind was that relative rarity, a show containing no passes whatsoever. This suggests a clutch of well-schooled contenders who appreciated the demands of the show. Was this what we actually found though?
First to brave the chair was student Ben Jones. Ben was
answering on F. Scott Fitzgerald. I’ll be honest, I didn’t fancy this as a
subject. A great many people whose opinions I highly respect love Fitzgerald’s “The
Great Gatsby”. This is the only one of his novels that I’ve actually read, and
. . . look, it’s like this. As with Kafka, I can appreciate the achievement
while just not having that emotional response to it myself. Say it quietly but
I’d far rather read a John Grisham. All of which is, I suppose, a long-winded
apology for getting a total of zilch on this round. Ben did better, getting 7,
but it looked like he’d have some catching up to do in the GK.
Now, there’s no reason why I should get more points on our
second specialist, otters, than I should have on Fitzgerald. Yet I did. I don’t
know a great deal about otters, but I’ve read and seen Ring of Bright Water,
and I knew about Terry Nutkins, who was also the straight man to the late great
Johnny Morris on Animal Magic once Dotty the Ring-Tailed Lemur had moved on to
explore other career opportunities. So I took two. Hannah Mitchell weighed in
with the first double figure round of the night. 10 looked good but left a
little room on top.
Michael Thompson was answering on Thomas Paine. Normally I’d
think of this as a ‘scraping a couple of points if I’m lucky’ round. Well, even
that made it my ‘banker round’ of this particular show. And to be fair I did
equal my score of 2 from the previous round – thanks Common Sense and Marquis
de Lafayette. Michael scored 7. It’s never a bad score, is seven. You can’t get
it without knowing your subject. But it looks modest, and it usually leaves you
adrift a half time.
Finally Simon Pinnell with The Navy Lark. Now, I know a little
bit about the show, and can actually remember once or twice listening to
episodes when I was little – and sadly, wondering what people were laughing at.
Bu this really wasn’t enough to bring me any points – only a wild guess of
Scapa Flow did that. So I finished the specialists with an aggregate of five,
and frankly felt bloomin’ lucky to get that many. Simon managed to equal the
best score of the night so far, taking a good ten o ensure that he would be the
last to go in the GK round.
First in the GK was Michael. Michael did not answer very
quickly. I always find this a little frustrating as a viewer because I want to
go at 100mph to amass as good a score in my own chair as I can. However it can
be an effective tactic if it means you get a higher ratio of correct answers.
And let’s be fair to Mchael, he managed 10. What do we say, dearly beloved?
Anything in double figures is a good score. Did he have a winning total? Well,
no, I couldn’t see 17 doing it.
Ben’s first minute and a half was absolutely terrific. He
was picking them off with the greatest of ease, and with time left on the clock
he looked to be heading towards a score of fifteen or so. A few questions began
tripping him up at this point, though, and that vital momentum was lost. This
couldn’t undo the good work in the earlier part of the round though, and Ben
finished with 12 for 20. It’s a funny thing, but the psychological gap between
scores of 19 and 20 is a huge gulf, and it was possible that Ben might just do
it.
Not before Hannah had made her run for the tape, though.
She was never quite as convincing as Ben but then she didn’t really need to be.
She was two points to the good at half time, and she was on nineteen as the white
line of doom snaked around the score. She couldn’t find the answer that she
needed, though, and remained just one short on nineteen.
Only Simon could prevent Ben from taking an unlikely win
now. He didn’t start badly either. There was an admirable economy in the way he
answered. Sadly, though, there just weren’t enough correct answers among the
answers he gave, and it was clear that he wasn’t going to get there before the
white line of doom reappeared. Simon finished with 8 for a total of 18.
Well played all. Not the highest scoring show we’ve seen,
but well contested. As to Ben, best of luck in the semi final. As you so
rightly said, you are now a Mastermind semi-finalist, and win, lose or draw,
nobody can take that away.
The Details
|
Ben Jones |
F. Scott Fitzgerald |
8 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
20 |
0 |
|
Hannah Mitchell |
Otters |
10 |
0 |
9 |
0 |
19 |
0 |
|
Michael Thompson |
Thomas Paine |
7 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
17 |
0 |
|
Simon Pinnell |
The Navy Lark |
10 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
18 |
0 |
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