Monday, 15 December 2025

Mastermind 2026 First Round Heat 22

Right, when I posted about low scores on Mastermind earlier this week I had no idea what was going to happen on last night’s Mastermind. Just one of Fate’s nasty little tricks I suppose.

First up with a subject very close to my heart was Helen Woolston. She was answering on British butterflies. How I became interested in the subject is a long and not very interesting story, but I did and knew enough to get 8 on the subject. Yes, Helen’s 7 is a decent score, but she got some of the harder ones and missed some easier ones which could have taken her close to double figures.

I scored nowt on Melissa Hewitt’s round on the Bridgerton books. Hardly surprising since I’ve never read any, but sometimes general knowledge will sneak you a point on a subject you don’t know. Not this time. It looked as if Melissa herself was struggling a bit too, and by the end of the round she had scored 5 points.

Next to come was David Slater. I agree with everyone who has commented that he was sporting a rather splendid waistcoat. David was answering on Jefferson Airplane. Again, I was not totally convinced by the round. Alright, I didn’t know any, but I felt that 6 was probably a little lower than he would have hoped.

Finally Carter Latif, who gave us just a little bit of quality in his round on the often baffling TV series Twin Peaks. Carter scored 8 for what was the best specialist round of the night, which gave him a one point lead going into the second round.

Right, let me be careful about what I say here. I am not meaning to criticize the contenders here. Each put themselves on the line, and I am sure that each gave of their best in the GK round. However this particular edition was crying out for one of them to put in a round that blasted away the cobwebs of the specialists and none of them really did that.

Melissa gave it a good old lash, but the questions wouldn’t fall for her and she scored 6 for 11.

David did better, He came closest of all of last night’s contenders to double figures, levelling out with a pretty decent 9 for fifteen. Normally this would not give a contender a realistic chance of a win, but there was something in the air.

Helen started her round brightly enough, but as we’ve seen many times before she lost momentum in mid round and could only add 6 to her total for 13.

This left only Carter, but again, the questions did not fall kindly for the contender and he , like Helen before him, finished with 13.

David, many congratulations. You can only do your best – and you did – and a win is a win is a win. I wish you the best of luck in the semi finals.

Right, let’s be positive. None of our contenders failed to hit a double figure score. This makes their scores a bit low but not disastrous. Just, I guess, a bit of a perfect storm all coming together in the same heat. But surely more fuel to the fire for the case for repechage places. I mean, when you have a contender who only came second in his heat yet scored 10 more than anyone in this one. . . well, do the Maths.

The Details

Helen Woolston

British Butterflies

7

0

6

0

13

0

Melissa Hewitt

Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton Books

5

1

6

1

11

2

David Slater

Jefferson Airplane

6

1

9

1

15

2

Carter Latif

Twin Peaks

8

1

5

2

13

3

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