Sleb Mastermind - Show 3

I know that there’s been quite a bit of comment in the last few days about the relative obscurity of a large number of the contenders in this year’s celebrity series, and tonight’s show probably just added fuel to the fire. The only one I can claim to really have known anything about before the show was Neil Pearson. It strikes me that a significant number of the contenders in the sleb shows are CBBC regulars, which is ironic considering that CBBC viewers are probably among the last people I’d be expecting to watch these shows. Oh well, on with the show.

Adam Buxton is one half of the comedy duo Adam and Joe. I think that I have heard of the Adam and Joe show along the way somewhere, but that’s as far as it goes. Adam was answering on David Bowie in the 1970s. I guessed that this would not be that bad a subject for me, and my 5 points were probably par for the course. I tend to have a habit of coming very late to the party where TV is concerned, and this also worked with Bowie for me, where I only really started listening to him after Ashes to Ashes. Well, anyway Adam managed to get into double figures, which as we know is the mark of quality in a 90 second round, scoring 10.

Nelufar Hedayat is one of the CBBC people I alluded to earlier, being a presenter of Newsround. Her chosen subject is, I would imagine, one of the most turned down subjects requested for the regular series. I don’t actually know, but I would imagine that the production team do get offered The Harry Potter Novels by prospective contenders on a very regular basis. I make no bones about it, I fancied my chances on this set, and wasn’t disappointed to get 9. Either I know the books very well ( I do know them pretty well ) or this was a pretty easy set ( it was a pretty easy set ). Well, you can't blame Nelufar for that, all she can do is to answer the questions, which she did well, also scoring 10.

The prize for longest title of a specialist subject of this show, and I suspect the whole series went to Neil Pearson, who answered questions on English language Expatriate Press of Paris 1922 – 1939. I thought that this would be my nul points subject of the night, but was pleasantly surprised to find 3 points buried in amongst the stuff I didn’t know. With some inevitability it seemed Neil went on to score 10 as well.

The second CBBC sleb, and the last of the night, was Chris Johnson. I can’t say I’m entirely sure about what he does on CBBC, but it involves a puppet dog along the way somewhere. Chris’ subject was The 4 Monty Python films, and I have to say that as much as I had fancied my chances on the Harry Potter round, I fancied them even more on this one. In fact I was annoyed to have any wrong at all, although 10 points was not to be sniffed at, especially considering that Chris himself managed 9.

This ensured that he was first to return to the chair. Chris was representing Choice Cambodia. The dog puppet turned up during the inter-round chat , which I’ll be honest didn’t do a great deal for me, but there we are, each to their own. As regards the Gk round itself, well, this continued where last night’s left off, providing me with a full house. Chris, well, he didn’t find it quite so easy, but did manage double figures with 11 which took his total to 20. This left him with little or no chance of winning, but he seemed to have enjoyed himself, and it’s as much about that with the sleb shows as anything else. Adam, who was representing the Norwich Tanzania Association, did rather better with his own round. I found it much on a level with the other GK rounds we’ve seen so far this series, and whacked in another full house, while Adam managed a decent 14. This set the target at 24, but it still looked unlikely to win bearing in mind that the last two shows have both been won with 29s.

Marie Stopes International was the cause which Nelufar was representing. She actually started rather well, but a couple of questions seemed to pull her up in her tracks, and from then onwards it was a round of fits and starts. In the end she reached respectability and double figures, but only headed Chris by virtue of fewer passes, with Adam comfortably in front. I thought her round was maybe a wee bit tougher than the first two, but I still answered all of them correctly. Neil, representing Book Aid International, was the last to go, and I wondered two things. One – would Neil put on a round in the high teens, like the winning rounds of the last two shows, and two – would I get another full house so that I would have answered every GK question right in a whole show for the first time ever for me . The answers to the two questions were no, not quite – and yes. Neil’s 16 wasn’t as impressive as the previous two winning rounds, but his sixteen was good enough to put a little daylight between himself and Adam. His question were enough to give me a grand slam of full houses in the GK rounds. Well nobody said it was supposed to be as hard as the regular shows.

The Details

Adam Buxton	The Norwich Tanzania Association	David Bowie in the 1970s	10 – 0	14 – 1	24 – 1
Nelufar Hedayat	Marie Stopes International	The Harry Potter Books	10 – 0	10 -4	20 - 4
Neil Pearson	Book Aid International	English language Expatriate Press of Paris 1922 – 1939	10 – 0	16 – 1	26 - 1
Chris Johnson	Choice Cambodia	Monty Python films	9 – 2	11 – 5	20 – 7