Danny John-Jules I will admit that I didn’t recognize until John introduced him at the start. Unless you’re a fan of either Red Dwarf or Maid Marion and her Merry Men, then that name probably won’t mean a lot, and if you are a fan then he doesn’t really need any introduction from me. Of all of last night’s specialist rounds this was my lowest scoring, and I only had 4, of which only 2 I knew for certain. Danny, whose dancing skills were used on several occasions during the run of Red Dwarf, certainly knew his stuff, and topped Gail by a point with a good 9.
Prue Leith is a very well known restaurateur, food writer, so her choice of wartime food in Britain looked a decent one. However I think that her round might well be one of those occasions where her view of the parameters of the subject, and the setter’s view differed somewhat. I somehow expect she was hoping for more questions on the actual constituents of dishes. Still, even having said that failing to answer that spam was the tinned spiced pork and ham sent to Britain from the US was a bit of a clanger, and showed that maybe she was more affected by nerves being in the chair than her face and voice otherwise betrayed. 6 points left her a mountain to climb in the second half.
Mike Bushell, BBC Breakfast sports reporter, finished the round off, answering on Alan Partridge. Yum yum, said I, being something of a fan. I managed 11, probably because there were few questions about Knowing Me Knowing You (A ha!) and none at all about the day Today. I’m Alan Partridge, together with this year’s film, are my favourite aspects of Steve Coogan’s work as the ghastly partridge, and if you knew the two series then a good score wasn’t hard to rack up. Mike Bushell obviously thought so since he racked up a perfect 12 from 12.
So the question remained to be asked – who was the GK buff amongst the 4 slebs on this show? Not Prue Leith, I’m afraid. While not suffering a pass spiral of Bunny Campione proportions she still incurred 5 passes of her own, as she edged her way towards 6 points for a total of 12. She made the comment, “It doesn’t matter because I’m stone last” when she was unable to dredge up the name of John Profumo – an admirable show of sang froid. Gail Porter did somewhat better with her own round, managing 8 correct answers to take her to 16. In her last question when John wanted the word grid, or more specifically cattle grid, she offered grate, and then jokingly raised her hand and said “Challenge”! That’s actually what you are supposed to do if you think you’ve suffered from a wrong question or what you feel is an incorrect adjudication. I’ve either played in or watched live 9 shows, and I’ve never seen one happen yet, but I’m sure that they do.
Danny John-Jules also managed 8, which gave him the temporary lead with 17. So of the first three of last night’s contenders none had managed double figures on GK. Mike Bushell, then, needed a relatively modest 6 to win outright, and so there seemed little chance of him failing to do so, barring a mental mountdown. Well, her certainly didn’t do that, and if his GK round was competent rather than stellar it was still by some distance the best of the evening. His 11 took him to 23, and a clear win. Well played.
The Details
| Gail Porter | Marie Curie Care in Edinburgh | British Number 1 singles of the 90s | 8 - 2 | 8 - 4 | 16 - 6 |
| Danny John-Jules | African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust | Life and Career of Bob Fosse | 9 - 0 | 8 - 2 | 17 - 2 |
| Prue Leith | Only Connect UK | Wartime Food in Britain | 6 - 0 | 6 - 5 | 12 - 5 |
| Mike Bushell | Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research | Alan Partridge | 12 – 0 | 11 - 1 | 23 - 1 |
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