I shan’t dwell too much on this particular show, mainly because last
night saw the resumption of the regular series – my review of which has already
been posted on LAM. Still, if we do nothing else, at least let’s pay tribute to
the slebs who gave of their time to take part.
First of these was Jimmy McKenna. Apparently he has been a regular
on Hollyoaks for a couple of decades. Well done! Never having been a viewer
myself I feel slightly better about not recognising him. I wasn’t a fan of
Frost either, and apparently this was another regular gig for him. His subject –
Frank Sinatra – was very much to my taste – in fact had it not been for the
very last question of the round I’d have had perfection. Didn’t know that the
great man’s last gig was in Japan. Still, although Jimmy didn’t do quite as
well on this relatively gentle set, he scored a perfectly respectable 8.
I was no more familiar with Gillian Joseph than I had been with
Jimmy McKenna. Gillian Joseph, it transpires is a newsreader on Sky – and according
to the chat she had between rounds with John, she is usually on either very
early, or very late. Well, I prefer to get my news from the BBC, don’t you
know, so that’s my excuse. Gillian was answering on the Parables of the New
Testament. My immediate thought was – that’s actually a much tougher subject
than it looks on the surface. Anyone studying English Literature, especially
Medieval English Literature, which was my big thing when I was at Uni, really
needs to get at the very least a decent knowledge of all of these, and there
are a lot more than you might think. My score of 7 matched Gillian’s, although
she had some I didn’t and vice versa.
Dallas Campbell is probably best known for the BBC popular Science
show Bang Goes The Theory, to which he graduated after presenting Channel 4’s
The Gadget show. His specialist subject, the films of Werner Herzog offered me
nothing after the first question about the star of Fitzcarraldo – even I knew
that this was Klaus Kinski. That was the end of the round for me, but just the
beginning for Dallas. He was offered another 11 questions, and he had all of
them right. This gave him a perfect round of 12 from 12, and frankly, if
Russell Kane who was due to go next couldn’t come up with something a bit
tasty, then this was another show that would be over by half time.
Comedian Russell Kane has serious sleb Mastermind previous form. In
2011 he took part in one of the Children in Need Comedians only specials – and what’s
more, he won. He scored 18 on the Life and novels of Evelyn Waugh. Well, he
wouldn’t do that on Ernest Hemingway – the rounds are much shorter now, for one
thing. It wasn’t a great round either, and Russell, a self-confessed Hemingway
fan, scored just 5. No second trophy for the mantelpiece this time.
Well, ok - such is life. To be honest, this had the effect of making
the GK rounds feel a little like a formality. Russell Kane added seven more to
his total to finish level on points with Dallas – who had yet to go – but some
way behind on passes. Gillian Joseph indulged in a little game of I get up
earlier than you to do my show with John, before having a bit of a mare on her
own GK round. She fell into a pass spiral early doors, and once having fallen
beyond the event horizon never really extracted herself from it. She finished
with 10. Jimmy at least did a little bit better. He managed to slowly and
steadily build up his own score to 15. Well, I’m not saying that Dallas must
have been counting his chickens when he sat down to his GK round only needing 4
correct answers, but it would have been a massive upset had he not got therm.
Of course he did, although you have to say that it was a very nervy,
unconvincing round of 6 that took him to 18 and the win. Well, alright, not the
greatest GK round, but it doesn’t matter. A win is a win is a win – all you
need is to be slightly better than the rest on the same show – everything else
is just window dressing.
The Details
| Jimmy McKenna | Claire House Hospice | Frank Sinatra | 8 - 1 | 7 – 0 | 15 - 1 |
| Gillian Joseph | Plan UK | Parables of the New Testament | 7 - 3 | 3 - 7 | 10 - 10 |
| Dallas Campbell | King Henry’s Walk Garden | Werner Herzog | 12 - 0 | 6 - 4 | 18 - 4 |
| Russell Kane | Rethink Mental Illness | The Novels of Ernest Hemingway | 5 - 4 | 7 - 3 | 12 – 7 |
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