Mastermind 2025 - Semi Final 4

 

							Table Position
Dom Tait	11	0	16	0	27	0	2
Dan Shoesmith	7	2	13	1	21	3	14
James Waller	7	0	13	0	20	0	15
Aine McMenamin	10	0	9	0	19	0	=17

Alright then, if you looked at the relative performances of tonight’s contenders from the heats, then this could be rather unkindly called a ‘bottom-heavy’ semi. . . except for the presence of Dom Tait, second on my unofficial table of first round heat performances.. On paper, he looked the favourite. But as in the sport of kings, in Mastermind the favourite doesn’t always come first past the post. Was this going to be one of those occasions?

Well, I have to be honest, there was precious little sign of any weakness in Dom’s specialist round on Wild Cats of the World. Now, like Dom, I do like cats, big and small, very much, but this was no guarantee that I would be able to score any points. After the last couple of weeks’ pyrotechnics I was due for a fall so under the circumstances I was really glad that we kicked off with the Asian lion in the Forest of Gir, which I remember learning about in school. Two other answers brought me to 3 altogether. Dom didn’t have a perfect round but only having one wrong answer and with a commendable speed of delivery Dom managed to get 12 and no passes. So nobody was going to be far ahead of him at half time.

Teacher Aine McMenamin carried my hopes for another teacher win in this semi-final. She was answering on the Tragedies of Euripides. Altogether now - Euripides trousers, Eumenides trousers. Boom boom. Aine started strongly, but a wrong answer in mid round seemed to upset her rhythm and the rest of it was a wee bit of struggle. In the end she’d scored a good 8, but it left her too much to do. She did seem a bit upset as she returned to her own seat, and that’s a shame.

Unfortunately, I would not add any more points to my aggregate total of 7 from this point forward. I did think that I might sneak one or two points on James Waller’s specialist, The Battle of Gettysburg, since I do find the American Civil War to be an interesting subject, ever since first watching Ken Burns’ epic documentary series decades ago. But I didn’t. James, on the other hand, did very well indeed, managing to get himself into double figures by the end of the round.

Had Dan Shoesmith’s round on West Ham extended back as far as about 1980 I reckon I might have got one or two. But I’m afraid that my knowledge of he beautiful game really tails off by the time that we get to the Premier League and all that. I should probably have had Alan Curbishley but I didn’t, and that was that. Dan put on a bravura performance, and would have taken the outright lead were it not for a wee bit of a stinker question that caught him out at the end of the round. Nonetheless, 12 gave him a chance.

I felt for Aine when she returned to the chair. You can only read so much from a person’s facial expression, but she did seem to be undergoing an unpleasant ordeal when she returned to the chair. It looked like a struggle and sadly her answers for the last part of the round failed to hit the mark and she rather stalled on 6. Just remember this thought – she is a Mastermind heat winner and that deserves respect. She finished with 14.

What remained looked an interesting prospect. Both James and Dan had exceeded their first round specialist performances and both of them were among the better GK performers in the first round. If one of them could have the performance of their lives in the GK round, then that upset might even become a reality. James was the first to give it a go. What he produced was a good, double figure round. However, tellingly, it was not as good as his first round performance. 10 gave him a total of 20. A good total, but not, you felt, the kind of score that was going to win this particular semi-final.

Well, like James, Dom Tait did not match his first round GK score. However that score had been a titanic 16 and he only missed it by 1. Don’t be in any doubt about the quality of this round. Getting 15 of these right in these conditions was by any standards a magnificent performance. You could almost feel Dom’s determination pouring out of the telly, and surely this highest score of the semis so far would be rewarded with the win.

Well, nothing is certain in life other than death or taxes, and Dan certainly started his round pretty well. But, you know it can weigh on the mind chasing a huge total and Dan began to snatch at answers, to pass and to get things wrong he maybe might have answered on another night. By halfway through the round the game was pretty much up. Fair play, he battled on bravely, but in the end his 7 points and four passes were only enough for third place.

Well done Dom! You set your heart on a place in the final and put in the hard work you needed to give yourself the best chance of getting there. I too share your love of cats, which it was nice to see you mention in the piece to camera at the end. I wish you good luck in the final.

The Details

Dom Tait	Wild Cats of the World	12	0	15	0	27	0
Aine McMenamin	The Tragedies of Euripides	8	0	6	1	14	1
James Waller	The Battle of Gettysburg	10	0	10	0	20	0
Dan Shoesmith	West Ham United 1992 - Present	12	0	7	4	19	4