Mastermind 2026 First Round Heat 24

Here it is, peeps, the last heat of the first round of Mastermind 2026. After last night’s show we know that somewhere along the line we have now seen the winner of the series. Would it be any of these four contenders? Well, only time will tell that.

First up was Josiah Wedgwood answering on Sarah Skelton. I’m sorry, I’ll read that again. Sarah Skelton was answering on Josiah Wedgwood. A very interesting man about whom it turned out that I only knew enough to answer two questions correct and one of those was the gimme on jasper ware. Sarah started brightly enough, but I’m afraid she had a bit of a struggle. As we sometimes say, just one of those rounds where the questions don’t fall for you. 5 points. A disaster? No, but it can’t have been what she was hoping for.

In some ways Sarah’s round was made to look worse by the three rounds that would follow. Next was Jacob Roberts answering on Jimi Hendrix. Once again I took the gimme that started the round, but then only Brook Street brought me another point. It was a different story for Jacob. This was a fine round. Not quite perfect but a really good round of 11. If you prepare thoroughly that gives you the best guarantee of achieving a high score, and Jacob had obviously got his preparation right.

Although maybe not quite as right as Milena Melcharek had done. She was answering on the operas of Giacomo Puccini, a subject that yielded me none whatsoever. Milena achieved a perfect round and was perhaps just a slight hesitation away from an optimal 13. As it was her 12 points were extremely well earned. Even if our last specialist round proved to be a disappointment, Jacob’s and Milena’s specialist rounds meant that we would still be in credit with this show.

The last specialist round didn’t disappoint though. Keith Hickling had also prepared his round on Wilfred Owen extremely well. I said in my preview that I felt that this round would be my best of the specialists and so it was, providing me with 4. Keith fell one short of a perfect round, but he seemed to be really enjoying his experience as he amassed a fine 11 points. Quite right too.

A thought for Sarah Skelton. Going first on the show, and having had one of those rounds, she then had to endure watching all three of the other contenders taking the chair and absolutely smashing their rounds – only two wrong answers between the three of them. You’d have forgiven her for not being able to give of her best in the GK round, yet she produced a good performance, scoring 12. Okay, with a few answers she seemed disbelieving as she supplied the correct answer, but it doesn’t matter. 17 overall. Decent performance.

With all due respect though it was a three horse race. Jacob gave it a good old lash, and he did fine. 9 is a good score on GK in this day and age. It isn’t, though, quite the kind of GK score that is going to give you that crucial cushion over the opposition. A total of 20 is a good total, but you had the feeling that it wasn’t going to be a winning total in this company.

It was good enough to beat Keith Hickling, although this was only because Keith incurred one pass while Jacob had a clear round with no faults. Still, surviving an appearance on Mastermind and coming away with a score of 20 is a pretty good achievement, especially if you’ve thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience which is what Keith gave every appearance of.

Would it come down to that crucial one point lead at the turnaround for Milena? No. She needed 8 and no passes to force a tie break – she got that but she added another two correct answers to score 10 for a total of 22 and finish with daylight between herself and the chasing pack. Well done Milena, a deserved win. Good luck in the semi finals.

Speaking of which I will attempt to post my round up of the first round and unofficial table asap.

The Details

Sarah Skelton	Josiah Wedgwood	5	1	12	1	17	2
Jacob Roberts	Jimi Hendrix	11	0	9	0	20	0
Milena Melcharek	The Operas of Giacomo Puccini	12	0	10	0	22	0
Keith Hickling	Wilfred Owen	11	0	9	1	20	1