Mastermind 2027 First Round Heat 15

Well. If there’s nothing else we can say about the 2026-7 series of Mastermind, we can certainly say that it retains the ability to surprise me. Whether that’s a good thing or not, well, we’ll see.

I said in my preview that I thought that The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was my banker subject for the night, and with 4 points earned that was what it proved to be. While Ben Falconer was waiting for the round to kick off Clive announced that the novels, radio productions, TV and film versions would all be fair game. Ben Falconer did better than I did, taking 6, but I did think that there were details that were asked about that he really ought to have known if he had prepared as thoroughly as he could.

I also said in my preview that The History of the English Longbow struck me as one of those more esoteric subjects where there was always the possibility of some guessable stuff being asked and indeed it provided me with a further 3 points. Martin Simpson seemed pretty nervous at the start with one particularly long hesitation costing him at least 1 extra question, I would say. He too scored 6.

Finally the show really kicked into life with Amelia Armstrong’s round on Brooklyn Nine Nine. I scored nothing for the first and only time tonight, which served me right for never knowingly having watched the show. This was a great round, the kind of round you can achieve if you really know your subject inside and out. Amelia’s round of 12 equalled the previous two rounds combined and seemingly scuppered the chances of Ben and Martin.

Last to go then was Jessica Phillips. Her round on Sir Lee Person started well, but then some wrong answers crept in and she finished with a decent 7. She was in second place at the turnaround, but still a massive five points down on Jessica’s lead – that’s the sort of lead which would have Paddy Power paying out the punters at half time.

And yet, strange things can happen sometimes, especially if there’s something in the air in the studio. First back to the chair was Ben Falconer. He did better with his general knowledge round and produced a decent enough score of 8. Decent enough, yes, but surely not good enough to give him the chance of a win.

Martin Simpson did better, and with a little more speed he might even have achieved a double figure round. Well, he didn’t quite do that but at least he had the satisfaction of a pretty good 9 point round. At this point you couldn’t see him winning, but it’s been a strange series. Anything could happen.

Not in Jessica Phillips’ round though. She kept her cool and kept answering, but with only one point more than Martin at the turnaround it became clearer that she just wasn’t going to reach the target. In the end she added 6 to her total for 13.

So put yourself in Amelia’s position. The target is 15 and no passes and you already have 12. Easy? Well, don’t go saying anything like that until you have actually sat in the chair and tried it for yourself. I don’t think that Amelia is a regular quizzer, but I think it’s quite possible that nerves played a part in her GK round, as the target proved a lot trickier to achieve than we might have expected. But the crucial thing is that achieve it she did. 4 correct answers is not a lot. . . but it was enough.

Well done Amelia. You deserved to win because you produced by far the finest round of the night. I wish you luck in the semi-finals. Now, as I hope you know, I think of myself as a student of the show, if not a connoisseur, so I have to admit that I can’t help wondering whether anyone has ever won an edition of the show with a score of 4 on GK before? I’m not asking because I’m trying to make a point about Amelia – she won fair and square, end of. But I can’t help finding this sort of question interesting.

The Details

Ben Falconer	The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy	6	0	8	1	14	1
Martin Simpson	The History of the English Longbow	6	0	9	1	15	1
Amelia Armstrong	Brooklyn Nine Nine	12	0	4	2	16	2
Jessica Phillips	The Paralympian Sir Lee Pearson	7	0	6	0	13	0