Bristol brainiacs set to take on Cardiff in first round of University Challenge

A team of four quizzers from the University of Bristol will take on Welsh rivals Cardiff in the first round of one of the most difficult, high-stakes quizzes on television: University Challenge.

University Challenge is a long-running British T.V quiz show hosted by Amol Rajan, which pits teams of super-smart university students against each other in the ultimate general knowledge showdown. More than 100 institutions applied for this year’s programme, but only 28 of those have made it to the televised episodes.

This year’s University of Bristol team consists of team captain Hugo Goodwill (Meng Aerospace engineering), Lewys Jenkins (BSc mathematics), Lois Connolly (BA liberal arts), Nathaniel Joyce (MSci Biology), and reserve team member Madhu Kannan (MSci Psychology and Neuroscience).

Making the team is quite a challenge in itself. The University of Bristol Quiz Society runs a competitive three-stage process to select members of the team. Round one is a 100-question written quiz open to all students. Round two consists of buzzer-style questions for the top performers of the previous round. Finalists then undergo individual interviews led by past contestants and society committe members. From this gruelling process emerges the cream of the crop, who are chosen to represent the university on national television.

Hugo Goodwill, UoB team captain, said:

“It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to compete in University Challenge. As a huge fan of the show, it’s been an amazing opportunity to take part, especially as I tried out for the Bristol team three times before being successful in my final year of university.”

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Last years team have left big shoes to fill, they had an extremely impressive run, reaching the semi-finals of the 2024/25 series. They were ultimately defeated by Christ’s College Cambridge, who won 220-50. This year’s team hope to build on that momentum, and showcase their knowledge and expertise.

The University of Bristol will appear on University Challenge on BBC Two at 8.30 pm on Monday (August 18th).