UoB loses second round of University Challenge quarter-finals

Team UoB competed in the second round of the quarter-finals of the quiz show, University Challenge at 8pm last night. The team played against Balliol College, Oxford for a place in the semi-finals of the national student quiz. Unfortunately, we tragically lost and were kicked off the competition for good.

University Challenge is a weekly academic quiz show presented by Jeremy Paxman intended for university students to participate in teams of four. Last year’s former champion of the show was Peterhouse College from Cambridge. The University of Birmingham took part in episode 32 of this series but were thrashed by Balliol College.

The Balliol College, Oxford team included students Potts, Lloyd, Goldman and Pope whilst students representing Birmingham were Jan-Smith, Sutherland, Greenlees and Rouse. Greenlees was appointed captain for UoB but played poorly when he either answered questions incorrectly or buzzed in without knowing the answer.

Team UoB consistently underperformed when Greenlees didn’t get the answer for the first starter question. Goldman, the captain for the Oxford team impressed the audience with his extensive knowledge on a wide variety of topics.

Sadly, Oxford won the round in the end, when they finished with 265 points compared to 65 points for Birmingham.

Commiserations to the team and better luck next year.

The episode is available for 29 days on iPlayer if you missed the show.