Meet the Bristol University Challenge team

Bristol will be taking on St John’s College, Oxford in the first round of University Challenge tonight.

The Bristol team made it into the top 28 teams after a round of seriously tough interviews and written exams.

To decide which of the 130 student quiz teams appeared on television and faced the now beardless Jeremy Paxman the teams took an ‘excruciatingly hard’ test as well as an interview with the production team.

#squadgoals Image credit: ITV Studios

Out of the hundreds of students that applied, five succeeded to make the Bristol team after competing in three rounds of mentally gruelling tests by the University of Bristol’s SU in November last year.

We spoke to some of the team members about their experience:

Ben Crawshaw, 2nd year, Medicine

How did you get involved with the University Challenge?

“I’ve always watched the program so when I saw a tweet from the SU about applying I thought I might as well have a go!”

What was the overall experience like?

“The experience was amazing! On the one hand it’s stressful, fitting pub quizzes around my studies was challenging. But meeting the producers, the other teams, my teammates and of course Paxman made the whole thing worth it.”

Lounge or Bunker?

“Neither. You can’t be at UoB and not have been to Cori Tap!”

Donervans/Taka takas?

“Donervans, curry sauce and chips every time.”

Drinking or dropping?

“The occasional pint of cider always goes down well.”

Bucket hats or bow ties?

“Bow ties.”

Rob Hayman, 3rd year, Chemistry

How did you get first involved with the University Challenge?

“I tried out for the team a year before but didn’t get in, then my flatmate asked if we wanted to try out again. Went through rounds of questions and tests and interviews until we eventually got a team.”

What was the experience like?

“Really surreal! It feels strange being sat in a studio that you’ve seen multiple times on TV and that’s so iconic.”

Lounge or Bunker?

“Lounge every time! I’m actually at Leeds now and I’ve not found anywhere that matches up to Lounge!”

Donervans or Taka Takas?

“Donervans, it’s an absolute legend!”

Drinking or dropping?

“Just drinking!”

Bucket hats or bow ties?

“As stereotypically University Challenge nerdy as it sounds, I don’t get bucket hats, so it’ll have to be bow ties.”

You can watch the team’s performance today at 8pm on BBC2.