We asked the UCL team what it’s really like to compete on University Challenge

Everyone is buzzing (no pun intended) after UCL's spectacular victory over King's on University Challenge this week.

Jeremy Paxman confirmed once and for all that we are the superior institution, and what he says can obviously never be disputed.

Let's be honest, everybody's fantasised about being on University Challenge: pressing the buzzer before Paxo even has a chance to ask a question and triumphantly screaming an obscure Latin phrase which is somehow the right answer.

However, this may not be very realistic… so to find out what it's actually like to compete, The London Tab chatted to George Mitkov, one of the UCL team members.

What is Jeremy Paxman like in real life?

Way less brutal than people fear. He came backstage with both the teams and the producing crew after our match and had a beer with us all. To be honest I think he was probably just glad to have some time off after trekking it up to Salford and spending half the day reading out incomprehensible questions.

What made you want to be on University Challenge?

I remember watching it once on holiday with my mum when I was about 12 and having a weird fascination for this show that people went on just to answer barely comprehensible questions and get terrorised by Paxo for mixing up the Henry VI plays or getting the wrong Chinese dynasty. It stuck with me since then and so as soon as I got to uni and saw trials were happening I knew I had to try my luck.

How did you get selected for the UCL team?

The Union did three rounds of trials: two 100-question tests and then a final round between the dozen or so of us that were left, which involved buzzers so was meant to be like the real thing.

This probably should have been a pretty intense experience but we spent about an hour of it testing the buzzers because none of us could work out how to connect them in circuit.

After that there was an interview and test with the producers. Both Feiyu and I had got to this stage in previous years so we were both gassed when we found out we’d made it on the show this time.

How did the team prepare?

Last year’s team offered to play practice matches against us a couple of times and gave us some embarrassingly close runs for our money given that it’d been 12 months since they’d been on.

After our first match, we also practised against the King’s team – which meant, distressingly, having to go round the Strand wearing huge visitor badges with the King’s logo emblazoned on it.

In the run up to recordings I also tried to watch a documentary or two every night: ideally something dry and heavyweight but nine times out of ten I just gave up and let Horrible Histories and Rattus Rattus sort me out.

What was the most difficult part of University Challenge?

Probably all the waiting: in between the trials, after the interview, and backstage before the actual match. Backstage before the match I’d been steadily working through about a week’s intake of caffeine and three packs of strawberry laces so at that point I just wanted to get on with it.

Did anything surprise you about the process?

We’re not supposed to give away anything about the process itself, but the best surprise was probably getting backstage and finding stacks and stacks of Domino’s left out for us (garlic and herb dip included) – huge shout to the producers.

Did anything strange happen while filming?

On the train journey up to Manchester our team was sitting together and we were running through some old questions from a UC quiz book we had.

About halfway through the journey someone our age came through our carriage and asked if we were going up to film the show – and it turned out it was Liam from the King’s team, who was going up for the same reason.

We hadn’t been told who we’d be playing against so my heart suddenly sank as the prospect sank in of potentially getting spanked 300-0 by Strand Poly and having to show my face around campus the next day…

Luckily that didn't happen so there will be more chances to see the UCL team compete. The second round of University Challenge will start soon. Good luck George and everyone on the UCL team!