Didn't feel too bad watching this back, think I gave it my best shot. We were just generally too slow on the buzzers as a team. Warwick were brilliant, I hope they go far!
cshaffrey
love how not two people on the warwick team look like they'd go to the same thing
overgrownkudzu
14:10 “Johann Strauss Senior”. A few seasons ago there was a music question which was answered:
“Strauss”
Paxman: “Which one?”
“Johann Strauss”
Paxman: “which ONE!”
“Johann Strauss Junior”
Paxman: “Wrong, it was Senior”
MrRubrick
Highest scoring runners up so far:
1. UCL-175
2/3. Liverpool-125
2/3. UEA-125
4. Gonville & Caius – Cambridge-80
Eliminated: None.
Lowest Scoring Winner: Open University-190
Highest scoring winner: Bristol-325
RyuSensei
From America: Thank you CosmicPumpkin. Without you I would not know about this educational, addictive & enjoyable show.
jerrytwolanes
Hart and Siddle are a strong pair, going to be hard to beat. Another exciting match!
genevievedolan
Most relatable thing as a mathematician is being unable to answer high school mathematics questions
anschelsc
The fact that UEA seemed more of a team performance but that one very strong performance from Warwick made the difference. Hart seemed to know everything.
sharanyaray
It's looking like it'll be a great season
lcsgcrr
Warner last week, Hart this week with incredible speed and knowledge with good teams.
Would be exciting to see them go head-to-head later in the series!
johncartwright
12:15 all the geographical questions have me remembering Imperial Zeng's voice.
kakaji
Another brilliant episode already this season, and another very strong outfit. Warwick a well-rounded team overall.
tonywilde
Thank you, CosmicP! Incredible performance from Warwick who seemed incredibly well prepared in every way. I think may have been the most serious looking team I have ever seen on UC!
8:45 I was just screaming "it's just 'dialysis' you overthinkers"
And then the next bonus question they almost overthought themselves out of 5 points again before UEA North (9:12) reminded them of the same 3 starting letters hint
Ramboost
So proud i got the Turin ones <3
It's a great city with great museums, it should be way more famous of Milan and other big italian cities.
pedrorochadacunha
Winning team have a very impressive buzzer.
mlml
Hello again! Another week, another contender for the title of "strongest team". What sets the winners apart is their buzzer speed...tremendous. They will be a tough out going forward. The losing team were better than their score indicates IMHO, they just didn't get a chance to answer more often due to being constantly out-buzzed. My best to both teams, and to each individual.
chrishobbs
9:23 maybe the first appearance of a fidget toy on UC? I love those little things
TheConfuzzledCat
Sometimes one just feels bad for the losing team. UEA kept their heads and methodically worked things out—you can see it in the way they worked out the flag/geography questions of the picture round, earning the praise of Amol Rajan—but they _couldn’t_ replicate that feat regarding questions relating to rivers of western Europe. (Meanwhile, _everyone_ in the audience was imagining how the legendary “Imperial Zeng, ” Imperial’s Max Zeng of Series 51, might have handled those questions.) _But, _ in order to work things out in the bonus questions, the team has to be quick on the buzzer and get a chance at the bonus questions, which UEA did only half as often as Warwick. As always, Amol Rajan sealed the fate of the Warwick team at a little over the midway point with his trademark ostensible affable encouragement “Plenty of time, UEA. See if you can get going again with this one”—no team who has heard those sinister words (with the appropriate team name switched in) has ever, to my knowledge, recovered to go on to win the match.
UEA’s Marlowe North, in particular, made a few errors that will likely haunt her—naming the title of a Jane Austen novel, rather than the character (“titular park” in the question probably primed a response for the title); persuading team captain Soumyajit Saha, to go with an answer _other_ than the one team member Ciaran Shaffrey suggested (Shaffrey was right); and confirming that the guess offered by Saha _was_ the answer (“Oh, yes, you’re right—it’s that”)—it wasn't. (North can take solace from the fact that the spread between the two teams was large enough that the correct answers plus even getting all the bonuses right for the Jane Austen question would not have resulted in them winning, although a higher score might have made the team’s reappearance in the repechage more likely.) Cieran Shaffrey (who makes a guest appearance here in the comments—always a treat when an actual contestant shows up) did what he could, getting all three of the starter questions he nabbed right and some of the bonus questions, too, including two regarding pre-telescope observatories in the Islamic word. (Side note: A fascinating episode “The Persian Renaissance” on the podcast _Empire_ covers that period.) Still, as Shaffrey notes in his comment, the team just wasn’t fast enough on the buzzer.
Nor, apparently, hard enough: Warwick’s Thomas Hart, the MVP of the match, poised his hand over the buzzer, smashing down on it, with team captain Oscar Siddle following suit, earning the jeers of fans on social media—which only goes to show what captures the attention of those on _X_ these days. Whatever they were doing, it worked. Warwick answered double the starter questions that UEA did—and we know that, mathematically, a team can win a match without answering *_any_* bonus questions correctly if they get enough starter questions right—and their success rate on the bonus questions (of which they had obviously twice as many, too) was 25% higher. Hart managed to get the starter music question in about two notes—it was like watching the old US game show “Name That Tune”—and two out of three of the subsequent bonus questions, and nailed all three questions regarding brass band instruments. The only truly out-of-left-field answer was Siddle’s guess as to who played Maxim de Winter, the lead male character, in the 1940 movie version of _Rebecca, _ the person named being, among other things, female and only about 15 when that movie was made. (She’s now the oldest living winner of an Academy Award, having turned 100 on 4 July.)
In any case, condolences to UEA—I hope you manage to squeak through to another round—and, of course, congratulations to Warwick, whom, I’m sure, many are looking forward to seeing again.
