After yesterday’s notable appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on University Challenge, we take a retrospective look at the most interesting, suave, or memorable contestants to have graced the searingly intelligent show. I don’t know what it is about these boffins that stir the loins of the nation, but clearly, they continue to.
Oscar Powell, Peterhouse – Cambridge, 2015
One of the most well-known of the past few years, Mr Powell was known for his absolute pantheon of facial expressions, from bemused to struck to downright confused, all through a variety of hair pulling, pen chewing and tongue sticking. But the geology student helped his team soar to victory in the semis with his extensive knowledge on scientific questions.
Ted Loveday, Gonville and Caius College – Cambridge, 2015
Many hail this specimen of a man as the best University Challenge contestant ever. Loveday led his college to victory with his lightning fast answers. The at the time 21-year-old law student answered ten starter questions in a row, and became an instant phenomenon with his 3-second response of hapax legomenon.
He later admitted his knowledge was from intense Wikipedia and YouTube studies.
Sam Fairbrother, Jesus College – Cambridge, 2016
Fairbrother is known in my family as the Dark Lord. University Challenge fans lost it when he raised his fist and shocked the sartorial Paxman with his eccentric outfit. It’s not the first time viewers have been sent into an animalistic frenzy over a vest (see Shah)
Many comparisons were made between Fairbrother and his lookalikes. Some said he was Demi Moore, some said he was Simon from The Inbetweeners.
Harcourt, Sussex University, 2021
Here we go. The raison d’etre for this piece. My man Harcourt from Sussex Uni coming like the messiah. The memes have been numerous and well-intentioned.
“Hello, I’m from Nazareth and I’m reading theology.”
Kaamil Shah, Kings College, Cambridge University, 2015
Here is the second contestant in the vest-bearing category. The black leather vest was one for the history books.
Sadly, his fierce appearance wasn’t enough to bring his team to victory, losing to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
Alex Guttenplan, Emmanuel College, Cambridge (2010)
This enthusiastic captain won viewers’ hearts with his calm comeback to Paxman when the host responded with “good guess” to a correct question. “It wasn’t a guess”, came the tranquil rebuttal.
The 19-year-old teenager remained totally composed in the face of Paxman’s aggressive questioning, beating countless politicians before him. His supporters, dubbed the “Guttenfans”, held him to heartthrob status and many labelled him as the pin-up Einstein.
Bright, U.M.I.S.T.
An old school one here, but a humdinger nonetheless, for his single answer that has gone down in UC lore. When faced with Paxman’s question of: “the nicknames cheesemongers, cherry pickers, Bob’s own, the Emperor’s chambermaids and the Immortals are or have been used for which groups of men?”
“Homosexuals”, came the entirely earnest response. No wonder they were losing by 200 points.
Gail Trimble, Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, 2009
The woman dubbed the ‘human Google’ steered Corpus Christi to victory after answering more questions than the rest of her team combined … Only to have her team disqualified after an investigation revealed one of her teammates had finished studying at Corpus Christi before the series ended. A true team-player.
Stephen Fry, Queen’s College, Cambridge (1980)
To finish it off: the man, the myth, the legend… Stephen Fry. If this man became even more of a British institution we should probably put railings around him. This was the beginning of his on-screen career, in the 1980 University Challenge with Queen’s College, Cambridge.
The 23-year-old made it to the final round and is among the few contestants who went on to find wider fame, like Miriam Margolyes and David Starkey.
