‘University Challenge’ team exits in second round
The University of Exeter said farewell to this year’s University Challenge at the second-round stage after a comprehensive defeat by their counterparts at Bristol.
The Exeter team, who had registered one of the highest scores of any university in their first-round victory over Reading, were on the receiving end this time, losing 290-35.
The Bristol quartet blitzed their GW4 rivals from the first question, and were described as “absolutely outstanding” by host Amol Rajan at the gong.
And he had consoling words for Exeter, saying: “So much of it is about momentum, and you really got going – it just took about 20 minutes to get going. I thought you were so unlucky.”
As in the first round, the team was led by Martin Newman, a PhD candidate in History, alongside Lucy Carr, BA (Hons) Art History & Visual Culture and Classical Studies; Ryker Moorcroft, MSci Natural Sciences; and Elliott Mouelhi, BA (Hons) Ancient History and Archaeology. Benjamin Roth, MA Classics and Ancient History, was the reserve.
“It’s no surprise that we’re hoping Bristol go on to be finalists or preferably even the series winners,” reflected Martin. “Gonville and Caius Cambridge, who they beat in the first round, will probably be feeling a bit better after watching round 2! There’s no problem with losing and we’d hoped to post a half decent score if that happened, but unfortunately, we weren’t competitive this time.”
Despite knowing the result, the team still joined friends on campus to watch the recording of the show on BBC2.
“I would just say that even though it was quite a big loss on paper, we were all smiling and joking still,” said Lucy. “I’m just so happy to have had the opportunity!”
“The most important thing was to take part in the programme and enjoy the overall experience, which we did,” Martin added. “There were still plenty of positives – we got through the audition, won our first-round match, and only 16 teams out of approximately 125 who entered can say that. We wish the best of luck to Exeter’s 2025/26 team, and hopefully they can progress further in the competition.”
The broadcast of the programme is available on BBC iPlayer. Exeter’s 240-100 triumph over Reading is also available to view.
