Exeter triumphs in first round of University Challenge

The University of Exeter is through to the second round of the BBC’s long-running quiz show, University Challenge, after seeing off their opponents from Reading.

The programme, which aired on BBC2 on Monday night, saw the Exeter team – the 20th from the University to appear on the show – race out of the blocks to answer the first four ‘starter for ten’ questions and establish a 95-0 lead.

Reading responded strongly, however, and closed the gap to 105-75 at the halfway mark. But as the pressure mounted, Exeter raced away to win 240-100 and book their place in the next round.

As the show was broadcast on television, members of the team gathered in the Ram Bar on Streatham Campus to watch it with friends.

“They played it on all the screens so we could hear it, and it was slightly surreal to see yourself on television,” said team member Lucy Carr, BA (Hons) Art History & Visual Culture and Classical Studies. “But that doesn’t even come close to describing how strange it is to see your face on the national show you’ve watched since you were a child!

“Everyone was extremely supportive, cheering when we got the questions, which was a nice atmosphere. For most of the episode, we forgot what happened because of the adrenaline when we filmed it and the fact it was shot in late February!”

Alongside Lucy was team captain Martin Newman, a PhD candidate in History; Ryker Moorcroft, MSci Natural Sciences; and Elliott Mouelhi, BA (Hons) Ancient History and Archaeology. Benjamin Roth, MA Classics and Ancient History, was the reserve.

“Walking into the studio and seeing our names on the desk brought home the fact that this was crunch time,” said Martin, of the experience of filming the show. “Just before the actual recording Amol (Rajan) asked how we were feeling, and of course we all gave the polite answer of ‘good’. He replied along the lines of we should wait till the first starter question! He was right!”

“I had no idea what to expect,” added Lucy. “I knew my teammates were strong, especially Elliott and Ryker on the buzzer and then Martin with the bonus questions. I was confident they’d do well. I certainly missed there being fewer niche HASS questions, but about halfway through the first round, I started to relax a little bit more and just trust in our strong buzzers!

“When it was over, I would say I was emotional because all of the work we put in was finally on air. This time last year I was just a first year student dreaming of being on the show in maybe my 3rd or 4th year here!”

After their victory against Reading – who finished as runners-up in 2022 – the team were invited to return for the second round several weeks later. And they have all signed agreements not to discuss anything about the show until it is aired later in the season.

“It’s incredibly difficult,” admits Lucy. “I’m a very chatty person and had to stop myself from saying before the match aired ‘for the second episode…’ which would obviously give away the fact that we got through! You want to tell the people you love whether its positive or negative and sometimes it’s hard to keep those secrets.”

The team was put together by the Students’ Guild earlier this year following an extensive recruitment process. They were then required by the programme-makers to audition for the show, and were subsequently chosen to be one of the 28 universities and colleges featured in the televised rounds.

The programme is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.