A student team from Durham competed in the 55th series of seminal BBC Two quiz show University Challenge.
After months of intense preparation, our University Challenge team's match against Merton College, Oxford was aired at 8.30pm (BST) on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer. Our four students and reserve competed admirably, winning the first starter for ten. They faced formidable opponents however, and the final score was 235 to 120 to Merton.
Irrespective of the result, we are proud of our team, their dynamic, their efforts, and their mindset.
Well played Merton!
University Challenge is a long-standing annual general knowledge quiz show for University students. This series is its 55th since its launch in 1962, and has been hosted by Amol Rajan since 2023.
Teams of Durham students have earned the coveted title of ‘Champion’ three times - in 1977, 2000, and 2023. Most recently a team of Durham alumni were crowned winners of the show’s special festive series in early 2025, with a nail-biting win against Queen’s College, Cambridge.
This year there will be 37 episodes leading to the Grand Final, which is usually aired in the spring of the following year.
Our team comprises:
And if any of these names seem familiar, it’s because we have some returning team members. James and Tom have both competed in University Challenge previously. Tom as reserve alongside the victorious 2022/23 team, and James as reserve for the 2024/25 team.
Not long after the start of the academic year, Durham begins its internal selection process for team members:
“There were two initial rounds. The first round was questions on five or so different areas, across humanities, music, sports, current affairs etc. The top 20 or so people were chosen to go into the second round, which was set up as four teams of five people. You’re randomly allocated alongside four others. The rounds are buzzer style, with [then Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Colleges and Student Experience] Jeremy Cook asking the questions and reading the bonuses.” - Amelia
“The written test (the first round) was sat by around 200 people. It was 120 questions in an hour and a half, to test your overall knowledge. Not necessarily how quickly you can recall things, but more how much do you know. They were really hard questions!” - Sebastian
The aim was not just to test potential team members’ knowledge, but also to see how well they gelled as a team and worked together. The importance of this particular factor can be key. After Amelia, Tom, Sebastian, Caspar and James were selected to represent Durham and applied for the show, they travelled to broadcaster ITV’s offices to have interviews with producers and question writers:
“You have a good half hour chat with the producers, which is essentially a screen test where they’re trying to see what your team dynamic is.
“I think that was something that Durham’s selection process covered quite well [...] the camaraderie we had definitely helped us stand out and get us selected for the programme itself.” - James
The next stage was to prepare for filming and increasing their breadth of knowledge. The team employed a range of tactics to achieve this:
“We decided, as a team, how we were going to approach the different topics and who had a natural interest in things like music or sports. I remember a lot of evenings where we’d get together to watch old episodes of University Challenge, to see how well the five of us could do.” - Amelia
“There’s a spreadsheet that other teams have used in the past, and that we updated for this year to help us divide up the topics. And after watching enough episodes, you get a sense of which areas of history or geography or music you’ll be quizzed on. You also know that you're not going to need to look at some things as they're too niche."- Sebastian
The team’s intense preparation saw them meeting frequently. Not only did this help them progress, but it also helped them get to know each other and build crucial rapport:
“I remember being asked how many times we met beforehand in the [ITV] interview [...] We met up almost every week to practice, watching back episodes and so on, which really helped us unite as a team and anticipate what everyone was thinking. So it would make good TV because we’d be good to watch, and also fun."- Caspar
When the time to start filming the show came, the team told us that host Amol Rajan and the crew helped create a relaxed atmosphere in the studio and put everyone at ease:
"Amol’s a man with a lot of warmth to him. He didn’t seem like a big TV celebrity, he seemed like a very normal person. He’s there basically to make sure you have a good time, and I think we did, and it was a lot of fun having him on set. It was an experience we’re never going to forget.”- Caspar
"Something I thought was interesting during the filming was the crew. They've done this so many times before, but they were so chilled out about it. During filming, they were singing songs over the mics together, cracking jokes and things like that. At one point there was an impression of Donald Trump!”- Sebastian
Irrespective of the result of the competition, we are proud of our team, their dynamic, their efforts, and their mindset. Emilia Brookfield-Pertusini, member of our 2024/25 University Challenge team draws from her experience, and summarises with the following advice:
"Team Durham Series [55] - my advice to you is to not take it too seriously and enjoy it! There will never be an opportunity like this again, and having fun with it will ensure that no matter the outcome, you have a good time. Don't wear stash on national TV. Do choose a Nobel prize to learn thoroughly. Don't revise into the night. Do bond with your team and have a good night out with them to ensure you can all get along - after all you can only tell them about the experience for a good 6 months so confiding in them will become important and necessary.”
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