University Challenge (also featuring Only Connect and other BBC quiz shows)

Pretend you've received a condescending VCM look to keep you warm.

'A jolly roger for Michael Portillo'? I'm going to need some help here.

i think it's a thing, innuendo aimed at portillo

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/24/call-me-anything-but-humourless-michael-portillo-only-connect

"It was mainly an excuse to mention Michael Portillo. My Only Connect persona – who is very like me, but just different enough to maintain sanity – is always talking about Michael Portillo. He’s perfect for her. Dark, enigmatic, faintly Spanish… Knowledgeable, quirky, with hints of a sexually adventurous past… I once ended a show by saying: “I’m going to hurry back to my dressing room where I hope to find Michael Portillo, sitting naked atop a crate of rioja, challenging me to wrestle him off.” (I was quite proud to get that past the censors.)"

i see. her sign off gags usually have a bizarro world feel to them, this explains if not excuses.

"I said Biggie Smalls"

Those high fives were grim also

I watched Only Connect before and one of the teams was called The Poptimists

OC cupwinner's cup is barely entertaining - it's far too difficult for us mortals.

This is how I feel about Champions League Popmaster as well. I've stopped listening to it. I never get a question right.

We did abysmally on OC last night. Our worst performance in ages.

i remember shouting answers at the tv last night, can't remember whether it was OC or UC.

i live alone, there is no reason to shout anything.

We did abysmally on OC last night.

Surely kbrady got Cadabra for 5? Privileges removed if he didn't get it at Backrub.

No, he never gets those ones. But then he gives you loads of ancillary facts AFTER the question, to prove that he really did know it, and then you miss the next question, and then we have a row.

Shocked, I tell you.

That team on UC last night is incredibly terrible at high fiving, but they look like they will be pretty tough to beat.

They're a bit of a one man team, but that one man is kind of shit hot at it. I think the guys who decided to make stars of Monkman and Seagull are trying to wedge him in to all of that stuff.

this lad (who also has an issue with high fives funnily enough) is still the one to beat imo

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/04/09/4FAECBBC00000578-6129329-image-a-3_1536051113590.jpg

only kicking off now and hate o'dowd already

i mean you have to do something in the evenings dont u

yerman is distractingly like charles dance at certain angles

god its golfinos that annoyed everyone then huh

Hey am I crazy or is there an ILXOR in Only Connect tonight? I recognized yr last name from Facebook and just literally shouted at the tv ILX! ILX! That’s Ailsa from ILX! :)

Good job, Ailsa! Was fearing for you with that run of mixed up Shakespeare

aw missed it

otoh execute this man

*dies of embarrassment again*

No! It’s awesome :).

Well, that was an excellent display of how *not* to play a buzzer quiz. Paxo's "hurry up, we'll be here all night" was amusing.

"as you sometimes think you are", lol

:D

Two nail-biting quizzes this week. Very good value, everyone.

ailsa you must tell us what it was actually like taking part in Only Connect, I would love to apply except I have no intellect or knowledge and nobody to piggyback on the intellect or knowledge of

She has done some of that telling, up thread.

The food is really nice, everyone involved in making the show is super friendly, and because there's lots of hanging around in a small space for a few days, and all the contestants get put up in the same hotel, it's all very amiable.

It's terrifying when you start thinking every little piece of shit thought you would have in front of the telly is picked up by a mic so you (well, I) feel a bit less confident about voicing random ideas. Also, there's totally a delay in the missing vowels round when it's shown on telly to let the viewers think they're better than the teams.

Also, boxedjoy, you can apply on your own and they pair (well, team) you up with other single applicants. The Time Ladies from this year were three strangers until matched up by the production team like a quizzing Little Mix.

I think the delay in the missing vowels round is to give the viewers a chance to answer

Noodle Vague of this parish was also on OC a few years ago. Oddly, I also online-knew the captain of the other team, who went on to win the series.

that delay is what has made me think it would ever be worth applying then!

Ah this was reasonably fun bar circumstances somewhat beyond my control

mike t-diva, I had thought NV had played the losing finalists rather than the winners (I know both captains of that series now, including ukulele dude who I remember causing a kerfuffle on here - I didn't know them then).

Anyway, small world.

Ah, you're right, ukulele dude was on the runner-up team.

I'm totally calling him ukulele dude next time I see him.

missing vowels round is my main skill in life. can someone tell me how to make my millions from this thanks

my secondary skill is guessing answers to maths questions on UC. usually 1, 2 or 0, but I did correctly guess 137 the other week.

fucking hell, students can't even identify Radiohead these days

No surprises

One of the OC teams last night didn't get New Order as the last in the sequence, having been given Stiff Kittens>Warsaw>Joy Division.

No Tom Waits recognition smh

William Gibson, you idiots.

Loved Basu’s halfhearted “Neon... Genesis Evangelion?”

On the other hand GLEN CAMPBELL

"KATE BUSH?" also.

"Notorious BIG?"

and another coincidence - both OC and UC mentioned Judith beheading Holofernes, which i hadn't heard of before tonight.