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

Cheaters are losers. They cheated and now they've lost.

M*** N****, PA, United States

Recommended by 1 person

do they not check these things, um, before people are let on the programme?

They cheated, they got found out, they had their title taken away. The BBC acted quickly and rightly. I really can't see any other way of reading this, unless you are determined to have another crack at the BBC. Once it was found out that he had cheated what else were they supposed to do?

When I auditioned for the show, in '97 I think, they explained the rules very clearly at the audition. Which they need to do: the auditions are held in the summer term, but recording is in the autumn, so most final year students, although still students when the team applies, will be ineligible for the competition. From the news story, it seems that Kay *thought* he was still going to be a student in the autumn when he auditioned; but, regardless of that, I can't believe that noone on the team realised that they were breaking the rules at the recording.

It's a quiz show.

It's light entertainment.

It's not the Olympics (even though we all know about the tedious hypocrisy going on there).

Yet again, no one would have known or been bothered by it had not some hopeless loser of a whinger gone and talked to the Meejah.

Why don't we just get rid of all programmes on the BBC and have 24-hour Songs Of Praise with Aled Jones and Myleene Klass if we want "purity"?

Cheatin' bastards, fuck 'em

Doesn't matter what kind of show it is. How can you say it's fine for people to break the rules and still walk away with the winnings not very attractive trophy?

it is pretty retarded to break the show over the long vac, but them's the rules. silly corpus not to have got in a replacement coz they'd probably have won anyway.

Like the cards aren't stacked enough in favour of Oxbridge teams without allowing them to field cunts who aren't even students!

Like the cards aren't stacked enough in favour of Oxbridge teams

um how exactly? they have a vastly smaller pool of potential team members to draw on. it probably is unfair but otoh they let in loads of polys so...

Here, see this page, it's white

so what marcello is saying (if i'm following correctly), if the meejah didn't exist, would anyone have raised the complaint directly to the Beeb ?

I blame the internet.

but they weren't allowed to field non-students

xps

I know, but Marcello seems to think they should be

Marcello, do us a favour and turn the Carlinbot off next time you go on holiday for two weeks.

It's unfortunate that the taping schedule is what it is, since it really does seem to unfairly preclude third-years from participating. It would be more fair to allow people to be on the programme who are students when they begin the filming and to leave it at that. Note that MCR didn't want the poisoned chalice of winning through a DQ.

FWIW in many areas people retain student status for six months post-graduation.

I gather in years past dozens of past "students" were no longer students by the end of the process - so why disqualify Corpus Christi?

Because of Meejah pressure, of course.

In the war Thompson's BBC would have been on the side of the Nazis for fear of being bullied by the Daily Mail.

I gather in years past dozens of past "students" were no longer students by the end of the process

Was this guy a student when he actually took part in his first show tho?

yes

just

imho they shouldn't allow open university students or indeed any postgrad/mature students at all

I gather in years past dozens of past "students" were no longer students by the end of the process - so why disqualify Corpus Christi?

Because two wrongs don't, etc...

I guess rules is rules either way, but I've heard two different versions of how definite this guy's postgrad acceptance was. Like, get accepted for PhD but unexpectedly have funding withdrawn at short notice right before filming: fairly reasonable in that short period of running round like a headless chicken worrying about yr doctorate not to think things like "oh, now I have to withdraw from the next round of UC"; finalist who is prospective PhD candidate with no word on acceptance: should probably have thought about this earlier.

But, whatever.

Basically the BBC could have let this stand but they are terrified of media criticism so it was never going to be.

In addition, of course, disqualification is a Better Story.

Latter is certainly true, I think you are overstating the former tho

im surprised that

1) the 'story' didn't emerge sooner
2) they keep the final result secret for three-odd months. in this day and age.

Yes. I think the same about The Apprentice.

http://www.penguinslab.com/Pictures/High%20speed/coinsfall.JPG

I don't think I am (Tom xp). As with Ross and Brand and Carol Thatcher, the BBC repeatedly fail to stand by their broadcasters or stand up to the meejah bullies.

Get rid of spineless jellyfish Thompson and install a DG with some guts.

Ross, Brand, Carol Thatcher... yeah, great, let's man the barricades

just install DG

Yet they keep Jeremy "lorry drivers are all rapists" Clarkson on. Conspiracy? I think so.

Well even Clarkson was made to apologise when he had no need to apologise for anything.

Is there any evidence that the BBC bears any responsibility at all for disqualifying Corpus Christi? It's not as if the BBC makes the show.

sadly Jo "dogshit thru BNP letterboxes" Brand is still allowed to do her awful dance routines for charity. did we lose a war??

http://www.oregonlottery.org/projects/responsiblegambling/images/coin_flip.gif

It depends.

What's on the other side?

im surprised that

1) the 'story' didn't emerge sooner
2) they keep the final result secret for three-odd months. in this day and age.

― Judd Nelson (special guest stars mark bronson), Tuesday, 3 March 2009 11:27 (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

1) makes sense to wait until the winner is revealed and cause a bigger fuss. nothing wrong with that imo.
2) as with the apprentice, i don't think papers even make an effort to find out - they'd expect a viewer backlash against spoiling a popular series. (a while back the sun got offered a leaked copy of the new harry potter and shopped the guy to the police.)

"Papers" ha. I assume by "day and age" Enrique was talking about web leaks.

lol sorry i'm old media

yea, all those audience members keeping shtum

xp haha now i'm picturing the old style young lad on the street corner shouting "extra extra" with astonishing UC disqualification headline on the front page.

I suppose plenty of rumours are "out" in the sense that not everyone has kept quiet, but aren't contagious enough to really spoil it for a large number of people. If I heard who won University Challenge ahead of air date, I wouldn't be that tempted to pass it on. It's not like a "ooh, Jimmy Savile keeps his mum stuffed in his living room" type rumour.

Next time the Apprentice is on, I'll see if I can dig out the winner from some obscure Digital Spy forum thread or something. Actually, I won't. That would spoil things for myself.

i don't watch the apprentice so might try and do that.

Ah yes, The Apprentice, won last year by someone who was caught lying on his CV.

Double standards? The BBC's got plenty!

So the Paul Weller lookylikey won.

The moral?

The bully wins.

The liar wins.

The cheat wins.

What a great and inspiring message to convey to impressionable young viewers. Don't bother learning to spell; look where it gets you.

Or was this a sort of Closet Socialist Sugar Trojan Horse exercise?

― Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, June 12, 2008 12:22 PM (8 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

It's a quiz show.

It's light entertainment.

It's not the Olympics (even though we all know about the tedious hypocrisy going on there).

Yet again, no one would have known or been bothered by it had not some hopeless loser of a whinger gone and talked to the Meejah.

Why don't we just get rid of all programmes on the BBC and have 24-hour Songs Of Praise with Aled Jones and Myleene Klass if we want "purity"?

― Here he is with the classic "Poème Électronique." Good track (Marcello Carlin), Tuesday, March 3, 2009 10:58 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The promotion of morons as role models vs. the demotion of talented, intelligent people for fear of meejah criticism - no conflict of opinion there.

Makes you think.

http://shazam.econ.ubc.ca/flip/