Warwick students reach TV finals

I’d always wanted to be on a game show: trivial knowledge, bad jokes, tacky prizes and, just maybe, big money – all these things foster my love of this television staple. From the simple joys of Catchphrase and Blockbusters to the madcap brilliance of The Crystal Maze, I love them all.

But appearing on a game show required two things of which I am in short supply: effort and courage. Nevertheless, at rare intervals I have enough of the two to actually do something. The BBC series Pointless provided an outlet for that rarity.

The show, quickly becoming one of the most popular with around 5 million viewers daily at 5:15 on BBC One, is like reverse Family Fortunes, requiring contestants to provide the most obscure answer to a question, in the hope that as few of the 100 people surveyed said it as possible. Alexander Armstrong and his informative sidekick Richard Osman present the show in an entertaining, joke-filled style. The show is a two-person game, with four pairs competing over three rounds for the coveted Pointless trophy and a crack at winning the show’s jackpot. If you fail to make the final, you return the following day for a second attempt.

My teammate was my friend and fellow Pointless fan Praveen. We scrawled out the application form and sent it off, expecting to never hear from it again.

However, a few weeks later we each got a call to say we had been selected for an audition. “They’ll probably realise our unsuitability for TV there,” said Praveen, although I was just amazed that they could read my handwriting. Yet to further our surprise, after introductions, a quiz and a mock game of Pointless we were called back in for a camera interview. We gabbled on about how we met, our preferred subjects and our ‘interesting’ stories, repeating ourselves multiple times and using no word more often than ‘er’. Finally, it was over, and we left enriched by the experience, but sure that that would be that. Thankfully, no. We were selected.

So what’s it like to be on a game show? Well, after a jarringly early 7 am awakening, I tucked into a fried breakfast, while Praveen (who “doesn’t do breakfast”) sat pensively, staring into a glass of juice. We got our stuff and ventured onto the mean streets of London, making it to the BBC Television Centre for 9 AM. As I entered the site where many of my favourite TV moments of all time were produced, I couldn’t believe our luck that we were there.

Luck was the word of the day.

After selecting the lucky podium four, we stood behind our podium and chatted with Alexander and Richard, barely able to suppress our nerdy awe. It was baffling!

After painfully dragging ourselves through the introductions, the game began. Round One: British Olympians with two gold medals. We sailed through with Rebecca Adlington and Steve Redgrave – it was the only time we actually led throughout the entire show.

Round Two: Dates of historical events. Horrific. I shamefacedly muttered ‘1066’ for the Norman Conquest, fully expecting our exit. Luckily, it said Norman Conquest, not the Battle of Hastings, so it was actually not a bad score. Praveen likewise had to go with the obvious answer of ‘1939’ for the Second World War’s outbreak, but others’ incorrect answers managed to see us through.

The Head-to-Head: luck shone through again and we sailed into the decider, Government department acronyms. I knew them all, but, alas the other pair went first and went with the lowest answer: Defra. If they got it right, our dream would end. Luckily, the ‘F’ stands for food, not fisheries as they guessed, and the Department of Work and Pensions did something useful for a change, and won us the show.

Wow, we were in the final.

The choice of category was rather like when you open an exam paper and wonder if you’re in the right room. Dismissing ‘Populations’ and ‘British Boxers’, ‘Acting Couples’ became the only feasible choice. Much to my disappointment, it wasn’t about sham marriages. No, instead it was Warren Beatty and Annette Bening films.

The clock started. We faced one problem: I couldn’t remember who Annette Bening was, leaving me with the sole answer of Bonnie and Clyde, easily Warren Beatty’s most famous film. In a flash of inspiration I remembered seeing the name Beatty on the credits of Toy Story 3 and Deliverance. We had the only three answers we were ever going to get, so we stopped the clock and opted against prolonging the inevitable.

Alas, the Endemol bank transfer of our dreams was not to be, but we didn’t care. We somehow got to be on TV, on one of our favourite shows, we got to meet Alexander and Richard, and, oh yeah, we won the coveted Pointless trophy given to us as a reward for reaching the final.

So my advice? Apart from making sure you catch our episode on iPlayer if you want to play along and see if you can beat us, go out and get an application form! It was a fantastic experience I would recommend to anyone. It was great fun, full of lovely people and a rather memorable event. And there is also the fact it will take pride of place on my otherwise gap-intensive CV.