Warwick team set for University Challenge showdown, as show returns for 2024-25

Britain’s beloved, and arguably most challenging, quiz show, University Challenge, is back this autumn, with a top team from the University of Warwick set to compete.

Hosted by British journalist and broadcaster Amol Rajan, the show has returned for its 2024–25 series on BBC Two.

28 universities will compete once again to win the coveted University Challenge trophy, with universities challenging other teams in different knockout tournaments to work their way into the final round.

On 13 August, following the broadcast of the opening episode of the new series, the University of Warwick announced their team for the upcoming series.

The team consists of Captain Oscar Siddle, Ananya Govindarajan, Thomas Hart, and Benjamin Watson.

Their first appearance in the competition will be broadcast on 2 September, against the University of East Anglia.

It sort of felt like being thrown into an intense dream

Oscar Siddle, UC Warwick Team Captain

Team captain Siddle, who studies Maths, told The Boar that competing in the tournament — which is filmed in the spring — had been “fairly surreal”.

He said: “With the lights up, questions coming quickly and everything for the next half-hour sorted by a strict set of rules, it sort of felt like being thrown into an intense dream.”

“I do remember being more nervous before the game than during it. The experience was fun overall though, and it was interesting seeing the behind-the-scenes of how it gets made.”

Siddle said that immediately before the competition, the team had chatted with the opposing UEA contestants in an attempt to figure out their strengths, yet “once the game started, that all went out of the window”.

They described host Amol Rajan as “very friendly”, having shaken all of their hands and read out two practice questions before filming to ease nerves.

I’d encourage anyone with an interest in the show to try out. There’s definitely room on the team for both generalists and specialists, so any knowledge is beneficial

Oscar Siddle, UC Warwick Team Captain

Siddle added: “I’d encourage anyone with an interest in the show to try out. There’s definitely room on the team for both generalists and specialists, so any knowledge is beneficial.”

Warwick’s selection process for the show starts in late October, and is open to every student. It is three rounds long, and is run by former University team members.

The first round consists of answering questions provided by the show producers, followed by two University Challenge-format rounds.

Finally, a regional interview process decides which Universities’ teams will make it onto the programme.

Siddle said that the application process was very open, highlighting that though they and Hart had applied in previous years, Govindarajan and Watson had never tried out before.

He also noted how getting a zero out of 10 on an art round, when trying out previously, had prompted them to get “really into art” in their second year. It could now be described as their favourite quiz topic.

The University of Warwick has provided previously formidable teams in the tournament

The University of Warwick has provided previously formidable teams in the tournament, most recently winning the tournament in 2021 against Magdalene College, Cambridge.

The victory marked Warwick’s second win in their University Challenge competitive history, having first triumphed in 2007. The achievement distinguished Warwick as being one of six institutions to have gained two titles.

Notably, Imperial College London has taken home the most wins, gaining five University Challenge titles and most recently winning in the 2023-24 series.

In the previous series of University Challenge, Warwick offered a strong performance to the competition, beating Wolfston College, Cambridge in September 2023 with a score of 265 points. However, in the second round of the competition, Warwick were beaten by Trinity College, Cambridge, by a slim margin of 20 points.

We look forward to seeing the progress of the University of Warwick University Challenge team in the upcoming months, and wish them the best of luck in the competition

University Challenge airs on BBC Two every Monday at 8:30pm.