For well over sixty years, University Challenge has been a fixture of national television, showcasing the brightest and best young minds in the country. From Bamber Gascoigne to Jeremy Paxman and now Amol Rajan, the question masters themselves have carved out a real identity in the pantheon of British pop culture, from Paxman’s disdain for anyone who dared to get a question wrong, to the viral “we need jungle I’m afraid” of Amol Rajan’s first series. The program has been depicted multiple times in film and television, from Scumbag College v Footlights College in the Young Ones, to the film Starter For Ten. Thus, University Challenge has a long-established cultural relevance in the UK, and the program has a number of notable alumni, from Stephen Fry to Kwasi Kwarteng.

There are many people who critique University Challenge for its difficulty, but I argue that the joy of the program lies in its difficulty, and the joy of demonstrating your knowledge, however niche it is, in one of the most knowledgeable environments in the country.

No other show has the power to make people feel so proud

I should preface this piece by saying that I am famously quite partial to a quiz, as anyone who has frequented Trevs Bar on a Sunday evening (SNQ) over the last three years can attest to. In addition, I do actually have experience of University Challenge, having served as Durham’s reserve player on the current series of the program. (I may allegedly have more experience than that, but I am not allowed to confirm or deny for the moment). While I am definitely not a purveyor of high culture (my love of Tottenham Hotspur reinforcing this), I would consider myself to be at least an above average quizzer. However, this does not mean that I can actually answer the questions on University Challenge with regularity, but this is the point. University Challenge is undeniably difficult. I do not know who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1937, and frankly, neither should you. But every Monday evening at 8.30, having had your mind numbed by Only Connect, millions of people watch the program for the one or two questions that we can get right, and for a moment, feel just as clever as the geniuses that dominate the program.

And that is the point. University Challenge should, by its very nature, be difficult. Difficult in the sense that it should be an outlet for the brightest and best minds to showcase their abilities. People want to be amazed (and concerned) by how much students know, and no other quiz show on television has the power to make people feel so proud when they get one answer correct. Certainly, from my perspective as a former reserve on the program, it is a memory that will fill me with pride for the rest of my life, knowing that by some miracle I was considered bright enough for a place on the team.

Going on the program itself, albeit not on camera, was truly fantastic. I had the pleasure of sharing the experience with a wonderful group of people with whom I made lasting friendships. Amol Rajan is a friendly and engaging man, who took time out of his evening to talk with us, and all of the production team worked hard to make us feel comfortable in what is undoubtedly a high-pressure environment. While this iteration of the Durham team may not have progressed past the Second Round, it is an event we will surely cherish.

To its credit, University Challenge has, to an extent, moved with the times. Every year, there appears a debutant university, whilst Oxbridge colleges, once the guardians of the famous trophy, are becoming less likely to win each year. Not only that, but the breadth of questions is much greater in the Rajan-era, something which I welcome, but this has crucially not impacted the trademark difficulty.

Thus, University Challenge is rightly a national treasure, and I hope that it continues to make us regular people feel overjoyed when we get a question correct, and continues to amaze us with just how concerningly intelligent students can be for many years to come.

Image: BBC via James Gowers