Eggheads
Eggheads is a British quiz show by 12 Yard Productions , now part of Independent Television , which has been on English television every working day since 2003 and has been on BBC Two since 2004 . Five amateur players challenge five out of seven professionals (the 7 "Eggheads") and try to win a jackpot that starts at £ 1000 and increases by £ 1000 each game day until it is cracked. The highest win to date (2010) was £ 75,000 in 2007 (after 74 wins for the Eggheads in a row). The show was initially hosted by Dermot Murnaghan, now Jeremy Vine.
Game flow
The team of five challengers, who have a very unspectacular pub quiz level, already knew each other before the show. You play against five eggheads, it is rotated so that not all seven team members are always present. All eggheads are employees of the production company, i.e. all professionals who have no financial interest in making a profit and receive extra bonuses.
The first four rounds are individual rounds, in which one of the challengers always challenges a supposedly beatable Egghead and tries to defeat him. The subject area is specified, e.g. "Sport", then one of the challengers answers and says, "I want to play that, I'll take Barry as my opponent". Then each of the two receives three multiple-choice questions (with only three answers to choose from) on the topic. If the result is a tie, further questions are asked in Sudden Death mode, now without multiple choice. The loser of such a round is eliminated. In the extreme case, one of the teams wins all 4 matches, then only one of the opponent is left and in the final round they play 5 against 1. In this round, the teams play against each other, three questions without a topic, consultation is allowed. If it is then a tie, there is another sudden death without multiple choice. In practice, the challengers have a chance for two reasons: on the one hand, both sides do not get the same questions, so with luck they get easier tasks; on the other hand, with multiple-choice questions with only three options, one can simply be lucky without a clue to have. But there are no jokers.
The original five eggheads, two additions and one exchange
When the broadcast started, five eggheads were simply specified by the company. The selection process causes a lot of headache in the British quiz scene, as the moderators suggest with the prayer wheel-like phrase "arguably the most formidable team in the country" and the avoidance of any information about the individual players that the playing strength of the Eggheads is similar, but that is completely wrong. (see also the English-language Wikipedia pages)
- Kevin Ashman (* 1959) from Winchester is the reigning world and European champion of the IQA 2009, he has (as of early 2010) 13 gold medals at world and European championships. He won a ten-year finale at each against each other, at the English show Mastermind he holds the record in the special topic, at the traditional BBC radio show Brain of Britain he won the 9-year finals and won at Masterbrain, Hopp or Top / Sale of the Century , Quiz Night, Trivial Pursuit TV Game, and The Great British Quiz. He's probably the best player in the world but doesn't make any fuss about himself.
- Judith Keppel (* 1942) is at the other extreme. She won £ 1 million on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? , but that's where it ends. Since she was the first ever winner and probably because she is a woman, she was signed on immediately. It is considered to be a weak point, so that the majority of challengers select it the same way in the subjects of sport and film that it hated and regularly beats it.
- Daphne Fowler (* 1939) is a great-grandmother who is always smiling, but who is much more respected and has won not just one, but several quizzes. a. even the 1997 annual finale of Brain of Britain, she also won Everyone against Everyone, Hopp or Top / Sale of the Century, Going for Gold and Masterbrain. In 2013, she announced her age-related retirement.
- CJ de Mooi (* 1969) is a player who polarizes strongly with his extremely eccentric "bad boy" nature. He has almost no success to show, but he came to appearances such as For example, the weakest flies well and was hired. In 2012, de Mooi announced he was leaving the show to pursue an acting career. On September 27, 2012, his colored successor, David Rainford, took up the position for the first time, but in 2013 de Mooi returned for Fowler.
- Christopher Hughes (* 1947) is also a rather bizarre contemporary, the former subway driver knows even the smallest detail about railway history. But he still has some quiz successes, was the Brain of Britain winner of the year and mastermind winner.
In 2008 and 2009 the team was increased by two more players in order to be able to rotate. These were not simply decreed, but in a spin-off qualification quiz of 64 participants called "Are You an Egghead?" (For details see Wikipedia). The two new ones are:
- Since 2008: Barry Simmons (* 1948) surprisingly prevailed in the first elimination. In 2013 he won the Brain of Britain.
- Since the end of 2009. Pat Gibson (* 1961) is the second real star in the field after Ashman. He is also a four-time IQA individual world champion and (although Irish) multiple team European champion with England, he is allowed to play because he has lived in England for over 20 years. He won the Brain of Britain annual finals in 2006 and also has £ 1 million on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? won (2004, before he became known as Quizzer), with his telephone joker Mark Kerr, whom he ironically met twice in the Eggheads elimination, in 2008 he surprisingly lost, in 2009 he won.
- 2012 to 2018: David Rainford (* 1968- † 2020), the first black player, won £ 250,000 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?