Alumni quiz team go for victory

Only Connect is a BBC Four quiz show presented by Victoria Coren. In the show, teams compete in a tournament of finding connections between seemingly unrelated clues. The Radio Times describes the show as a ‘game of patience and lateral thinking’.

The team won their first-round match. Now, in the first of the quarter-finals, the team of Exeter alumni will take on the combined knowledge of three fans of the Archers radio series.

In the quiz, the teams compete to draw together the connections between things, which, at first glance, seem utterly random - from Castor and Pollux to Brahma to Yoshi to Orville the Duck.

Ben and Sam were good friends at Exeter and later met Ian when they were looking for a flatmate to share with in London. By coincidence, Ian was also an Exeter alumnus.

Team captain Sam says: "I met Ian through a mutual friend and when he decided he wanted to move to London, and we needed someone to fill the last room in our new flat, there was only one contender.

"Ben and Ian had never met before they lived together, they only knew each other by reputation having both been prolific contributors, along with myself, to Exeposé. Ben was even deputy editor.

"I think the reason we’ve stayed in touch is that University is the time to make lifelong friendships and our mutual love of quizzes (I remember doing the Sunday night Lemmy quiz a few times) has definitely cemented that friendship."

Ian says that the trio quizzed a lot while they were living together. "Sam and Ben are always on the lookout for quiz shows to apply for after starring on Eggheads together. We’d also watched the show together in the flat, and I liked the fact that it was about how you think as much as what you know. So when Sam suggested we apply, I thought, why not?"

Asked why he decided to take part in the quiz, Ben adds: "Sam’s enthusiasm mainly! But I am a big fan of the show, even if there are some weeks when I fail to answer a single question. Also, there was a competitive element, as a colleague of mine who often joined our pub quiz team also applied and was on the same series as us. I’d love to do more TV quizzes, they are great fun."

To see the Exeter Alumni team in action, tune into BBC Four on Monday, March 1 at 8.30pm.

All photography supplied courtesy of Presentable, part of the RDF Media Group.

Update: Despite valiant efforts on the part of the Exeter Alumni team, they were pipped at the post by the Archers Admirers.  Congratulations to the team for making it to the quarterfinals in a mind-bogglingly difficult quiz.