Bristol University’s quiz team staged a thrilling comeback to claim victory in their first quarterfinal match on BBC’s University Challenge on Monday night (March 3).
With just five minutes remaining in Monday night’s episode, Bristol trailed by 10 points. But the team surged ahead in the final part of the show edging past Open University to secure their spot in the next stage of the competition.
After Bristol University’s impressive responses on Shakespeare and Polish artist Jan Matejko to secure victory, University Challenge host Amol Rajan described the match as “ludicrously tight and really quite a stressful game.”
Turning to the winning team, he jokingly said: “Bristol, you did make it rather stressful for yourselves, didn’t you?”
Rajan added: “In round two they shut out an entirely capable team from Exeter for almost two-thirds of the game, taking every one of the first ten starters, and converting more than 70 per cent of the bonuses that followed on topics ranging from plant biology to Chinese provinces.”
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The Bristol squad, captained by Artificial Intelligence PhD student Kevin Flanagan, also includes MSci Biology student Ted Warner, Medicine student Bridie Rogers, and Organic Chemistry PhD student Olivia Watts. Their reserve player is MSci Biology student Nathaniel Joyce.
Bristol is set to compete in their second quarterfinal match in the coming weeks, as they continue their impressive run in the competition.