Mastermind misery

Sorry, humptydumpty I forgot we had a real life one on Gransnet.

When I was growing up it meant lots of and of no particular importance.

I have no idea where the expression came from.

Sincere apologies to all vertigo suffering eggs who like to perch precariously on walls.

Not a good idea IMO.

Does anyone take Celebrity Mastermind seriously? It is a bit of fun and raises money for charity.

I am really good at CM, sitting on the sofa knowing it all but I would fall apart in front of an audience!

I did really well and the general knowledge on the normal Mastermind this week and said to DH that I could be a contestant if only I had a specialised subject and could compete in public. Just so easy to know it all when not having to prove it publicly.

When I was 14 I was one of the girls chosen from our school to go on a t.v. general knowledge quiz against another school with an audience from both schools.

The questions were relatively easy and under different circumstances I would have been able to answer nearly all. However, I absolutely froze and hardly got any correct answers. My mind just went completely blank.

It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life and I can sympathise with Monty Panesar.

Many years ago my sister took part in Mastermind and did quite well. She was highly embarrassed that she did badly (in her view) in her specialist subject questions but rather better in general knowledge. Her score wasn't high but she came second.
Afterwards she said she did freeze and answered wrongly several questions that she knew well.

I enjoy tv quiz programmes and my mental map of the African continent is much improved thanks to Pointless!

I did once beat a contes on his specialist subject but think the questions were really easy.

Anja
Your comment says more about you than it ever could about me.
CAM.

Not everyone on here has an interest in cricket and not everyone will have heard of him.
The sensible among you will understand that names do not define where you live but a poor performance on that show may have encouraged some viewers to conclude that he only came to live here in recent years.
Those of you who seek to find hidden agendas or racial bias in some comments need to re- evaluate why they are slurs in innocuous comments.
I said nothing about names. You did.
I would have said the same about anyone who gave a poor performance, and there have been many.
The subject of my original comment has been slated across the media so there are a lot of us who share the same views (about the performance) for the haters to hate.
Instead of intelligent discussion, it becomes a witch-hunt to find race bias, not the sort of conversation I'd expect to find on a granny forum.

why they *see slurs, not why they are slurs.

Not very original GG ?

What it says is I don’t like what you post. You are entitled to post what you like, that is free speech and one must accept it takes all sorts. Likewise I’m allowed to express my own opinion or doesn’t that suit you?

???

I said nothing about names.

not everyone on here has heard of him and, given his name, might assume he had lived most of his life in another country with little knowledge of the UK.

No, that was you assuming what other people may assume, GG54.

My thoughts ? If the man is being slated across the media what sort of person would want to continue the slating.

I was in the audience watching an inter-schools quiz once when DD (then 9) was in the team. I saw her face freeze when she was asked a question and couldn't answer.
She said afterwards that she knew the answer but it just wouldn't come to mind! She was mortified.
Thank goodness it wasn't televised.

Insular

Many, but not exclusively, sportsmen/women/LGBQTF, train so extensively, compete across countries and are so wrapped up in their sport that it possibly excludes the wider accumulation of knowledge that most of us have.
I personally know two people who have no real conversation beyond their sport, and I'm talking about Olympic and European triple winning medallists. They don't know (amongst other things) recent news or UK landmarks or who their local MP is or the price of a loaf bread come to that, however, they could probably recite BA's or Ethiad's flight timetables off pat.

Gosh, you do know a lot of famous people GG54! And personally too.

You never assume Jalima1108?

Just a further point: Mastermind is supposed to be a serious contest (the clue is in the name). There are plenty of light hearted quizzes like Pointless and The Chase and even they demand a modicum of general knowledge so my advice to all celebs is if you don't have a good grasp of your subject or general knowledge and are likely to freeze under pressure, don't go on a show that has a reputation for putting people literally in the spotlight.

Doing it in the name of charity just makes me cringe even more.

On the other hand, it's great to see a celeb walk to the chair that we have been led to believe doesn't have much between the ears only to discover a sharp and intelligent mind with a good chance of winning.

I've lived...and been in a position to meet some very nice people both known to the wider world and unknown.
The sports people to whom I referred, were medallists in their day, now retired from sport.
There are some really silly jibes being posted by adults who should know better.

Maybe at adults who should know better?

Nah...I typed by.

""""An England cricketer, interviewed hundreds of times, well used to stressful situations on and off the pitch. The others wiped the floor with him, even a Coronation Street actor and a comedian. """"

GabriellaG54 Oh dear... the above comment reads as though you expect a Coronation Street actor and a Comedian to know little and to perform poorly.

Over judgemental methinks.

Everyone judges others - on looks, body type, how they eat, what they say, how they dress, how much they drink, what they buy, you name it.
Don't say you have never ever judged anyone, even without putting it into words. That would be unbelievable.
Yes, I make judgements every day of my life.

Heaven forfend an actor or comedian having any intelligence?
Not actually hard
Alan Bennet, Michael Palin, Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller - anybody from the Cambridge Footlights revue gang - and we all know how incredibly easy it is to get into Cambridge don’t we.
I stick to my version. by the way - definitely at adults who should know better.
Do you wonder why?
Don’t bother to answer that.

I know some celebs very well and they have a wide general knowledge despite having trained to a very high standard. I also know some people who are well educated in good jobs whose general knowledge is somewhat limited so I think it is wrong to generalise.

I agree that Mastermind is a serious competition but strongly disagree that Celebrity Mastermind is serious. JH allows a lot more frivolity in CM and the questions are easier, Same happens in University Challenge alumni competition.

Please cut them some slack. Some celebrities have more intelligence than other, some more worldly wise, just like the rest of us. Stop being judgemental