Imperial College London have won the final of University Challenge against Corpus Christi of Cambridge, scoring 275 points while their opponents managed just 105.
Both impressive teams had come to the show with no defeats, but fans were eager to see two of the contestants – Brandon Blackwell, of Imperial College , and Ian Wang, of Corpus Christi – battle it out after both being hailed by fans as the ‘best ever’ contestants go head-to-head.
Brandon Blackwell, 26, known as the ‘The Scowler’ was joined by team members Richard Brooks, Conor McMeel, and team captain Caleb Rich in Imperial’s all-male team.
Meanwhile team captain Ian Wang, 21, known as the ‘bouncy’ ‘Grandmaster Wang’ was joined by Alexander Russell, Will Stewart and Alex Gunasekera.
Ahead of the final, Blackwell, a computing student from Queens, New York, had scored 482 of his team’s 1,170 points so far this series.
On tonight’s finale he led his team’s win, taking control of the answers despite not being the captain and giving an oustanding performance, with many of his correct answers guesses.
Meanwhile Wang, an English student from Sale, Greater Manchester, had been responsible for 319 of Corpus Christi’s 1,190. On tonight’s episode he fell notably silent, with his team falling shockingly behind.
But it turned out that Brandon and his team had the advantage this evening, thrashing the other contenders by over 100 points.
Brandon, who has been branded The Scowler by fans, put in a great performance tonight, answering several of the teams questions, while Wang’s fell short -offering up only a few correct answers.
Fans were shocked by Wang’s performance, with one asking: ‘Wang’s gone all Ronaldo in 98!’, while others asked ‘What’s happened to Wang?’ and ‘Where’s Wang’.
Imperial College London have won the final of University Challenge against Corpus Christi of Cambridge, scoring 275 points while their opponents managed just 105. The win was led by Brandon Blackwell, 26, known as the ‘The Scowler’, who viewers hailed ‘for president’
Meanwhile ‘Grandmaster’ Wang, an English student from Sale, Greater Manchester, had been responsible for 319 of Corpus Christi’s 1,190. On tonight’s episode he fell notably silent, with his team falling shockingly behind.
Fans were shocked by Wang’s performance, with one asking: ‘Wang’s gone all Ronaldo in 98!’, while others asked ‘What’s happened to Wang?’ and ‘Where’s Wang’.
The programme has come under fire for featuring mainly white, middle class contestants, but the main contestants who have stolen the limelight on this series are both from ethnic minorities.
On Imperial College’s team, with an average age of 23, Richard Brooks from Stockton on Teese studies Mechanical Engineering, Caleb Rich from Lewisham is studying Quantum Dynamics, and Conor McMeel from Dublin is studying Computer Science.
With an average age of 21 on the losing team, Alexander Russell from Bristol is undergoing studies in Japanese, while Will Stewart from Peterborough is studying the history of art and Alex Gunasekera from Oxford studying chemistry.
Kicking off the first question was Caleb Rich, who correctly answered ‘tea’ when asked what the Tang Dynasty author had correctly written a preparation on the cultivation of, describing it ‘ its liquor is like the sweetest?’.
Brandon then guessed Rome correctly on the second question, when asked to name the city described by Lord Byron in his poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.
With the remaining questions in that round going to the Imperial College team, they guessed one correctly and one incorrectly.
Kicking off the second round with Imperial College already 20 points ahead, Corpus Christi of Cambridge jumped in with an incorrect answer, losing 5 points.
On Imperial College’s team, (bottom left to right) with an average age of 23, Richard Brooks from Stockton on Teese studies Mechanical Engineering, Caleb Rich from Lewisham is studying Quantum Dynamics, and Conor McMeel from Dublin is studying Computer Science. With an average age of 21 on the losing team, (top left to right) Alexander Russell from Bristol is undergoing studies in Japanese, while Will Stewart from Peterborough is studying the history of art and Alex Gunasekera from Oxford studying chemistry.
Elsewhere another viewer one added a GIF, adding: ‘Me looking for Wang’. In stark contrast viewers hailed Brandon’s appearance, with many tweeting: ‘Brandon for president!’.
Continuing to fly ahead, Imperial College answered another 7 out of 9 correctly – mainly guessed right by Blackwell – as the losing team looked on, not fast enough to answer the the questions correctly.
Blackwell was seen punching the air, while the usually chirpy Wang gave a frustrated gasp as his team had yet to speak up.
Moving onto the picture section, both teams – with the scores now 65 to minus 5 – being shown maps.
Imperial College garnered one out of three correct answers while the losing team stayed silent.
Continuing their winning streak, now at 80 to minus 5, Imperial got 4 out of 6 answers correct, while, surprisingly, Corpus Christi didn’t answer one.
Christi finally got one answer correct a third of the way in, getting 3 bonus questions in which racked up their score to 20, while Imperial were on 100.
Continuing their winning streak, now at 80 to minus 5, Imperial (seen) got 4 out of 6 answers correct, while, surprisingly, Corpus Christi didn’t answer one
Blackwell was seen punching the air, while the usually chirpy Wang (seen centre) gave a frustrated gasp as his team had yet to speak up
Imperial continued by getting four correct answers, with Christi catching up by answering four music related questions correctly boosting them to 45.
Moving onto the next round, Imperial racked up 12 out of 15 answers, while Christi scored just 4, leaving them 70 to 110 after questions on movie stills.
The next round, saw Corpus Christi catch up, scoring fur correct answers while Imperial scored just three, leaving them at 85 to 240 after a bonus round.
The final round saw Imperial score 5 right, while Christi managed 3, before the gong sounded.
The gong sounded at 275 to 105, sounding Imperial college into a clear win.
Corpus Christi of Cambridge took the loss in good humour, smiling as Jeremy Paxman acknowledged they made it to the final.
Meanwhile a calm and collected Imperial College hardly broke a sweat as they gave a cool nod to celebrate their win.
Corpus Christi of Cambridge took the loss in good humour, smiling as Jeremy Paxman (seen) acknowledged they made it to the final
Meanwhile a calm and collected Imperial College hardly broke a sweat as they gave a cool nod to celebrate their win
Sir Andrew John Wiles, right, an English mathematician and a Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Oxford, best known for proving Fermat’s Last Theorem, presented the award
Sir Andrew John Wiles, an English mathematician and a Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Oxford, best known for proving Fermat’s Last Theorem, presented the award.
‘I was really impressed with them, they were really brilliant’, he said.
‘There was a lot of mathematics in there and one question intrigued me “who said Maths is a young man’s game?”‘.
He quipped: ‘I’d say University Challenge is a young man’s game!’, presenting team captain Caleb Rich with the coveted prize.
Fans were shocked by Wang’s performance, with one asking: ‘Wang’s gone all Ronaldo in 98!’
Another said: ‘What’s happened to Wang”‘, while another said: ‘Where’s Wang?’.
Elsewhere another one added a GIF, adding: ‘Me looking for Wang’.
In stark contrast viewers hailed Brandon’s appearance, with many tweeting: ‘Brandon for president!’.
Sir Andrew quipped: ‘I’d say University Challenge is a young man’s game!’, presenting team captain Caleb Rich with the coveted prize.
The winning team are seen admiring their prize after winning the prestigious award
Pictured: The two teams made it to the final round
Brandon combines his studies with being a career quiz show contestant, which he started aged 14, when he won £8,000 ($9, 950) on a teen version of the US quiz show Jeopardy.
The brainbox, who breaks the show’s convention by using only his first name , gained his epithet because of his exaggerated facial expressions.
Four years later, the ‘grimacing’ and ‘brash’ American bagged £34,600 ($43, 033) on the US version of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? and 12 months later, he scooped £272,700 ($219, 255) on Million Second Quiz – bringing his grand total to a whopping £315, 300 ($468,652).
English graduate Wang had been given the nickname ‘Grandmaster Wang’ by fans after correctly identifying a song by hip-hop pioneers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
Wang has posted songs on YouTube under the name Ghost In A Sundress and now works for the National Audit Office, is self-effacing, but some viewers have called him a ‘twerp’ for boasting about the thought process behind his answers.
At university, he was regarded as a firebrand ‘post-colonial warrior’ who led protests to ‘decolonise’ the English faculty. He has also spoken of the ‘anguish’ of his British-Chinese identity, saying: ‘To be ChineseBritish is to be alienated at some point in your life, especially in a society that prioritises whiteness.’
Despite his success, Mr Wang has railed against University Challenge, saying it rewards ‘the same forms of old, white male hierarchies’.
Picture round
First map
Cambridge – Incorrect answer – First Crusade
Correct answer Third Crusade
Second map
Imperial – incorrect answer – eighth crusade
Correct – seventh crusade
Third map
Imperial – incorrect answer – Second crusade
Correct answer – First crusade