Eggheads (TV series)

Infobox Television
show_name = Eggheads


caption = "Eggheads" intertitle
format = Game Show
runtime = 30 minutes
presenter = Dermot Murnaghan
(2003–present)
Jeremy Vine
(2008–present)
starring = Judith Keppel
Kevin Ashman
C. J. de Mooi
Daphne Fowler
Christopher Hughes
channel = BBC One
(10 November 2003–16 December 2004)
BBC Two
(23 May 2005–present)
first_aired = 10 November 2003
last_aired = present
num_series = 9
num_episodes = 262
country = United Kingdom
executive_producer = David Young
Andy Culpin
company = 12 Yard

"Eggheads" is a BBC quiz show presented by Dermot Murnaghan and Jeremy Vine [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/07/bbc.television?gusrc=rss&feed=media Jeremy Vine set to return to BBC2] ] on a rotation basis. The Eggheads are a team, made up of five British quiz champions who compete against a new panel of challengers each episode.

"Eggheads"

The quiz champions who compete on the show as the titular "Eggheads" are:
*Kevin Ashman: winner of "British Quiz Championship", "European Quiz Championship", "World Quizzing Championships", "Fifteen to One", "Mastermind", "Brain of Britain" and "Mind Sports Olympiad".
*C. J. de Mooi: winner of "BrainTeaser", "100%" and "The Weakest Link" as well as having been Mensa chess champion.
*Daphne Fowler: winner of "Fifteen to One", "Brain of Britain" and "Going for Gold".
*Christopher Hughes: winner of "Mastermind", "International Mastermind" and "Brain of Britain".
*Judith Keppel: first British winner of one million pounds on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

ixth Egghead

In May 2008, auditions began to be held for a sixth person to join the Eggheads team. It is unknown when the new Egghead will be revealed. [ [http://www.beonscreen.com/uk/tv-shows/game-quiz/are-you-as-clever-as-an-egghead-2255.asp Are you as clever as an Egghead] ] [ [http://www.iqagb.co.uk/trivia/viewtopic.php?t=6998 Eggie Hunt - Updated] ]

Since September 2008, Jeremy Vine shares the presenting duties with original host Dermot Murnaghan, due to Murnaghan having commitments to his other job on Sky News.

Format

Title sequence

The title sequence consists of a voiceover by the host, stating 'These five people are amongst the greatest quiz players in Britain. Together they make up the Eggheads, arguably the most formidable quiz team in the country. The question is: can they be beaten?' The five Eggheads are displayed in revolving egg-shaped frames, with a blue background.

Rounds

There are four main rounds, in which the challengers are given a category, and choose one of their players to play against an Egghead of their choice, and they choose whether or not to go first — all aspects designed to give the challengers an advantage. They are asked three multiple choice questions each; if these result in a tie, non-multiple choice questions are asked in pairs, in a sudden death fashion. The contestants do not know the categories or their order in advance, but are guaranteed that at least one of Film and TV, Music or Sport will come up.

After the main rounds the final takes place, in which the losing players from the main round are not allowed to compete and a dominant team could thus have a 5–1 advantage. All remaining players are allowed to confer and the category is always General Knowledge.

Should the challengers win, they receive £1,000 plus a further £1,000 for each day the Eggheads had previously gone undefeated. Defeat usually leads Vine to ask "Congratulations Eggheads, can anyone beat you?", although, after being beaten on quite a few occasions, the phrase became "Congratulations Eggheads, who will beat you?" The Eggheads have a tendency to show off somewhat, often giving extra information or using obscure cross-references to some of their answers.

ubjects

There are nine possible subjects in the head-to-head rounds.

* Politics
* Arts and Books
* Food and Drink
* History
* Geography
* Science
* Music
* Film and TV
* Sport

"Music" and "Film and TV" were introduced in Autumn 2008 after a split of the Entertainment category.

History

The show has been running for nine series, represented by the same five Eggheads.The teams that have defeated the Eggheads include:
* The "Unicorn Inn" from Canterbury, Kent, who won the thirteenth edition in November 2003 in a sudden death tie break.

* "Folically Challenged", a team from the IT department of a mortgage company, won the fifteenth edition, winning £2000, the smallest amount won so far.

* "Spaghetti", a group of mensans from the West Midlands, who won £19,000.

* "Second Class", a group of postmen won £37,000 on the 27 September 2006, which remained the highest win ever for just over a year.

* "Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow", a group of students from Oxford Brookes University won £75,000 on the 28 September 2007, the highest prize won on the show so far [cite web|url=http://www.brookes.ac.uk/about/news/eggheads|title=Brookes students triumph on BBC quiz show|date=2007-10-04|accessdate=2008-06-10] . Despite only two of them being in the final round versus four Eggheads (minus Chris), they won by correctly answering the question "Which EU capital city is farthest south - Lisbon, Valletta or Nicosia?" the answer being Nicosia in Cyprus. The Eggheads answered the following question incorrectly, believing that eight states in the United States officially sanction the death penalty (the correct answer being 38). At the end of the programme, the winners stated that they plan to treat themselves by travelling to Nicosia.

* "Preston Quizmasters", won £3,000 on 3 October 2007.

* A team from the Museum of London and the Museum in Docklands won £33,000 on 20 November 2007. The challengers had just two members in the final round versus four Eggheads (minus Judith), but managed to win after the Eggheads answered one question incorrectly in the final round, believing that actor Jeff Goldblum had appeared drunk on US chat show The View in November 2006 when in fact it was Danny DeVito.

* A team from a Manchester City website - Blue Vibe - beat the Eggheads on 7 December 2007, winning £12,000

* "Beer and Skittles", a Leicestershire pub team from The Unicorn Lutterworth won £5,000 on 12 February 2008. Two remaining team members beat the four Eggheads (minus Chris) in a sudden death tie-break. The Challengers correctly answered that a liger is the offspring of a male lion and a tigress, but the Eggheads incorrectly said that the Hindu god of dance was Krishna. The answer was Shiva.

* "Weakly Players", a Cardiff-based amateur dramatics team won £27,000 on 20 March 2008. The Eggheads (minus Daphne) got their final multiple-choice General Knowledge question wrong. The Eggheads believed that Radio Happy Isles and Radio Happy Lagoon were broadcast in Samoa, not the correct answer, which was the Solomon Islands.

* "Sean and the Sheep", a team composed of four Welsh people and an Englishman called Sean won £20,000 on 17 April 2008. The Eggheads (minus Judith and CJ) got their second multiple-choice General Knowledge question wrong, believing that the word Trabant - a German automobile - literally meant "worker". The correct answer is satellite. Sean and The Sheep won 3-1.

* "Tapheads", a team of work colleagues at Welsh Water, who won £13,000 on 6 May 2008. In the final round the Eggheads team contained only Daphne and Chris; in 'sudden death', they incorrectly believed the heads side of a coin was called the reverse. The correct answer is the obverse.

* On 13 May 2008, "The Ratpack" became the first team to win with only one remaining team member in the final round. Alex, the final team member, answered all of his questions correctly, having decided to go first. Having answered their first two questions correctly the final question for the Eggheads was: "Colin Myler was appointed Editor of which newspaper in 2007?" The three possible answers were News Of The World, The Sun and Daily Mail. The Eggheads incorrectly chose The Sun. The correct answer was News Of The World. The "Ratpack" won £5,000.

* On 5 June 5 2008, "Lads Wot Lunch" from Surrey beat the Eggheads (minus Judith & Chris) to win £12,000. The Eggheads' final multiple-choice question was "Which coin was officially decommissioned in 1993? The answers were Half crown, half penny or florin. Kevin & Daphne overruled CJ and said it was the halfpenny, it was the florin.

* On 12 June 2008, "South Wales Warriors", an American Football team from Cardiff, beat the Eggheads (minus Chris, Judith & Kevin) to win £5,000. The Eggheads' second multiple-choice question was "The singer Edith Piaf was famous for her romantic association with which sportsman? The answers were Marcel Cerdan, René Lacoste or Just Fontaine. CJ and Daphne incorrectly chose Lacoste, however the correct answer was Cerdan.

* On 25 August 2008, "Loser's Corner", from Belfast, beat the Eggheads (minus CJ) to win £6,000. The Eggheads' third multiple-choice question was "Which Welsh band released the album "Hey Venus!" in 2007? The answers were Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals or Stereophonics. The Eggheads incorrectly chose Manic Street Preachers. The correct answer was Super Furry Animals, which CJ appeared to know. "Loser's Corner", then correctly guessed that in 1989, Marina Ogilvy was the first member of the British Royal Family to win the Rear of the Year award.

* On 8 October 2008, "Meet Your Waterloo" from Hampshire beat the Eggheads and won £7,000. This was the second time in the history of the show that the Eggheads were beaten by a single challenger. Liz from the challenging team answered her first three questions correctly. The Eggheads were then asked to identify the author of the poetic extract "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity" they chose from the multiple choice T.S. Eliot, the correct answer was W.B. Yeats, the quote coming from the poem The Second Coming.

Occasionally, the show has had some well-known people on the challengers' team. Multi-World Darts Champion Phil Taylor has appeared, as well as the England Women's Cricket Team and reality TV celebrities Jade Goody and Eugene Sully.

References

External links

* [http://www.12yard.com/eggheads "Eggheads"] at 12Yard.com
*imdb title|id=0386929|title=Eggheads
* [http://www.ukgameshows.com/index.php/Eggheads "Eggheads"] at UKGameshows.com
* [http://www.challenge.co.uk/eggheads/ "Eggheads"] at Challenge.co.uk