I don’t know if any of you have been watching the episodes of Celebrity Mastermind but in our house we are Sky plus-ing them like mad, for sheer entertainment value.
The nation’s favourite reality TV star, Stacey Solomon (X Factor finalist, I’m a Celebrity winner and face of Iceland…the shop, not the country) was on Episode Two. I missed her specialist subject round where she managed 6 points for her in depth knowledge of The Inbetweeners, but tuned in just in time to see some classic answers in the general knowledge round.
For her first question John Humphries asked her what was the classic sparkling wine named after the region in north-east France where it originates. Stacey, bless her, paused and thought long and hard but when Humphries helped her with the words “a sparkling wine?” she answered with the words, “Jacob’s Creek?”
Her knowledge of Britney Spears and the island of Ibiza helped her to gain a couple of points before she cracked me up with her answer to the question “Which breed of dog includes springers and cockers?” – “Cockapoo?”
Even though she only scored 10 points in total I thought she was brave, if misguided, to appear on the show. However she seemed unconcerned at her performance and cheerily announced she just wanted to ‘do everything’ before she dies. If this includes bombing on a quiz show then good luck to her and, as she was raising money for charity, she got a round of applause from us.
Wish I could say the same for poor old Michel Roux Jnr, Michelin-starred chef and Celebrity Masterchef presenter. In Episode Four he made the fatal mistake of choosing a specialist subject related to his job, the culinary bible which is Escoffier’s Guide to Modern Cooking. Michel started badly, not knowing the London hotel where Escoffier had been based in 1899, and then imploded, only scoring four points. He didn’t know his chestnuts from his raspberries and got his garnishes all muddled up. I’m convinced if he’d been asked to name the mixture of butter and flour used to thicken sauces, he would have passed on that too.
I missed Stacey's one sadly but I did see Michele Roux and I died a little inside for him.
By the way t'inlaws have a cockerpoo!
Very Bored – I felt sad for him too; I hid behind the cushion and kept imagining his assistant, Monica, tutting at the debacle.
Would that be on that thing that sits in the corner and has football players moving around on it. Do you have one that doesn't do football? Wow! *heads off to amazon*
Kelloggsville – our thing in the corner had a fault recently and seemed permanently tuned into the darts. Seems to have sorted itself now.
We watched Stacey too and Gawd-bless-her we thought she was very sweet…..that square thing in the corner in our house? sport too.
I'm a big Jessica Hynes fan so it was a real thrill seeing her on Mastermind. She's so lovely I'd've made her the winner just for turning up. Loved the Pam Ayres poem she read out too.
Libby – A great sport and I loved the fact that it didn't bother her.
Steve – I laughed at Jessica wasting so much time at the beginning of the general knowledge round wittering on about why she'd got the answer wrong. I was shouting at the telly, get on with it woman!
Gawd, I can just imagine the cringe-worthiness of it all. Half of those celebs, however, are so thick that they don't even know when they're supposed to be embarrassed!
And those square things in the corner, aren't even working in my house which is why I'm sitting here commenting and waiting for the repair man. I am going to start taking bets. He said he'd be here between i and 3. I'm going for 2.55pm.
Our telly only does Sky Atlantic these days…. and World Wrestling
Expat Mum – I think Monsieur Roux definitely knew it was embarrassing: he put a brave face on it and pulled a bit back in the general knowledge, though did say a dried fruit originally from Corinth was a raisin and it was a currant.
Has your repair man arrived yet?
Macy – How interesting: all these niche TV sets popping up all over the country đ
Missed Michel Roux but saw Stacey! I switched it on just as she sat down and wondered what on earth I was watching at first!! I loved how they were quite kind and asked quite easy questions (i.e. the champagne one) to suit her, and thought she was a good sport for having a go at least, but Mastermind?? đ
Sounds a laugh. I missed it all. My Sky dish has moved so I can't get any UK tele at all and it's been so windy there's no point trying to fix it yet.
Bavarian Sojourn – the questions in general are much easier than for normal contestants. Probably just as well as it would be even more embarrassing for everyone. Have to love Stacey!
Sarah – The episodes are still available on BBC iPlayer if you really want to sit behind a cushion and cringe.
I've enjoyed the special Masterminds – but the questions are so much easier than the normal Mastermind (& I also tend to think the General Knowledge rounds are geared to the contestants backgrounds).
Stacey was lovely…bless her …and I really liked Neil Hannon who looked so chuffed to have won!
I tried to watch the episode with Stacey on it but the whole thing was drowned out by sound of the shah and his son caterwauling with laughter. Good on her- I wouldn't be brave enough!
Ouch…sounds like MRJ fell off his teeny little pedestal…
I hadn't thought to watch this…but I'll look for it now, on the iPlayer.
Love to see Roux make a hash…without even flambeing it.
Hilarious! Me watching this would be like a fat bloke watching sports on TV and giving all the players advice. I would be slapping my head when they got it wrong (knowing I was utterly clueless!)
Glynis – Do you know, I wondered if the questions were a bit geared towards each contestant. Not sure, but they are definitely easier.
I watched the episode with Miles Jupp in it and all four contestants were pretty good.
Curry queen – I know, we were laughing too. A bit cruel at the time but we did cheer at the end as she was such a good sport.
Lottie – if only he'd picked a subject other than cookery he would have been ok but we were all so convince it would be a walk in the park…and I think he did too!
Fly in the web – Episode 4 on iPlayer. Well worth a watch. He kept smiling though!
Lovely to see you here, by the way.
About last weekend – Oh aren't we all like that: such armchair critics and yes, our brains would turn to mush as soon as we were in the black chair.
I didn't see it Trish but several people tweeted that they must have got the questions mixed up with The Weakest Link. Mind you, I watched ordinary Mastermind last night and the women who won had questions that were much easier than the men.
Wylye Girl – The celeb Mastermind questions are very Weakest Link as I can answer them reasonably well. Interesting comment about the proper non-celeb one!
LOL!! I obviously do not watch that programm, but now wish I could!
PS: I have FINALLY passed the Liebster Blog Award on…
Oh I'm so glad I missed it! I'd have been hiding behind the sofa in embarrassment on their behalf!
Sorry to have missed you too though – have been pretty absent from blogging recently so just catching up. Hope all good with you.
Plan b – So pleased to see your comment and hear you're back in blogging circles but with new baby and your other little ones, you have a very decent excuse!
English TV is so much better than American TV…I'm jealous that you get to watch much superior programming.
Vinogirl – Thanks for popping over to comment. I think you're probably right in general terms and yet we Brits still moan that 'there's nothing worth watching'. We forget how many times we watch decent documentaries and dramas.