University Challenge S47E27 St John's - Cambridge vs Ulster

[@alejandroquesada]

Fun fact, after doing some research by gathering data since season 44, getting 25 points on the first question (starter + 3 bonuses) gives your team a 3:1 winning ratio and simply being on the team that presses the buzzer first (this includes those that interrupt the question wrong) gives you a 14:9 ratio of winning. Correlation may not imply causation, but l'll be darned if l'm going to gather all of this data and not share it with anyone!

[@lcflngn]

Alejandro Quesada That is a fun fact :)

[@lcflngn]

Holding still I think? If I haven't lost track.

[@alejandroquesada]

Happy to see you interested in this silly research of mine still... l might as well give you the full data (updated up to episode 29 of this season): i.imgur.com/vhJFv07.png (Negative five means the question was interrupted with a wrong answer, zero is just answering wrong, ten is only getting the starter, fifteen is getting the starter and a bonus... l think you got it) :D My hypothesis started as 'Does getting the first word out give the team a 'confidence' advantage?' lt's most likely just correlation, but it's still pretty neat. :D

[@Sandra27HK]

Alejandro Quesada Good stuff! As u say, correlation may not imply causation, coz I think the Twitter factor plays a large part resulting in the 'feeding' of questions which I've detailed on the individual episode message boards, like a big chunk of art questions for Courtauld & Goldman, classical music for Bowes, etc. etc. However I also like playing with numbers, and as u already have the data, wondered if you've compared smaller data sets of each episode of 37Qs each OR Finalists of 44, 45 & 46 (about 30%) v. the Rest, and whether the numbers held up? They prob wouldn't for the latter and the difference could be the Twitter/feed factor. Haven't touched basic stats in awhile as we used Excel for our Biz Stats course so hope u can make sense of the above :P

[@alejandroquesada]

Sadly, l'm also not quite knoledgeable enough on statistics to know the answers to those questions... This is actually one of the reasons why l made my silly gathered data as public as can be here, maybe someone with a greater degree of knowledge will one day calculate for 'standard deviation' and 'margen of error' and just overall the likelihood that each first question's outcome will have on the winning scenario. l do, however, find that the Twitter factor is an interesting point of view that probably does have a higher degree of influence over which team wins.

[@KSfan4ever]

McKeown is fascinating to watch because at first glance, she seems unsure of the answer, but then, in her calm, soft voice, she hits it over the net almost every time. Wonderful.

[@Euanbuddie]

It’s sad to see her get it wrong though, because you can see in her eyes she’s beating herself up, despite the fact that she virtually holds that entire team up.

[@richardgibson1872]

she's a lovely intelligent woman. I like that

[@dannydoc1969]

McKeown is simply brilliant, in every match, her range and depth of knowledge is enormous.

[@andrea22213]

Magnificent!

[@nodiggity9472]

I bet she's a great cook too.

[@makeupmadness4982]

I love McKeown she seems like such a genuine and lovely person and she’s a great asset to the team.

[@gitgit4]

Ulster is very entertaining team. Sad to see them lost

[@gitgit4]

ITubaUTuba lol, *lose.

[@satori4183]

McKeown slays! Excited for the finale between St Johns and Merton :)

[@adamwalker9796]

Providing they don't meet in the semi-finals, of course. Or in the quarter final playoffs.

[@ShaktiShetty]

Ritchie was trailblazing in the comeback. Good force.

[@philipmulville8218]

McKeown's range and depth of knowledge is just incredible.

[@sarah854r4h]

McKeown is amazing!

[@Hadeesyoutube]

St. John's VS Merton will be a great match when it happens!

[@kingmisogyny1852]

HadeesHeart let's be honest, Akira Wiberg alone could beat them .

[@krislove1167]

@@kingmisogyny1852 Well this didn't age well

[@peachfreude]

McKeown is brilliant

[@christinao1787]

I was surprised the American on the St John's - Cambridge team couldn't identify Cape Cod.

[@jennelynnatividad464]

I know, especially since he knew that he was looking at Massachusets. I'm afraid it could be because the captain hastily said that they didn't know. Perhaps another second or two and it would've come to John Clark's mind. By the way, he does the City of Angels proud!!!

[@lcflngn]

West coast issue :)

[@jennelynnatividad464]

I'm from L.A. and I got it. I think he would've gotten it as well given another second or so especially considering that he knew he was looking at Massachusetts...if only the captain did not say "pass" so quickly. Anyway, isn't it in their interest to take their time while conferring over the bonus questions especially if they have the lead?

[@stephennelson7884]

Perhaps because it doesn't look like a cod Christina?

[@lcflngn]

Jennelyn Natividad Agree, geography of anywhere is my worst thing, so that's me. He did great this week on the US esp.

[@unclerogerANKI]

I thought the questions seemed rather favourable to Devine-Stoneman's knowledge of particle physics? I'm aghast he couldn't recognise Twin Peaks... Shame for Ulster, they were fun indeed.

[@Dani_London]

Thanks for the upload, psi. You are and always will be my hero

[@marty9011]

Go St.John's ! Thanks Psi for upload.

[@sfumato8884]

Nearly spit out my damn fine coffee when Devine-Stoneman said “Mad Men”!

[@ManfromuncoolBlogspotstars]

St Johns have obviously been wasting their lives far away from the silver screen in disreputable places like libraries...

[@unclerogerANKI]

Yeah, not recognising Twin Peaks was a massive fail. But even the much more mature Ulster team took some time...

[@minhvo8645]

Nobody couldn't know everything, anyway.

[@vncntd3962]

It was an odd match, dominated by one side and then the other for longish stretches of the game. The right team won in the end, even though they misidentified Twin Peaks as Mad Men, which is hard to forgive - but I will.

[@castelodeossos3947]

John Ford directing 'Out of Africa', an answer by an American, is perhaps as hard to forgive.

[@xiao2310]

Im looking forward for them to battle Merton!

[@samb5017]

what is going on with the editing for the music round??

[@jesmalar]

That was a great game!

[@andrea22213]

It is only at the halfway point that Ulster get on the scoreboard!

[@Sandra27HK]

Yep I was thinking 'Howard' then wrote 'H' olowitz instead! :) Why do people read posts from 2 months ago?

[@castelodeossos3947]

I read posts from 5 years ago, because working my way through old UC challenges. Fail to see what's wrong with commenting on old comments. Not as if an opinion becomes irrelevant with age.

[@davidlightman6801]

Thank you!

[@jackbauer5386]

I don't get why in Ulster's team, the leader who does a PhD in Pharmacy had to get all of these answers from the lady studying fine arts.

[@richardwebb2348]

why should she be denied the opportunity to share her knowledge - maybe you think such behavior inappropriate for a woman - science and fine arts!!!

[@castelodeossos3947]

@@richardwebb2348 There, didn't have to scroll very long for the obligatory accusation of misogyny. Tiresome, oh, so tiresome the way innocent remarks are immediately pounced upon as implying all sorts of nonsense.

[@eisaatana96]

Surprised no one got the Vostok question

[@adamwalker9796]

Is that hair that McKeown has? That stuff she kept tied back in the last two matches?

[@josephkarl2061]

It is, and *subjectively* it makes her look more like one of those female leads in a formulaic Hollywood romcom (tight-laced girl learns to lighten up and live because of the power of love, etc.) Quite nice, subjectively.

[@adamwalker9796]

Joseph Karl Quite

[@satori4183]

Now this is a weird comment.

[@adamwalker9796]

Which one?

[@satori4183]

Yours. About the fact that McKeown has hair.

[@ay2257]

18:18 :D

[@Kkardemumma]

1:08 Hi, I'm Ed Winchester.

[@jennelynnatividad464]

St. John's Cambridge all the way!!!

[@maryanc8753]

I will really be gutted if St. John's doesn't go all the way.

[@richardgibson1872]

McKeown is lovely and intelligent woman i love her

[@Typosflair]

St John's look a bit like supervillains, a shame Ulster got going too late.

[@adamwalker9796]

Lukas Maria aus Wien How?

[@Typosflair]

their looks are too gimmicky for my taste. They've got the aristocratic billionaire seeking world domination at the left, then the russian spy, perfectly disguised as a librarian and the mad scientist conducting human subject research in his basement on the right. Finally, their captain studies something I had to google, which made them even more eldritch to me.

[@adamwalker9796]

Lukas Maria aus Wien Correction: They have the German spy. Given that McKeown studies French and German. But yeah, I see what you mean.

[@Sandra27HK]

Lukas Maria aus Wien Funny. Gimmicky is right and probably the best-looking team. McKeown spot on. Levin lacks the clean sophisticated look of a billionaire (Ive dated a few :) instead seems to me to be wearing his (larger) dads jackets and looks and dresses alot like Holowitz from BBT so Id peg him as the mad scientist, Hazell as the 'Heavy/Cleaner' and the captain as the charming smooth talker :)

[@adamwalker9796]

Sandra27HK I suupose the belief of him seeking world domination is his subject.

[@aaa-sg8bs]

LEE

[@thomas-lb6gx]

ya boy Kevin spacey making a surprise appearance 👍🔝

[@Sandra27HK]

Ulster could beat St Johns in the final a la Balliol v. Wolfson.

[@christinescover8093]

Ulster storm

[@kingmisogyny1852]

ST-John are a great team but let's be honest,they are no challenge to Merton. Akira Wiberg could probably whoop them by himshelf

[@memorandom7484]

Good stuff, the best team certainly won - I still say a team entirely made up of mature students with 2-3 times more life experience and time to accumulate knowledge is bloody cheating, so it's nice when they lose.

[@Typosflair]

I don't agree. I feel like the old guys are the only ones that aren't elitist, rich geniuses on this show. They're the people's team here.

[@gauravkakkar9775]

Lukas Maria aus Wien just to let you know that more than 60% of Cambridge students are state educated and the number rises as the push for equal opportunity rises.

[@ianmcdougall1654]

Never read so much Peru - Iran - Scotland - Holland in all my life !- go figure clever clogs and then understand why!

[@itsybitsy999]

I completely disagree. The older you get it's harder to remember things (I would know). The younger students are often straight out of school and can therefore remember knowledge from many different subjects they studied at school (even if they're studying English at university, they may remember science, mathematics, geography etc). I love the Ulster team.

[@castelodeossos3947]

@@itsybitsy999 Agree. Winning teams depend not so much on their university studies for the wide range of subjects but on their schooling.

[@artistsanomalous7369]

What a bunch of freaks the St John's team are.

[@mickyboyakari1502]

First!