Eggheads

A reasonable quiz in that it is better than many now available for entertainment. Mastermind has become rather boring, the question subjects are so mundane,(TV programmes, pop groups.) Not quite the selection of intellectual specialities it used to have.

Anyway, Eggheads is quite entertaining with a touch of added humour (always good in my book) Some of the visiting teams do appear to have been vetted for little other than novelty value. The questions do seem to vary in their difficulty quotient rather, especially in the head-to-head extra questions.

There are always 3 stronger cast members, Chris with his trains, Keven (had to be) who looks as if he would rather not be there at all, Daphne, CJ's surrogate Mum(Tell him to sort out his hair, he looks more like Widow Twankie as the weeks go on!) Then there is The Posh Traveller, Judith, and the non-conformist CJ 'Do I look good in this' Da Mooi. They seem to hit on the right answers more by luck than judgement. Anyway 'A nice little earner' Passes the time. Thanks

This is a show we never miss; it provides both entertainment and a degree of enlightening knowledge.

Sure, there are irritating aspects in the annoying blue set and occasional robot-like host Jeremy Vine. Currently (January 2013) we are viewing 2009 episodes in Australia and Dermot Murnaghan is a far better host. He shows far more empathy for both the challengers and the Eggheads and seems not bound to a fixed script.

The Eggheads themselves are pretty much a cross section of humanity. Chris, down to earth, shooting straight from the shoulder; Daphne, always cheerful, but with a memory like a steel trap; CJ, playing a part totally unlike his real self; Barry, a bit of a mystery with what often appears to be a forced smile; Kevin, similar to but not as forceful as Chris and finally, Judith, who also has a mighty memory but seems off her game in these 2009 episodes.

Overall, this is a show worth watching and long may it continue to grace our screens.

As a personal 'must see' in the early evenings here in the UK, I catch Eggheads when I can. The show at the time of posting has now been going ten years. The format is easy-going. A team of 'challengers' take on what is commonly described as 'Possibly the best team of quizzers in Britain' as the Eggheads team consists of those who have become champions in former TV quiz shows in the UK. The two 'strongest' members it has to be said are Kevin Ashman and Daphne Fowler. The show has lost CJ De Mooi who was a regular on the team.

The team(s) consist of five members, but the Eggheads team has its standard five, but others who alternate leaving two others off the team when on in the 'five'. This 'alternating' team also consists of Barry Simmons, Pat Gibson, Judith Keppel, Chris Hughes and Dave Rainford. There is talk of CJ De Mooi returning after pursuing an acting career.

The challengers' team will be asked which of their number wants to take on which Egghead as long as that one hasn't already been on (after first being asked if your team wants to go 'first or second'). If you lose the multiple choice answers (3) to the question, well you lose! If at the end of three it's a draw, then a 'sudden death' shootout takes place without the 'multiple choice' help, so the winning answers in that case have to come from the depths of your knowledge. Series have been hosted by Dermot Murnaghan and Jeremy Vine (Brother of comedian Tim vine).

The show offers a prize, per show of £1,000 but this rolls over if the challengers fail to win, by another £1,000. As mostly is the case, when the Eggheads win, this will then mean tens of thousands of pounds further down the line to a team that does beat them.

As can be seen on the message boards about Eggheads, many have their pet-hates of the Eggheads team or particular members and some are asking if it's fair, that, some of the challenging teams aren't really from a broad perspective of knowledge and thrown in to the arena without a real cat-in-hell's-chance of winning - but some have won in spectacular fashion. A team of students were once all knocked out leaving just one challenger to continue in the final against ALL the Egghead team. This challenger won through and a total of £75,000! My favourite persons are probably Judith and Pat. Others have described Chris, Daphne, Kevin, Barry and CJ as unbelievably smug and a few of that number do indeed seem to sulk at losing or show extreme annoyance! Dave seems morose but I think that's just his manner, he's not really! Chris and Barry do remind you somewhat of the dodgy uncle tucking you into bed at night Daphne can be sickening in pretending, I believe, in not knowing the answer when she does and CJ often lost his round, only to be flailing his arms around when the rest of the Eggheads don't get a question right (even though, as I say, he's often already been knocked out). A good show, just to see them lose - hee-hee-hee!

I love quizzes, and I presume anyone reading this does too. The premise of the show is that a pub team of 5 people goes up against the quiz show's Dream Team of 5 quiz boffins. There are 5 rounds. The first 4 are a one-on-one between a contestant and an egghead. The winner goes thru to the final round, the loser goes out. The more eggheads you can knock out in the first 4 rounds, the fewer you face in the final general knowledge round and thus have a better chance of winning.

I think the combined knowledge of the Eggheads is fascinating. I love how they not only know the answer but know every scrap of info around the answer. The pub team very rarely win but it is worth watching regardless a) for the rare occasions when they do and b) just to see how ridiculously easy the questions are to Kevin & Daphne. To those who think "just challenge Daphne on sport" - you do know that Sport is her strongest category. Judith is undoubtedly the weakest of the 5, so facing her can get you thru easily, but you wont win if you don't knock out Kevin & Daphne ! It's one of the few programmes I really enjoy watching, although I admit it could have been better if there were more questions involved.

The questions are of a decent enough difficulty not to exclude people like university challenge does, but there are two problems with this show One is the fact that it takes too long to do anything (they need to get on with it sometimes). Everything takes place so slowly.

The largest problem is the fact that I can't help but want to punch the TV screen when I see the Eggheads' smug little faces - especially CJ, who is aim assiv tw@, not only in my opinion, it seems.

That's the problem with this premise. Sure, it's interesting and challenging to take on some of the smartest people in the country, but in watching this, you know you're massaging their egos all the way, huffing under your breath that you hate them.