Make Me an Egghead

Make Me an Egghead is a British quiz show on BBC Two presented by Jeremy Vine. It was a spin-off from Eggheads with the goal to find two further Eggheads, one male and one female, to complement the existing team of seven. It ran from 22 August to 23 September 2016 and was won by Steve Cooke and Beth Webster. A similar show, Are You an Egghead?, aired in 2008 and 2009.

Make Me an Egghead
Directed by	Suzanne Pearse
Presented by	Jeremy Vine
Starring	Dave Rainford Lisa Thiel Pat Gibson Barry Simmons Chris Hughes Kevin Ashman Judith Keppel
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	25
Production
Executive producers	Andy Culpin Rob Dean
Producer	Claire Capaldi
Running time	30/45 minutes
Production company	12 Yard
Original release
Network	BBC Two
Release	22 August (2016-08-22) – 23 September 2016 (2016-09-23)

Background

After CJ de Mooi left Eggheads for an acting career in Cape Town, South Africa,^[1] the BBC announced that it would be airing a televised search for two replacement Eggheads,^[2] one male, one female.^[3] The show aired adjacently to Debatable:^[4] the former at 6 pm, Make Me an Egghead at 6:30 pm. Both were commissioned for twenty half-hour episodes and five 45-minute episodes,^[5] and both were broadcast for the first time on the same day, 22 August 2016.^[6]

Format

The heats were played in five rounds. The first three rounds focused on one of nine subject categories (out of Politics, Arts & Books, Food & Drink, History, Geography, Science, Music, Film & Television and Sport). Both players were asked in turn three triple-choice questions, and the player with the most correct answers won the round. If there was no winner, the round entered sudden death where alternative answers were not given. The winner selects any of the five Eggheads that have not yet been chosen and three head start points for the quickfire round if they win the general knowledge round. The fourth round is a variant of the first three, and is a general knowledge round with the challenger able to consult each Egghead they have won, although only once. The winner of this round is the winner of the contest and starts with three points for each of the first three rounds won. They then compete in the fifth round, a quickfire round for two minutes with a point for each correct answer. The leading four male and female contenders advance to the semi-final stage.^[7]

Results

The contestant in bold won and contested the quickfire round, while the contestant in normal fonts was eliminated.

Episode	Date	Gender	Contestants and head-to-head results	Quickfire points	Total points
1	22 August 2016	Male	Gareth Kingston 2–1 Alan Heath	14	20
2	23 August 2016	Female	Marianne Fairthorne 2–1 Dani Harvie	14	20
3	24 August 2016	Male	Michael Taylor 1–2 Ian Bayley	21	27
4	25 August 2016	Female	Nancy Dickmann 1–2 Nicola Morgan	12	15
5	26 August 2016	Male	Rupy Jandu 1–2 Sam Roberts	9	12
6	29 August 2016	Female	Diane Hallagan 0–3 Kit Lommerud-Olsen	11	20
7	30 August 2016	Male	Craig Element 1–2 Saïd Khan	18	21
8	31 August 2016	Female	Kathryn Johnson 2–1 Amber Marshall	13	16
9	1 September 2016	Male	Gary Grant 3–0 Martyn Oram	19	28
10	2 September 2016	Female	Emma Laslett 0–3 Frankie Fanko	15	24
11	5 September 2016	Male	Steve Cooke 3–0 Clive Dunning	23	32
12	6 September 2016	Female	Nicki Cockburn[8] 3–0 Katy Williams	16	25
13	7 September 2016	Male	David Edwards 2–1 Terry Toomey	15	18
14	8 September 2016	Female	Janet French 2–1 Lou Wilson	5	8
15	9 September 2016	Male	Gerard Mackay 1–2 Jamie Dodding	24	27
16	12 September 2016	Female	Rachael Neiman 1–2 Beth Webster	15	21
17	13 September 2016	Male	Brian Davis 2–1 Michael McPartland	11	17
18	14 September 2016	Female	Jo Neill 0–3 Dr Jane McCartney	6	15
19	15 September 2016	Male	Nic Paul 1–2 Dom Tait	17	23
20	16 September 2016	Female	Steph O'Donoghue 1–2 Julia Hobbs	16	22

Men's leaderboard Place Contestant Total score 1 Steve Cooke 32 2 Gary Grant 28 3 Gerard Mackay 27 4 Ian Bayley 27 5 Dom Tait 23 6 Craig Element 21 7 Gareth Kingston 20 8 Terry Toomey 18 9 Brian Davis 17 10 Rupy Jandu 12

Women's leaderboard Place Contestant Total score 1 Nicki Cockburn 25 2 Frankie Fanko 24 3 Julia Hobbs 22 4 Beth Webster 21 5 Marianne Fairthorne 20 6 Kit Lommerud-Olsen 20 7 Amber Marshall 16 8 Dr Jane McCartney 15 9 Nancy Dickmann 15 10 Lou Wilson 8

In the event of a tie, the leader was the contestant who answered their last correct answer earliest in the quickfire round.

Semi-finals

The format was the same as that used previously on Are You an Egghead?, with the two contestants playing five head-to-head rounds and then a final round to decide the winner. The prize for winning a head-to-head round is to choose one of the Eggheads to help in the final round.^[9]

In the five preliminary rounds, the contestants are given a category, with the player who came higher on the leader board after the first round choosing whether or not to go first in the opening round. 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 winner then gets to choose an Egghead and whether to go first or second in the next round.^[9]

After the preliminary rounds the final round takes place, in which the contestants are asked five General Knowledge multiple choice questions each. Sudden death again determines the winner should the scores be level after the first five questions. The contestants can call on the help of the Eggheads they have won in the head to head rounds should they wish. An individual Egghead can only be used once, although more than one Egghead can be used for a particular question.^[9]

Results

Episode	Date	Gender	Contestants and final round score	Eggheads selected
21	19 September 2016	Male	Gary Grant 3–5 Gerard Mackay	Gerard (4): Pat, Lisa, Judith, Barry. Gary (1): Kevin
22	20 September 2016	Female	Frankie Fanko 2–4 Julia Hobbs	Julia (3): Pat, Lisa, Chris. Frankie (2): Dave, Barry
23	21 September 2016	Male	Steve Cooke 5–3 Ian Bayley	Ian (2): Pat, Barry. Steve (3): Kevin, Lisa, Dave
24	22 September 2016	Female	Nicki Cockburn 3–4 Beth Webster	Beth (5): Judith, Kevin, Dave, Lisa, Pat. Nicki (0)

Final

In the final there were two head-to-head rounds with each contestant choosing the category for one of the two rounds. The winner of each round earned a three-point head start for the final round. The final general knowledge round was played up to ten, the contestants starting with the points gained in the two head-to-head rounds. The questions in the final round were not multiple-choice.^[10]

Results

Episode	Date	Gender	Contestants and final score
25	23 September 2016	Male	Steve Cooke 10 (3) – 5 (3) Gerard Mackay
		Female	Julia Hobbs 6 (0) – 10 (6) Beth Webster

The number given in brackets was the head start score after the head-to-head rounds.

Steve Cooke, the winning man, is a member of Mensa who previously won £12,900 on The People Versus in 2001.^[11]

Beth Webster, the winning woman, holds a record for the most appearances by a woman on the BBC's Mastermind. She is active on the Quizzing Grand Prix Circuit in the United Kingdom, and in The Quiz League of London.^[12] She and the Women's runner-up, Julia Hobbs, were both ranked as "Sages" in the 2012 Order of Merit listings of the British Quiz Association.^[13]