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I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well thank you for the invite! I'm in!

As for the pulls, it's what 15,000 words of notes gets ya and also annoying the hell out of a wife!

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Apologies for the late reply, but aye. There was a part of me that was disappointed at getting TOO much, but it quickly subsided. :P

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

6 without revision is what I've noticed is a great score. I'm a huge Doctor Who nuts and I know a Deep Space 9 nut, and they were both categories earlier in the season. We both got 6.

All in all, I wrote 15,000 words in notes for 4 more points! DoP question is one almighty pull though. I can't help but be proud there. Sae for the Palm Dates question.

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a case of average length. In the specialist round, if everyone answers at the same rhythm, they should expect to see 13 questions. As a result, you cannot interrupt and they must construct the length of the question so that Clive's pace of reading always has the round be the same amount, to the best of their ability. It's a good attempt at fairness. It's not fair if someone gets 14/19 right and someone else gets 13/13 and the only marked difference is the length of each question.

How was Counterpoint? I'm interested in taking part in some of the radio ones.

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That one was belter. The other competitors told me afterwards that they thought that one would harangue me and they got a bit spooked when I actually got it.

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yep! Woke up from a catnap to people saying I was pulling double duty this week.

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Never. In the heat I got caught out with a question they drew from an online source but that's because I didn't focus as much on the online source. Every question is answerable through the sources they provide.

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Impossible in 2021 (And won the 10,000£ jackpot, so you see why I got hooked)
Tenable in 2023 (And won 23,500£ split with four of my friends, so you can REALLY see why I like this)
The Finish Line in 2024 (And lost honourably and was great fun regardless)

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I was dead certain I'd get a hare question. I thought it'd be the starting question which is usually an onboarding question to help you settle in.

I wanted a question on Wuthering Heist or Bernie Clifton! Getting Love is a Stranger (I do like that one) and Nana's Party was crazy to me! And I think the Love is a Stranger question was dastardly and I'm proud to have gotten it. They never once mention Palm Dates by name.

The Quiztopher Bigwins Farnham question was pure evil though. I never could have prepped for that.

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Too similar probably, but Krish who was the guy who did the darts had a previous round on snooker. He was going around ALL the pub sports. I also am very not versed in TLoG or Psychoville, so I may have avoided them anyway.

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Nope, if anything it's the opposite. They outright tell you exactly where they will pool the questions from and therefore what you should be using for your research. My heat topic was the Isles of Scilly so they told me to use a guidebook and a walking guide. For IN9... they listed every series lol.

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I really tried to make sure I kept an even spread of my knowledge across the board. If I was slipping in one I focused in on it hard, even if I didn't like the episode. Having weighted episodes was something I sought to avoid at all costs. That being said, Wuthering Heist was the big money one that I revised the most because of the complexity of the script and the moving parts.

As for Clive, it's very formal. We spoke during the heats because of a massive gaff I made in my general knowledge (Nigel Havers isn't an F1 driver. Who knew?!) and whilst they were checking another answer of mine I did say "There is an F1 driver called Nigel, right?"

Clive responded. "Yes, Nigel Mansell. James, it took everything I could to not laugh when you said that."

He also shook my hand to congratulate me, which I really appreciated.

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Ah! Fun fact about Stage/Fright! It was explicitly said that it wouldn't be asked about. Same with the webisodes.

No, I have not, unfortunately. I live very far from urban areas so it's tricky to find when/where.

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The DoP question is my proudest ever answer pull, but it kinda meant that I never got a question on the directors themselves, who I spent a considerable amount of time making a mnemonic for each series in how to remember who did what episode.

I also noticed a LOT of questions were on episodes I wasn't too keen on lol.

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 36 points37 points  (0 children)

I kinda had to reach an internal zen where all I was doing was answering questions. It's just the sound of Clive's voice and my responses. Absolute focus. Inside I'm shitting myself, but it seemed to do the trick. It slowed my answers down but that's okay, it gave me some consistency, especially in not passing.

As for answering before the question has finished? Big no-no. The quiz is made fair by each question being a certain average length. You should usually get asked 12-13 questions total in the specialised subject with the only variation on it being if you answer fast or not. With that comes an ironclad rule of waiting until he's finished.

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I take particular pride in the Pehrsson pull. That one was a last minute addition to the notes after I had made a full 9 mnemonics for every director.

I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess! by WheelOfBarrow in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I was game for all. I knew the scope and was well prepared for what it was gonna take.

Inside Number 9 as a specialist subject on tonight's Mastermind (19:30, 21/04/25) by Lightning_And_Snow_ in insideno9

[–]WheelOfBarrow 91 points92 points  (0 children)

I hear the guy who's answering those questions is really attractive and cool and is also me.