Wednesday 24-01-2018 - 12:54

You may have spotted a whole crew of Durham students on Eggheads recently: Craig Bateman, Reece Moore, Grace Jeynes, Kyle Kirkpatrick and Jonty Bayliss, appearing as the aptly named ‘Palatinmates’. We spoke to Craig Bateman about what went on behind-the-scenes.

Towards the end of Easter term 2017, a group of five students from Durham University including myself auditioned to be contestants on the BBC’s prime time quiz show, Eggheads.

The auditions included an individual telephone interview where we were asked multiple choice and quick-fire questions. We were then tasked with producing a group video explaining the reasons we applied to be on the show – signposting meeting Durham alumnus and Eggheads host Jeremy Vine as one of the main reasons! As our team captain, Reece, has been an avid fan of the show since it began, we were able to mention a long-standing affinity with Eggheads too!

After a challenging audition, we were notified that we had been successful. As several members of the team worked on Durham’s student newspaper Palatinate, and Jeremy Vine was its editor in the 80s, we decided to make our team name ‘Palatimates’.

On the big day, we arrived at the BBC Glasgow studios at lunchtime. We were greeted by a production assistant who took us to the mysterious ‘green room’ – a banqueting area where contestants go to ‘charge their batteries’ before going live. Here, we were greeted by a heavenly host of culinary delights, including soup, bread, cheese, and many sweets too!

Time in the ‘green room’ flew away. We then made the journey to the studios where we met the extremely pleasant Eggheads and indulged Jeremy Vine in momentary reminiscing about his time at Durham. After some last-minute makeup, the famous theme tune played and the show began. The rounds that team members played included food, books and arts, sports, and finally music, which was my round.

For this round, I went against Barry, who’s a notoriously strong Egghead but had some prior weaknesses in music. We walked to the iconic ‘questioning room’, a stroll away from the studio. The round soon got underway, and thankfully I was able to prove victorious in both questions – one which focused on musicals and the other on one of the most iconic sounds of the 70s and 80s, Meatloaf. Throughout, Barry retained his ever-present grace and congratulated me on the way back to the studio.

Although we did not prove successful in the final round, the day provided a wonderful opportunity for some post-exam fun and a fantastic way to catch up with one of Durham’s most famous alumni.