Agree though the celeb version should be a series of heats and a final, though I think they now do some Champions of Champions versions.
I don't. The second you start taking it more seriously than just an idle half hour and asking people to commit to it for several nights, you lose its appeal. You have seen how they're scheduling it, haven't you?
I appreciate that it's mainly a bit of fun and for charity but as in last night's there were a couple of decent subjects so it can be unfairly balanced. Take Pointless for example, the celebrity version is pretty much true to the civilian version. Mastermind is not, and also what gets me is that the celebrity version is not a knockout competition version and you can win a trophy on the most flimsy of effort.
Why should it matter, though? It's like the London Marathon, people run that for charity wearing ridiculous costumes and walking half the way. That does not detract from the prestige and the obvious achievement of winning the race as an elite athlete. The two forms of Mastermind can happily co-exist and people watch both with different expectations. If Pointless can give out ten trophies a week, I don't begrudge Mastermind knocking out a dozen a year.
There was a quiz on primetime Saturday night BBC1 with rounds on Queen Mary and military aircraft, and regardless of the competitiveness of the format, I find that quite impressive. You never got that on The Price Is Right.
