Talk:Mastermind (British game show)

Untitled
Please add the winner of 2005 Junior Mastermind to this article. I would myself, but I have forgotten. --Jawr256 13:47, Jun 1, 2005 (UTC)

I've added the format of the game - the intro hinted at this, but didn't give details. I'm also tempted to add the layout - walking up the the black chair must add to the contestant's claustrophobia and nervousness. CS Miller 21:11, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

Game show or quiz show
I'm not from the UK so I can't tell if this is a game show or a TV series. Please feel free to correct me based on Naming conventions (television). Thanks! --Reflex Reaction (talk)• 15:29, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

Mastermind is a quiz show. There is no 'game' element to it, the aim is solely to accumulate as many points as possible with the time alotted. Martyn Smith 12:11, 12 June 2006 (UTC) (contestant on current series, programme to be broadcast 6 July 2006, 2200 hrs BBC2. So watch it!)

POV regarding ESPN host
"Unlike Mastermind presenters, Mayne has a very dry, quirky and sometimes sarcastic sense of humor, but did a very good job of keeping the game going; he would quickly jump in if one of the celebrity panelists was tardy in posing their question, so as not to penalise the contestant." This seems a bit much, even if it's true. -Dmh 13:34, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

What are your sources for the contestant lists?
In order put the right Chippenham link in Mastermind 2005 Results, I would like to find out which Chippenham Richard Pierce (author and freelance lecturer) comes from (Wiltshire or Cambridgeshire). A quick google search isn't coming up with anything. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 14:10, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Celebrity Mastermind
Some mention of the celebrity version should probably be added to the article, perhaps in the "Versions of Mastermind" section. 81.153.95.107 06:17, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Linking Magnús Magnússon more than once
Anon ISP editor 82.108,46.34 keeps linking the name Magnus Magnusson, no doubt, with the idea in mind that he needs to link the unaccented version to the article with its accented name Magnús Magnússon. There really is no need for this, as the unaccented link Magnus Magnusson redirects automatically to the article whichever version you use. Dieter Simon 22:56, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm somewhat disappointed...
How is it that the well-known Israeli adaptation 'Makbilit Hamokhot' is not mentioned here? Siúnrá (talk) 14:42, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Statistics
I'm currently adding the scoring stats from the last few years. I was wondering if any of you wizards would be able to better sort the data into a more presentable fashion. It might even be worth putting them on a seperate page. Any ideas? My wikipedia are quite basic thought. --ILuveStatsMam (talk) 14:59, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

Specialist subject choices
As someone who auditioned for the 2009 season (won by Nancy Dickmann), I'd like to clarify the ruling regarding specialist subjects:

You need to choose four different subjects (assuming you make it to the finals) - but, realistically, you would need about a dozen in reserve, as you cannot have a specialist subject which has been used recently.

In no specific order, I had originally selected Harry Potter (rejected, due to recent use), the Narnia books, the radio series Journey Into Space, Mission Earth by L Ron Hubbard and, when I discovered I couldn't have Harry Potter, I had to think fast on my feet - I think I settled for 70s pop music.

Not that it mattered - I never made it on to the show.

Incidentally, at the audition (I was the only one present), which, in my case, was held at the BBC studios in Bristol, there were two gentlemen. They fired general knowledge questions at me in the style of the show (John Humphrys and the black chair were not present - we used a green room and a normal chair, sat round a table) - they wouldn't tell me how I did.

Over a week later, I got a phone call - I never made it on to the show - they also wouldn't tell me even then how well I did with those questions - I still don't know to this day how many I got right or wrong.

Arthurvasey (talk) 00:19, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Celebrity scores
Do we want to add the higher scores from the 20th November 2009 Celebrity Mastermind special? Lucy Porter got 35 points and Mark Watson (comedian) 33 points, which in ordinary years would put them among the highest scorers, though I'm not sure how easily you can compare the questions to ordinary series' questions. -- Dandelions, not logged in 82.46.19.84 (talk) 01:57, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

"I've started so I'll finish"
In the "Format" section it says "..leading to the show's famous catchphrase, "I've started so I'll finish."

I think this is more Magnusson's catchprase than the show's, as is stated later in the article. Humphrys I don't think has ever used it, presumably deliberately avoiding it. Should this be rephrased to, perhaps, "...leading to the first questionmaster's famous catchphrase.."? It's elaborated later so I don't think, at this point, we need introduce Magnusson by name.

Si Trew (talk) 08:27, 7 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Humprhys has used the catchphrase. In the show that just aired (BBC Two, 20:30, 27 August 2010 (BST)), the buzzer interrupted his question in five of the eight rounds, and he said "I've started so I'll finish" twice.  On the other three occasions (typically where the majority of the question had already been read) he merely spoke over the buzzer.    AJ  Cham  19:45, 27 August 2010 (UTC)

In the article on Magnus Magnusson, the quotation "I've started so I'll finish" is given and it says "which John Humphries continues to use", so this would contradict one of the above comments. Vorbee (talk) 17:22, 9 September 2017 (UTC)

Lowest score for specialist subject round
The article says that a contestant got 4 for the specialist subject round. However, a contestant tonight (November 26 2010) got 3 for her specialist subject of Evelyn Waugh. I was talking to a relative on the telephone tonight who said he thinks that was the lowest score ever for a specialist subject. Perhaps if it is, this could be mentioned in the article in the "Lowest scores" category. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 21:56, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

2011/2012 celebrities and winners table
Hope you don't mind folks, but I updated the table in full, so that it shows all the specialist subject for the entire series. The BBC's official Mastermind website have published a list of all subjects/celebrities. Wesley Mouse (talk) 19:15, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Hey Wesley, I reverted your edits as while those are the topics for the respective episodes next weeK, they are not in the respective order. It says " The guests are......" and "Topics will include....". It doesn't say each person's topic next to their name or say "respectively" at the end, so we don't know if each list of topics are concurrent with those of the guests. What sort of tipped me off as well, was that on the episode on 5 January, you have Andrew Collins as answering questions on The Toronto Blue Jays. I find that weird that he would answer question on that topic as he's British, but Stewart Francis, a Canadian comedian from Ontario would know a lot about that baseball team. (The last time he was on, his topic was the hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs) Also, the below article from Radio Times confirms that Andrew Collins topic was "cinematic" in nature. So I would guess that his topic is "Disaster Movies of the 1970's" http://www.radiotimes.com/blog/2011-11-18/andrew-collins-no-spoilers!

This is why I chose to delete the topic sections for next week's episode. You did a fine job, but the list of topics isn't necessarily in the same order and we don't know which of the 4 topics each celebrity will be answering questions on each day. I believe that we should wait for next week and fill in te topic sections after each episode. hope I explained myself properly. cheers!70.83.85.91 (talk) 21:54, 30 December 2011 (UTC)samusek2


 * While I understand what your personal reasons for not including the details, you'll find I was within scope as per Verifiability, and the BBC's page does appear to have listed the first 4 episodes in the correct order of celebrity and their respective specialist subject - and the BBC's website is covered under policy as per reliability. Seeing as the previous episodes have been listed in the correct order, then it is safe to assume that the BBC have kept consistent and the details for subsequent episodes are correct as printed.  The article is also slightly incorrect, the final episode is listed as to be screened on January 7, 2012.  However, the BBC have it listed as being shown on January 8, 2012 - there is no episode for January 7.  There's also another episode (January 2, 2012) that is being screened a day earlier to viewers in BBC Scotland (January 1, 2012).  That hasn't been noted in the article, which should be as per Notability.  Wesley Mouse (talk) 22:51, 30 December 2011 (UTC)


 * P.S. The Radio Times link you provided doesn't show anything whatsoever, only a blog page - and newsblogs are to be treated with caution when it comes to reliability; as per WP:NEWSBLOG.  I get the Radio Times at home, and believe me the Christmas 2-week bumper edition had several programs listed, that where not even broadcast.  December 29, the magazine didn't show Deal or No Deal as being screened for that day, yet it was broadcast.  Even Channel 4 themselves mentioned something about some TV Listings forgetting to list the show.  Wesley Mouse (talk) 23:01, 30 December 2011 (UTC)


 * I took the courtesy to email the BBC, explaining to them about this article, and to double check the topics for the January 5th episode. Corrected that list on the article accordingly, as it appears that the details on the official website for that episode only have been input in the wrong order.  The other episodes are corrected listed in the right order.  Wesley Mouse (talk) 21:57, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Categorisation of this article needed
When Magnus Magnusson presented this programme, it was disbanded in 1997, although it was later revived by John Humphries in the early zeros. Should it not, therefore, be categorised as a 1997 television programme ending? ACEOREVIVED (talk) 10:10, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Chosen charities?
If there's no money involved, why do contestants choose a charity? Lazyzee (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 19:04, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 23:25, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Versions versus history
I was wondering whether a sub-heading entitled "History of the programme" might enhance this article. Some of such information is included, but it is under the section "Versions". Vorbee (talk) 16:45, 9 September 2017 (UTC)

Proposed merge with Celebrity Mastermind
I don't think Celebrity Mastermind is notable enough to have its own article as it doesn't have any citations outside of ones from the BBC and other game shows don't have separate Wikipedia articles for the celebrity editions. BangJan1999 20:47, 28 September 2017 (UTC)
 * This is an interesting one as it does somewhat differ from the regular Mastermind (eg there is a lighter tone and it is usually broadcast more in a prime-time slot), but as pointed out things like Celebrity Pointless do not have their own articles (on the other hand Celebrity Fifteen to One does). Equally the lack of non-BBC sources make establishing notability an issue. Also I think am not convinced Wikipedia is the place for details of every contestant and their specialist subject, so if there is a merger this could easily be trimmed down. The outcome of the similar debate about Christmas University Challenge, might be relevant to this discussion - see here. Dunarc (talk) 23:38, 19 December 2017 (UTC) Amended Dunarc (talk) 23:45, 19 December 2017 (UTC)

I think the article on Celebrity Mastermind is too lengthy to be merged with this article. Vorbee (talk) 18:49, 3 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Closing, given the opposition, and absence of clear support over more than a year. Klbrain (talk) 17:43, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

Between at the start of
When this article talks about the version of Mastermind hosted by John Humphrys, it says that it included conversational elements "between at the start of the specialist subject round". I do not think the word "between" is really necessary here. Vorbee (talk) 18:46, 16 November 2018 (UTC) This is also innaccurate - the conversational elements were on the contestants' specialist subjects, but were at the beginning of the General Knowledge round. Vorbee (talk) 20:29, 29 December 2018 (UTC)

Children in Need special
This article could mention a Children in Need special of Mastermind that was hosted by Steve Mangan. Vorbee (talk) 22:27, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

Three different subjects
This article says that until 1992, contestants could go back to their specialist subject in Round One in the finals, but then rules were changed so that people had to choose three different subjects. Are you sure this rule change was as recently as 1992? I thought the rules were changed before then. Vorbee (talk) 16:52, 29 December 2018 (UTC)

Requested move 5 May 2020

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: Moved as proposed. WP:PDABs should only be used with strong consensus, and that bar has not been met here. King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 03:59, 24 May 2020 (UTC)

– Both of these articles need to be moved to the correct disambiguation as per WP:NCTV. The lede of the article on the British show very directly says "Mastermind is a British television game show...", so this clearly a "game show" and not a "TV series". In addition, the British show is currently insufficiently diambiguated from the Irish show as per WP:INCDAB and should be moved to "by country" disambiguation, unless it is felt that this is the "primary subtopic" in which case it should still be moved to Mastermind (game show). Meanwhile, the lede of the Irish show states "Mastermind was an Irish television quiz show..." quiz show redirecting to "game show", so this is also incorrectly disambiguated, and should also be moved to "Irish game show" disambig. as per WP:NCTV. --IJBall (contribs • talk) 13:45, 5 May 2020 (UTC) —Relisting. buidhe 22:40, 15 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Mastermind (TV series) → Mastermind (British game show)
 * Mastermind (Irish TV series) → Mastermind (Irish game show)


 * Support per nom. The first is currently an WP:INCOMPLETEDISAMBIGUATION, and both have parenthetical disambiguators that should be fixed. Paintspot Infez (talk) 16:01, 5 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Support per Paintspot. Incomplete dab for sure. Axem Titanium (talk) 17:53, 5 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Support. Quiz shows have been moved to game shows in multiple RMs and as stated above, this move will also fix the incomplete disambiguation situation. --Gonnym (talk) 22:28, 5 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Support moving the British show to Mastermind (game show) as the primary topic among game shows called "Mastermind". Not only is it the overwhelming leader in pageviews (over 100x), but as a long-running show, I believe it has achieved enough long-term significance to meet the higher standard for a parenthically disambiguated primary topic. Iffy★Chat -- 12:38, 6 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Oppose. It is most certainly not a game show; it is a serious quiz where one wins nothing except a trophy. Its contestants would probably be horrified if it was suggested they'd taken part in a game show. "quiz show" or "TV quiz" would be acceptable. But I actually see no problem with TV series. -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:50, 6 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Again, "quiz show" redirects to game show – IOW, quiz shows are a subset of "game shows". In terms of WP:NCTV (which is all that matters in this discussion) "(game show)" is the correct disambig. term. It is certainly not a "TV series" under any analysis, regardless of your thoughts on the subject – the only acceptable alternative would be "(TV programme)". --IJBall (contribs • talk) 03:34, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't think you quite get the difference between a serious quiz and a game show. A game show is a completely different thing. Quiz show may redirect to game show, but quiz does not. Maybe Mastermind (quiz) would be the best option. That's what it is. It is not a game show. -- Necrothesp (talk) 09:56, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Support move to Mastermind (game show), per WP:PDAB; it's another example of the Thriller precedent. Sceptre (talk) 13:09, 9 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Support some disambiguating move for Mastermind (TV series). Incomplete disambiguation is generally not helpful to readers. —BarrelProof (talk) 00:46, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. -- Netoholic @ 06:21, 16 May 2020 (UTC)


 * The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it.</b> Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Mastermind Australia variant
In the Australian version currently showing there is occasionally a "Who Am I?" segment in which the participants are progressively given clues. This doesn't seem to be covered here, so I was wondering was this in the original format, and if not is there a different format in the new Australian version?--Jack Upland (talk) 08:33, 24 August 2020 (UTC)

Parodies
I don't know for sure but I am pretty sure the pilot episode of "I,Lovett" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Lovett contained the protagonist on mastermind. I think his subect was "the easiest questions that have ever existed since the beginning of time" scoring very highly, he then scored zero on the GK round and came last in disgrace. Can someone verify and include if it qualifies. 2A00:23C7:1B9A:8401:E8BD:CF80:3932:687E (talk) 23:10, 6 February 2021 (UTC)

New subheading needed
The material added today about the youngest winner is certainly a record. However, without a new subheading, it appears to be connected to the material above (about lowest scores). I believe there should be a new subheading ('Other Records') or something. I would have added it myself but I am not confident that I can get the formatting correct. MalcolmStory21 (talk) 21:17, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

Deleting the "Transmissions" section
The "Transmissions" section seems to just generate a large number of links to the BBC archives. I propose deleting it, giving WP:LINKFARM as the reason, but is there a consensus for keeping/removing it? Thanks --Northernhenge (talk) 11:17, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
 * It doesn't seem a particular problem to me, or at least it seems more useful than not - the references to Genome (i.e. the Radio Times archive) are there as the date verifications primarily I imagine - it's not that different from a standard list of episodes really, it just seems longer as the programme is very long-running. Bob talk 23:54, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I didn't know about the "group" parameter to "ref". That's allowed me to put the genome references under a subheading. Now the rest of the references are clearly visible and the genome ones are retained.--Northernhenge (talk) 13:15, 5 February 2022 (UTC)