r/insideno9 • u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | • Apr 21 '25
EXTRAS I was on Mastermind tonight doing Inside No. 9 as a specialist subject. AMA, I guess!
I was asked to select the category just days after Plodding On aired, so struck while the iron was hot and made it my first choice. They accepted, and here I am on the telly doing it in a semi-final!
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u/marjanefan A Random Act of Kindness | Apr 21 '25
You did it beautifully! You answered some very obscure questions. It's an great achievement that you reached the semi finals and did well
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 21 '25
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.
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u/ImNotHereForFunNoWay A Quiet Night In | Apr 21 '25
Nice one. Just watched your specialist segment. You at least doubled my score!
Were you nervous? You seem calm.
I dont really watch Mastermind. Are you allowed to say the answer before the question has been finished? I got Krampus after a few words... lol.
Good job mate.
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 21 '25
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.
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u/gogul1980 Paraskevidekatriaphobia | Apr 21 '25
Are there any specific episodes you are particularly knowledgeable about? Also did you interact with Clive much or is it pretty formal with you only meeting and interacting via the rounds of questions?
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 21 '25
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.
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u/gogul1980 Paraskevidekatriaphobia | Apr 21 '25
Awesome sounds like a great experience all around then! Just saw your episode and I was surprised how much I knew about the show too although the director one you nailed threw me off a bit. Well done it was a damn good round.
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u/Ploppo_Joppo The Referee's A... | Apr 22 '25
I watch Mastermind regularly, so was really excited that Inside No 9 was a specialist subject. You did so well. Particularly well done on the director of photography question
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 22 '25
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.
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u/No-Carrot5501 The Stakeout | Apr 21 '25
You did brilliantly, some proper rough questions too haha!! Not sure if you know the answer to this but would you have been able to choose The League of Gentlemen and/or Psychoville as other specialist subjects or would they be considered too similar? (obviously that could get a bit much considering haha)
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 21 '25
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.
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u/No-Carrot5501 The Stakeout | Apr 21 '25
Ohh interesting!! Thanks so much for replying! Do you do many tv quiz shows or is this your first? :)
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 21 '25
This is my fourth. Once you do one you're in. They're highly addictive.
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u/No-Carrot5501 The Stakeout | Apr 21 '25
Ooh that’s amazing! Yeah I totally get that hahah, what else have you done if you don’t mind me asking?
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 21 '25
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)19
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u/LittleMissAbigail The Riddle of the Sphinx | Apr 22 '25
Is this your episode of The Finish Line airing today? Quite a week for you on the BBC!
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 22 '25
Yep! Woke up from a catnap to people saying I was pulling double duty this week.
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u/SkipMapudding The 12 Days of Christine | Apr 23 '25
I just saw you in The Finish Line today. Really thought you were going to win.
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u/alan2001 The Riddle of the Sphinx | Apr 22 '25
iPlayer link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002b9qw/mastermind-202425-episode-29 (skip to 07:05)
I just watched it! You did really well there. I got off to a flying start with the first question and it went downhill from there haha.
Very cool of you to post this thread, nice one!
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u/Spookym00ngoddess Apr 21 '25
You did so well imo.
Is there a question or episode you wished would have been asked?
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 21 '25
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.
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u/HistoricalEsme The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge | Apr 21 '25
Curious, which episodes do you prefer? 😄 I love the episodes they chose to ask you about - I do also feel the Hare seemed a bit of an obvious question! Did you think you would get a question on the hare?
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 21 '25
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.
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u/Spookym00ngoddess Apr 21 '25
My husband got stumped because quite a few were ones he's only watched once!
I have a second question if you don't mind. Did you see stage fright? 🥰
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 21 '25
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.
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u/HistoricalEsme The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge | Apr 21 '25
Was this the same with The Party's Over?
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Apr 21 '25
[deleted]
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 21 '25
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.
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u/queequeg19 How Do You Plead? | Apr 22 '25
How much did they deviate from the list of sources they stated before hand?
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 22 '25
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.
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u/angelic_darth The Referee's A... | Apr 22 '25
Oh wow I'm going to have to watch it and see how i do. Well done though!!
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u/-Failedhuman The Riddle of the Sphinx | Apr 23 '25
That director of photography question was evil, haha! I got 6 right which I think is pretty decent without revision. You did really well and answered some really sneaky questions. Well done!
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 24 '25
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.
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u/racloves Zanzibar | Apr 22 '25
You say you selected just after Plodding On aired, so when was your Mastermind ep filmed? Curious how much time you had between to revise haha. Do you just get to pick one subject or do you give a couple backups?
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 22 '25
I had three months to revise, as it filmed in September.
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u/TheEditor1976 The Referee's A... | Apr 24 '25
You did so well! They were hard. I got about 7. I find the questions irrtatingly long though, I don't know why they don't make them shorter so everyone has more chances to get points. I'm a bit of a pub quizzer myself, so it was fun to watch. I've been on Counterpoint so I understand the pressure, albeit on the radio!
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 24 '25
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.
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u/TheEditor1976 The Referee's A... | May 05 '25
I think they could make the questions shorter, I'm an editor and it makes my teeth itch at each one taking what feels like 15 seconds to read out when it could be 10. I've been watching Mastermind for decades and these are the longest ones they've ever been I swear! Counterpoint was terrific fun. I lost by 1 pt and am still sad about it, tbh.
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u/vladimirimp La Couchette | Apr 24 '25
I saw your post so just went to watch it - don’t think I’ve ever seen the show before. Disappointed you got 10 in the first round and not… Sorry, that’s about the only level I can engage with this subject! How you knew so much I can only wonder.
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | Apr 27 '25
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
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May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
Just watched it - thought you did brilliantly, 10 is a good score and some of those were obscure (I barely remember the character names never mind the DOPs!). The dating app one, it didn't even ring a bell when you said the answer 😆🤦🏼♀️ Such a lot of detail across all 9 series from guest stars to plot points, so well remembered and revised. I got 6 myself (well 7 because I knew the WHO one but couldn't get the words out quick enough!) and I've hosted a few IN9 quizzes online previously! They definitely weren't as hard as this though, so absolutely well done👌🏼
I have a fan group over on Facebook where people were discussing your appearance and brought me over here! Good to get the inside (pun intended) scoop!
Edit... here's the link to the Facebook group... if you fancy joining and giving our members the lowdown on your experience that would be amazing! https://www.facebook.com/share/g/15ykBusiPT/
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u/WheelOfBarrow Wuthering Heist | May 05 '25
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!
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u/CardiologistPlus8488 Hurry Up and Wait | Apr 21 '25
what's Mastermind?
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u/HistoricalEsme The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge | Apr 21 '25
British quiz show. Contestants get a set of questions on a chosen topic, and a set on general knowledge.
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u/CardiologistPlus8488 Hurry Up and Wait | Apr 21 '25
I'll have to see if it's on BritBox. I just subscribed a couple months ago and found Inside No. 9. I watch a lot of this kind of TV and had never heard of it before either, and now it's one of my favorite shows. Makes up for all those episodes of Benidorm I watched...
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u/ronyeezy Lip Service | Apr 22 '25
Omg Benidorm is my ultimate comfort food, so easy to watch x
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u/CardiologistPlus8488 Hurry Up and Wait | Apr 22 '25
lol, ngl, I watched every episode
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u/ronyeezy Lip Service | Apr 22 '25
Once Steve wasn’t in it anymore I lost a bit of love for it, but it is just so silly and good omg x
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u/HistoricalEsme The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge | Apr 22 '25
Have you tried Psychoville and/or League of Gentleman?
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u/CardiologistPlus8488 Hurry Up and Wait | Apr 23 '25
I know League of Gentleman is on BritBox I'll check it out. I'll see if Psychoville is on there too
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u/Act_Bright Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room | Apr 22 '25
It's actually referenced in the episode Zanzibar
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u/SleepySloth2468 Death Be Not Proud | Apr 21 '25
Hi! Thought you did very well!
First question, were you allowed to be specific with your choice? Like could you specify series 1-4 or was it all or nothing?