http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/victoriaderbyshire/2008/12/celebrity_mastermind.html en-gb 30 Sun 27 Dec 2009 20:32:01 GMT+1 A feed of user comments from the page found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/victoriaderbyshire/2008/12/celebrity_mastermind.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/victoriaderbyshire/2008/12/celebrity_mastermind.html?page=16#comment5 Oh No Vic !!You've upset him now.Stay clear of The Humphries.I have a crash helmet you can borrow!!! Mon 05 Jan 2009 11:50:47 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/victoriaderbyshire/2008/12/celebrity_mastermind.html?page=13#comment4 Where I believe celebrity contestants do receive help on Mastermind is on the general knowledge rounds. The general knowledge rounds given to each contestant are not selected randomly but are tailor-made to suit the the particular individual. Throughout the recent celebrity series I made a point of looking up the interests of each contestant using such biography sites as Wikipedia etc. It is amazing how many questions could be directly matched to each celebritys' various hobbies and interests. Thus Mel Smith got a question on Rolls Royce cars. ( he has had a long love of Rolls Royces) Ian Lavender gets a question on " Who was Shylocks's daughter in The Merchant of Venice ?" (Ian's Wikipedia page says he has worked as a producer on The Merchant of Venice) Another one of Ian's general knowledge questions may have even been specially selected for him as a joke. "What word can refer to a freshwater fish, a pointed hill or a medieval weapon ?" answer "a Pike?" ( Lavender played Private Pike in dad's Army). It got a slight chuckle.! Sally Lindsay gets a question about a Manchester City footballer ( her Wikipedia page says she is a Manchester City supporter) etc etc etc ....... These a just a few examples but the point is that one cannot take the celebrity version of Mastermind seriously if the general knowledge questions are being tailored to suit each individual player.One could say that the winner is the contestant who the question setters matched up most successfully to his hobbies and interests. If Victoria Derbyshire is being asked to apologise for her comments then I think that The Mastermind production team should also come clean and admit that the "general knowledge" rounds are not compiled as randomly as the viewing public might believe them to be. Sun 04 Jan 2009 22:22:25 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/victoriaderbyshire/2008/12/celebrity_mastermind.html?page=10#comment3 I am puzzled that there should be any need for "research guidance". If the subject is Thomas Hardy's novels, then all one needs to do is read or re-read them, and, of course, for a novelist who drew so much on places, a biography of him might prove handy.Then again, as with so many of these quiz shows, one needs to ask whether the recital of facts (about fiction or anything else) is the same thing as knowledge.More knowledge, less information is perhaps the key to success. Sun 04 Jan 2009 11:11:31 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/victoriaderbyshire/2008/12/celebrity_mastermind.html?page=6#comment2 This post has been Removed Sun 04 Jan 2009 09:31:44 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/victoriaderbyshire/2008/12/celebrity_mastermind.html?page=3#comment1 I am puzzled.If somebody has chosen to answer questions about Thomas Hardy's novels, then he or she does not need to be pointed towards "research tools". The subject is his novels, and anybody volunteering to answer questions about them will surely have - er - read them, and, for good measure, have looked at a biography or two of him for some grasp of his sources.So, what are these mysterious "research tools"?Be all that as it may, the real subject is that the recital of such details as swede-hacking at Flintcomb Ash is not knowledge - that is a different thing entirely from simply parading facts (whether about reality or fiction).We need television programmes driven by intelligence rather than feats of memory. Sat 03 Jan 2009 22:01:14 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/victoriaderbyshire/2008/12/celebrity_mastermind.html?page=0#comment0 Victoria,No problem with the usage of the words, you used in yesterday's show...~Dennis Junior~ Tue 30 Dec 2008 19:10:17 GMT+1