Five young brainboxes ...but who will be top?
TV and Radio Reporter
THeY have made the rest of us feel a bit dim over the past five days, with displays of intelligence far beyond their years.
Tonight the five exceptional youngsters of Child Genius will battle it out to be crowned Britain’s brainiest child after coming through demanding tests.
All aged under 13, the finalists have left a million-plus Channel 4 viewers dumbfounded by tasks such as memorising bus maps, unscrambling anagrams and giving the Latin names for fruit.
Yet the hardest tests of the week still stand between them and the coveted trophy as they are quizzed on a degree-level specialist subject.
Two will then progress to a head-tohead general knowledge round.
While children their age might be expected to pick their favourite superhero or a character from a book as a specialism, these brainboxes have chosen topics such as the work of english scientist edward Jenner and ancient Greek philosophy.
Although very little separates the children, the favourite is Rahul, 12, who attends one of the top grammar schools in the country.
The self- confessed ‘genius’, from Barnet, North London, is believed to have a higher IQ than Albert einstein and Stephen Hawking and has finished top of the leader board on three out of the five days of competition.
His performances have been described as ‘ mesmerising’ by quizmaster Richard Osman, who was most awe-struck when Rahul memorised the order of a pack of cards.
Yet many viewers have blasted the ‘pushy’ approach of his parents, particularly his IT manager father Minesh who has said: ‘We are here to win.’
Yesterday neighbours Aswin and Radha Vora told how Rahul has always been ‘brilliant’. Mrs Vora said: ‘He has been so brilliant since he was little. He is so cute. His parents’ priority is always Rahul and his sister, who is also very clever.’
Asked about the criticism of Minesh, she said: ‘Rahul wants to win regardless. He doesn’t believe in winning or losing, he just believes in winning.’
The competition has been slammed for pushing the children to the limit, with many contestants crying and saying they felt like ‘disappointments’ after struggling. Yesterday it was also criticised by Wendy Berliner, an author and joint chief executive of UK charity education Media Centre.
She told The Guardian: ‘I am horrified for the same reason that I’m horrified by circuses, beauty pageants or anything that appears to exploit animals or children. It sends shud- ders through my very being. These children have been drilled to perform. There’s no creativity.’
The other contestants include Joshua, 11, from Staffordshire, who is being coached by his mother Kelly, an A-level tutor. She has called him ‘a freak of nature’ as he did not walk until aged 15 months but could do jigsaws and memory games.
The last girl left in the contest is Aliyah, ten, from West London. She was entered by her mother Idil, who fled war in Somalia, and is a maths whizz.
Aliyah does an extra two hours of homework a night set by her mother. She said: ‘I just love maths. I like to come first because it’s just amazing to be a winner.’
Her mother said: ‘Being competitive is energetic, positive. It’s good. If Aliyah wins, it will be my dream come true. I will be a very proud mother.’
Dylan, 12, is also vying for the title. The grammar school pupil from Preston is a member of Mensa who scraped through to the final but now wants to win ‘a lot’. He said: ‘I’m like the pushy child, they’re the parents who don’t want to do all the studying.’
Ronan, nine, is the youngest left and is seen as a dark horse. He has won 300 sports medals and represented Britain in modern biathlon.
From Lancaster, he entered for Child Genius to test himself in another field. He has dictated his revision at home, urging his parents to test him.
‘He has been brilliant since he was little’