What an ace! Boy of 12 memorises deck of 52 cards on Child Genius
HE has already shown off his incredible spelling skills, general knowledge and knack for working out complex maths problems in seconds.
But 12-year-old Rahul achieved perhaps his most impressive feat yet on Child Genius last night – memorising an entire deck of 52 cards shuffled into a random order.
He beat the second highest score by 17 points, putting him firmly in the lead in the Channel 4 contest’s quarter-final.
The schoolboy’s performance also amazed host Richard Osman, who said: ‘Rahul, you and I are getting on the next plane to Vegas.’
The contestants were given one hour to memorise 104 cards, or two packs. They then had to recite them until they got one wrong or the timer ran out.
Rahul’s father Minesh had told his son before the round to focus on one deck of cards and forget the second.
The IT manager, from Barnet in north London, said beforehand: ‘52 cards is the plan. It’s been the game plan since we got the task.’
Rahul had agreed, saying he did not want to be ‘greedy’.
During the round, Minesh could be seen mouthing ‘oh my God’ in the audience as his son continued to recall cards correctly.
Afterwards, Rahul, who has an IQ higher than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, said to his father: ‘I did good. Your advice worked. I’m happy but I’ve got to work now.’
When Rahul was asked if he could spare ten minutes to celebrate, he said ‘no’.
Rival contestant Joshua, who had beaten Rahul in a maths round in Tuesday’s show, had been confident before the card task, saying he would not be happy with anything less than 80.
But the schoolboy became tearful after he was only able to recall ten cards. Nerissa, 11, got the second best score by remembering 35. Meanwhile Rahul, who scored 100 per cent in the competition’s opening round, had his first taste of the showbusiness life yesterday morning as he and his parents took to the sofa with Christine Bleakley on ITV’s Lorraine.
The schoolboy, who wore a large sparkly silver tie for the occasion, put Miss Bleakley and the show’s resident doctor Hilary Jones through their paces with a short quiz, asking them to work out anagrams and maths questions.
And talking about the secret to his success, the young genius said: ‘The key is to block out everything else and remain calm, so just focus on your goal.’
He also admitted the competition is tough and that he cannot get complacent about his success. ‘There are a couple of kids who do well consistently and you do spot them,’ he said. ‘However, anyone can come in at any moment so you have to be ready.’
Child Genius, which featured 20 contestants aged eight to 12, has been aired every night this week at 8pm on Channel 4, with the grand final tomorrow.
Ronan, a nine-year-old from Lancaster, is the youngest of the eight remaining contestants.
In tonight’s semi-final, the youngsters will face language tests and a sudden-death spelling round.
The show has faced controversy amid claims some parents have been cheating to help their hugely intelligent children.
On Wednesday night adjudicator Olivia van der Werff was called on to decide whether this was the case. Earlier in the contest one mother Susan, from North London, was accused of using a hand gesture to help her 12-year-old daughter Olivia.
‘Remain calm and focus on your goal’