University Challenge has ‘become a man’s game’
MEN outnumber women three to one on University Challenge’s new series, prompting calls for the BBC and universities to do more to recruit women and protect female contestants from abuse on social media.
An analysis by The Daily Telegraph shows that 87 men have competed in the BBC quiz programme this year against just 24 female students.
Eight universities, including Manchester, St Andrews and Strathclyde, had all-male teams despite women now accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the student population.
The last time an all-female team competed was five years ago, while there were only four all-male teams in each of the past two years. The new series also has the highest number of male contestants in three years despite complaints about sexism. Bobby Seagull, who became a breakout star in the 2016-17 series, said sexist attitudes among viewers deterred women from participating.
“Anytime a woman does well, on the show, they’ll either face objectification or they’ll receive a torrent of abuse,” he said. “Men on the show, if they’re knowledgeable, they might get comments like: ‘Who’s this guy with brains the size of a planet?’” The BBC said it tried to encourage all teams to reflect the diversity of their students but admitted its production teams were trying to broaden the range of applications.
Holly Parkinson, team captain for Durham, said more had to be done to “dismantle” the idea that University Challenge was a “man’s game – that bookish i ntelligence and general knowledge is for men only to excel at”.