You love the Eggheads, but secretly you want them to lose
Attracting some of the sharpest minds in the quizzing world, daytime television staple Eggheads is fast approaching a major milestone – its 2,000th episode.
Built on the premise that outsmarting a panel of professional quizzers to win a large pot of cash feels, to put it simply, incredibly satisfying, the show’s popularity can be likened to that of long-running daytime Channel 4 rival Countdown.
“It’s this peculiar thing,” says presenter Jeremy Vine with a wry smile. “You love the Eggheads, but secretly you want them to lose.”
With the professional quizzers, known affectionately as Eggheads, vying to keep their reputations intact against teams made up of families, friends and amateur quiz enthusiasts, the show’s appeal transcends the generations.
Now entering its 22nd series and with Jeremy, 56, continuing at the helm, the
As Eggheads settles into its new Channel 5 home, presenter Jeremy Vine talks to about some of his most memorable moments this series
Danielle de Wolfe show, which began in 2003, has made a post-pandemic leap from BBC2 to a new home on Channel 5.
“Everything is the same, which I love,” says Jeremy. “Bless Channel 5, it’s like they’re holding a very expensive Ming vase, and not dropping it is the key.
“The last year or two at the Beeb, we were regularly the most watched show on BBC2. So there was never any tailing off of viewers – the opposite, actually.”
Given the risk-heavy nature of such a quiz show, where considerable sums of money often hinge on incredibly obscure titbits of general knowledge, you would be forgiven for thinking contestants regularly buckle under the pressure.
Not so, says Jeremy: “A lot of people just enjoy the experience and it’s really nice to see.
“As long as you don’t mind losing, you’ve probably got a good chance of winning.”
Jeremy recalls one hairraising moment that came
about as a result of filming one of the most recent episodes.
An avid cyclist, he took it upon himself to quell the nerves of one family of contestants with the help of his favoured two-wheeled mode of transport.
“One of the team members was a bit anxious,” begins
Jeremy, “and so we thought we’d take a little break.
“I said, ‘well, I’ve got my Penny Farthing, so why don’t we just have a bit of distraction?
“Shall I just ride the Penny Farthing around?”
He describes how he found himself riding the Victorian -era bicycle around the foyer of the television studios only to forget a vital piece of information...
“I suddenly realised that I’d completely forgotten how to get down,” remembers the presenter in a somewhat exasperated tone.
“I really couldn’t remember (whether) you go with your left foot or your right foot first. And they were looking and laughing and I was gradually getting more and more serious, I had a complete blank on how to get off this thing!”
He describes the incident as “probably the weirdest experience of my entire broadcast career”.
With the draw of a potential victory against a panel of professional quizzers proving too great for some contestants, the move to Channel 5 has also enabled teams who came within inches of victory to return in the hope of a dramatic reversal of fortune.
It is a re-jig that Egghead and former Who Wants To Be A Millionaire jackpot winner Judith Keppel agrees with, reasoning that it adds an “interesting” new angle to the show.
“We’ve had a lot of people who have been on it before having a second go at it, which was quite fun,” says the 79-year-old quizzer.
“Returning teams are a completely new thing,” agrees Jeremy. “We realise some people feel like they were one question away from winning and if they gave it one more heave, they could do it. And it’s great to see.”
Eggheads is on Channel 5 weekdays at 6.30pm from Monday