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  • Presenter: Dermot Murnaghan (2003–)
    Jeremy Vine (2008–18)
  • Starring: Kevin Ashman
    Daphne Fowler (2003–14)
    Chris Hughes
    Judith Keppel
    CJ de Mooi (2003–12, 2014–)
    Barry Simmons (2008–)
    Pat Gibson (2009–)
    Dave Rainford (2012–)
    Lisa Thiel (2014–19)
  • Number of series: 15 (Regular)
    6 (Celebrity Specials)
  • Number of episodes: 1333 (Regular)
    (as of 7 November 2014)
    56 (Celebrity Specials)
    (as of 20 December 2013)
  • Runtime: 30 minutes
  • Company: 12 Yard
    BBC Scotland (2010–)
  • Distributor: ITV Studios
  • Channel: BBC One (2003–04)
    BBC Two (2005–): Channel 5 (2021-)
  • First_aired: 10 November 2003
  • Related shows: Are You an Egghead?
    Reveenge of the Egghead

Eggheads is a BBC quiz show which pits a team of five "Eggheads" (made up from eight highly regarded quiz and game show champions, rotating each episode) against a series of teams of five "challengers" who in each episode attempt to beat the Eggheads through a series of rounds.

The program was first broadcast in 2003, and co-presented by Dermot Murnaghan and Jeremy Vine. For the 2008 series, Vine was brought in to present on the nights when Murnaghan was hosting the spinoff series Are You an Egghead?. This happened again from October 2009 while Murnaghan presented the second series of the spinoff show.[1] Since the spin-off show finished, Vine has continued to host the series. Episodes generally air on weekdays. in a 6-week period, between 24 February and 4 April 2014, Vine also presented another Egghead spinoff series Revenge of the Egghead.

Bhe BC confirmed on 1 February 2018 that Eggheads will be axed in 2019.

It finished in 2020, and later returned on Channel 5 in 2021.

Format[]

Rounds[]

The show is played in five rounds: the first four are each on a specific category whilst the final round is a general knowledge round. In each of these first four rounds, the Challengers are given a category and must choose a member of their own team to play and an Egghead against whom they wish to compete. The players for that round then leave the studio to go into the "question room" outside (which in 2009, was reported by the Daily Telegraph actually to be a pair of wooden benches behind a curtain). The challenger is given the choice of going first or second, and both players are then asked in turn three questions each, which have multiple choice answers. If after these three questions there is no winner, the round then goes into sudden death with each question now having no possible answers given.

The player who wins each round is then eligible to play in the final round whilst the losing players have to sit in their respective "question rooms" and are not allowed to participate in the final general knowledge round. However, the Eggheads wear earpieces which are not seen on camera, and are told what the answer is to the question when they don’t know it.

The general knowledge round is then played in exactly the same format as the head-to-head rounds, and now gives the challengers the opportunity to win the prize money. If the Eggheads win the final round, the prize money increases by a "rollover" system with another £1,000 of licence-fee money added to the prize each day.

Subjects[]

There are nine possible subjects in the head-to-head rounds: Arts & Books, Film & Television, Food & Drink, Geography, History, Music, Politics, Science, and Sport. Music and Film & Television were introduced in Autumn 2008 through a split of the Entertainment category. Subjects can appear in any order.

"Eggheads"[]

The quiz champions who compete on the show as the eponymous "Eggheads" are:

  • Kevin Ashman (2003–present): Eight times winner of the British Quiz Championship, six times winner of the European Quizzing Championships, four times winner of the World Quizzing Championships, 1989 winner of Fifteen to One, 1999 winner of Fifteen to One: Champion of Champions, 1995 Mastermind (including all-time record score), 1996 Brain of Britain (including all-time record score), 1998 Brain of Britain: Brain of Brains, 1998 Brain of Britain: Top Brain, twelve times Brain of London, twice Gold Medallist for quizzing at the Mind Sports Olympiad, two times Master Brain, winner of Sale of the Century, Quiz Night, Trivial Pursuit and The Great British Quiz. Captain of the England quiz team and ranked the number one quizzer in the world.Template:Citation needed
  • CJ de Mooi (2003–2012, Revenge: 2014–present): 2002 Beat the Nation, 2001 winner of 100% and 2000 contestant of The Weakest Link as well as having been Mensa chess champion.[2] He "tweeted" that he would not be in the Series 13 recordings of the show from 2012, in order that he pursues a full-time acting career. However, he continued to appear in Series 13 episodes of the show until Vine took over presenting duties from Murnaghan halfway through the series. His last appearance on the show was on 31 August 2012. He was the sole Egghead on Revenge of the Egghead, which aired on BBC2 from 24 February to 3 April 2014. He then returned to Eggheads at the start of Series 15, which was aired on 28 May 2014.
  • Daphne Fowler (2003–2014): 2001 winner of Fifteen to One, 1997 Brain of Britain and 1988 winner of Going for Gold. She has now retired from Eggheads, her last appearance being on 27 May 2014. She was replaced in the team by returning Egghead CJ.
  • Chris Hughes (2003–present): 1983 Mastermind, International Mastermind and 2005 Brain of Britain.
  • Judith Keppel (2003–present): first British winner of £1,000,000 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
  • Barry Simmons (2008–present): winner of Are You an Egghead?, semi-finalist on Mastermind, 2013 champion of Brain of Britain, £64,000 winner on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, winning member 2006 Masterteam and now member of the Scotland Quiz Team.
  • Pat Gibson (2009–present): winner of Are You an Egghead? Series 2, three times winner (2007, 2010, 2014) of the [British Quiz Championship, four times winner (2007, 2010, 2011, 2013) of the World Quizzing Championships, 2005 winner of Mastermind, 2010 winner of Mastermind: Champion of Champions, 2006 winner of Brain of Britain, £1,000,000 winner on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, amassing 21 international quizzing medals, and ranked the second strongest quizzer in the UK, behind Kevin Ashman.Template:Citation needed
  • Dave Rainford (2012–present): A previous contestant on Are You An Egghead and £250,000 winner on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, nicknamed "Terrible Knowledge".
  • Lisa Thiel (2014–18): A previous contestant on Weakest Link, The Chase and part of a winning team on Revenge of the Egghead. She had proven unpopular with viewers with a tendency of displaying attention-seeking behaviour, such as her lack of singing talent in the "Music" round and hesitating for ages before answering a question.

Eggheads team[]

In the first eight series, the team consisted of only five Eggheads - Chris Hughes, Daphne Fowler, CJ De Mooi, Kevin Ashman and Judith Keppel - who appeared in every episode and did not rotate. In May 2008, auditions began for a sixth person to join the Eggheads team.[1][3][4] These auditions were developed into a spin-off show, Are You an Egghead?, presented by Dermot Murnaghan. This began airing on BBC2 on 20 October 2008.[5] On 2 December 2008, Barry Simmons, who had once been a contestant on the regular show, won the Are You an Egghead? final and became the sixth Egghead. He made his first appearance on the team on the regular show the same day. Since the addition of Simmons as an Egghead, the Eggheads team has operated on a rotating basis, still featuring five Eggheads (out of the six, seven or eight) per show.

Pat Gibson won the second series of Are You an Egghead? and became the seventh Egghead to join the team, as of 25 November 2009. His first appearance as an Egghead was on the Celebrity Eggheads show on 7 December 2009.

Dave Rainford made his debut on 27 September 2012, replacing CJ De Mooi. He was previously seen on Are You an Egghead? in both series. In Series 1 he was beaten in the semi-finals by Barry and, in Series 2, he was beaten in the quarter-finals by Who Wants to be a Millionaire? David Edwards.

Daphne Fowler retired from the show in 2014, and at the start of Series 15, CJ De Mooi returned, after having been absent from the show for two years. The ninth Egghead, Lisa Thiel, joined the show for her first broadcast on 3 October 2014. Lisa had appeared as a contestant on Revenge of the Egghead earlier in 2014, however in 2018 she left Eggheads to spend more time with her family.

Teams who have defeated the Eggheads[]

On 6 November 2014, for the 120th time in 1332 episodes, the Eggheads were defeated by Cave Aged who won the prize fund of £7,000.[6] The BBC have now paid out a total of £1,332,000 in prize money.

The highest amount any team has won to beat the Eggheads is £75,000 in Series 8, Episode 14, by Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow.[7]

Team name Episode Prize money Cumulative (at end of each Series) Notes
Unicorn Inn Series 1, Episode 13 £13,000
Folically Challenged Series 1, Episode 15 £2,000
Unlikely Lads Series 1, Episode 21 £6,000 £21,000
Streatham Massive Series 2, Episode 10 £19,000
Spaghetti Series 2, Episode 30 £19,000 £60,000
The Rotor Heads Series 3, Episode 21 £21,000 £81,000
Densa Series 4, Episode 11 £20,000
Wapping Black Sheep Series 4, Episode 14 £3,000 £104,000
Radio Ga Ga Series 5, Episode 6 £17,000 £121,000
Second Class Series 6, Episode 3 £37,000
Mancunian Candidates Series 6, Episode 10 £7,000
Russell's Raiders Series 6, Episode 14 £4,000 £169,000
West Yorkies Series 7, Episode 18 £29,000
Seville Servants Series 7, Episode 19 £1,000 £199,000 #1 Eggheads lose twice in a row
Beer today, Gone tomorrow Series 8, Episode 14 £75,000 Biggest win on the show so far
Preston Quizmasters Series 8, Episode 17 £3,000
Museum of London/Museum in Docklands team Series 8, Episode 50 £33,000
Taxidermists Series 8, Episode 51 £1,000 #2 Eggheads lose twice in a row
Blue Vibe Series 8, Episode 63 £12,000
Beer and Skittles Series 8, Episode 68 £5,000 £328,000
Weakly Players Series 9, Episode 15 £27,000
Sean and the Sheep Series 9, Episode 35 £20,000
Tap Heads Series 9, Episode 48 £13,000
The Rat Pack Series 9, Episode 54 £5,000 Eggheads lose to a single opponent for the first time
Lads Wot Lunch Series 9, Episode 65 £12,000
South Wales Warriors Series 9, Episode 70 £5,000
Loser's Corner Series 9, Episode 76 £6,000
Meet your Waterloo Series 9, Episode 83 £7,000 #2 Eggheads lose to a single opponent
Flexi Funksters Series 9, Episode 99 £16,000 #3 Eggheads lose to a single opponent
Cubbington Players Series 9, Episode 112 £13,000
Act One Series 9, Episode 120 £8,000 Final team to play (and defeat) the original set of 5 Eggheads
Bere Heads Series 9, Episode 145 £25,000
The Abbey Revellers Series 9, Episode 146 £1,000 #3 Eggheads lose twice in a row
The Bald & The Beautiful Series 9, Episode 152 £6,000
Eclectic Mix Series 9, Episode 159 £7,000 £499,000
The Oxford Imps Series 10, Episode 2 £3,000
Chummie Brummies Series 10, Episode 31 £29,000
One Sense Less Series 10, Episode 54 £23,000 Team made up of profoundly deaf contestants
The Midweek Marauders Series 10, Episode 64 £10,000
Beached Boys Series 10, Episode 66 £2,000
Sally Warboys Series 10, Episode 69 £3,000
The Hanging Gale Series 10, Episode 82 £13,000
The Cartoonists Series 10, Episode 91 £9,000 First team with all five challengers to win the final round against single Egghead (Kevin)
Insight Radio Series 10, Episode 92 £1,000 #4 Eggheads lose twice in a row and #4 Eggheads lose to a single opponent
Ocean's Five Series 10, Episode 93 £1,000 #1 Eggheads lose three times in a row
Bognor Regis + 2 Series 10, Episode 94 £1,000 #1 Eggheads lose four times in a row
The Eggitors Series 10, Episode 98 £4,000
Pembroke Globetrotters Series 10, Episode 115 £17,000
PRS Plus Series 10, Episode 121 £6,000 £621,000
The Wise Owls Series 11, Episode 3 £37,000 The team donated their winnings to the Sussex Wildlife Trust[8]
Work I.T. Out Series 11, Episode 5 £2,000
Shabba Series 11, Episode 35 £30,000 #5 Eggheads lose to a single opponent
The Black & White Stripes Series 11, Episode 52 £17,000
Loiners by Proxy Series 11, Episode 57 £5,000
The Middleton Moonrakers Series 11, Episode 58 £1,000 #7 Eggheads lose twice in a row
Scrum 5 Series 11, Episode 72 £14,000
Comedy of Errors Series 11, Episode 75 £3,000 #6 Eggheads lose to a single opponent
Glamorgan Poppies Series 11, Episode 86 £11,000
The Apple Turnovers Series 11, Episode 93 £7,000
Get It With Letters Series 11, Episode 122 £29,000
Chessboxers Series 11, Episode 124 £2,000
The Flying Doctors Series 11, Episode 130 £6,000 #7 Eggheads lose to a single opponent
Lancashire Hotpots Series 11, Episode 141 £11,000 #8 Eggheads lose to a single opponent
Bar 5 Series 11, Episode 157 £16,000 £812,000
Living by Numbers Series 12, Episode 6 £9,000
Culture Vultures Series 12, Episode 24 £18,000
Who Cares Wins Series 12, Episode 38 £14,000
The Internal Marketeers Series 12, Episode 63 £25,000
Chad Acad Series 12, Episode 66 £3,000
Cornish Monkeys Series 12, Episode 72 £6,000 Team donate money to Wild Futures, primate welfare and conservation charity.
Millennium Marvels Series 12, Episode 84 £12,000
Loose Connection Series 12, Episode 85 £1,000 #8 Eggheads lose twice in a row
She Who Must Be Obeyed Series 12, Episode 91 £6,000
The Tramlines[N 1] Series 12, Episode 96 £5,000
The Lions' Den Series 12, Episode 97 £1,000 #9 Eggheads lose twice in a row
5 A Day Series 12, Episode 124 £27,000
Blackpool Rockers Series 12, Episode 141 £17,000
The Five Marketeers Series 12, Episode 145 £4,000 #9 Eggheads lose to a single opponent
The Brocketeers Series 12, Episode 149 £4,000 £964,000
The Royal Harmonics Series 13, Episode 12 £23,000
Dobbin Series 13, Episode 19 £7,000
Shelford 5 Series 13, Episode 22 £3,000
The Wonderyears Series 13, Episode 30 £8,000 Over £1,000,000 has now been paid out in prize money since show first started
Phoenix Nights Series 13, Episode 37 £7,000
The Bell Boys Series 13, Episode 38 £1,000 #10 Eggheads lose twice in a row
A Tale of Two Families Series 13, Episode 41 £3,000
Bucks Quiz Series 13, Episode 44 £3,000
The Melting Pot Series 13, Episode 47 £3,000
Lightning Can Strike Twice Series 13, Episode 53 £6,000 #10 Eggheads lose to a single opponent
The Family Connection Series 13, Episode 65 £12,000
Dad's Army Series 13, Episode 83 £18,000 #11 Eggheads lose to a single opponent
The Hole in the Wall Gang Series 13, Episode 85 £2,000
UNOS Series 13, Episode 89 £4,000
The Quad Runners Series 13, Episode 118 £29,000 #12 Eggheads lose to a single opponent.
Handel with Care Series 13, Episode 120 £2,000 Team donated winnings to Southampton Choral Society.
Team Scotia Series 13, Episode 136 £16,000 £1,111,000
Two and a Half Tandems Series 14, Episode 22 £26,000 Team donated winnings to Life Cycle UK.
Bright Sparks Series 14, Episode 33 £11,000
Streetwise Series 14, Episode 49 £16,000
The Business Men Series 14, Episode 90 £41,000 2nd highest amount won by a challenging team. #13 Eggheads lose to a single opponent. 100th team to defeat the Eggheads.
The Crooked Spires Series 14, Episode 95 £5,000
The Clevelanders Series 14, Episode 106 £11,000
Beer Run Quizzers Series 14, Episode 108 £2,000
Doctors' Notes Series 14, Episode 113 £5,000
Business Belles Series 14, Episode 119 £6,000
No Direction Series 14, Episode 130 £11,000 #14 Eggheads lose to a single opponent.
Neither Big Nor Clever Series 14, Episode 134 £4,000
The Sensational Alex Fairley Band Series 14, Episode 136 £2,000 #1 Eggheads get first 2 questions wrong in the final round.
Rambling Badgers Series 14, Episode 139 £3,000 £1,254,000
Green Giants Series 15, Episode 12 £13,000 #2 All five challengers win the final round against a single Egghead (Judith)
The Amnesiacs Series 15, Episode 17 £5,000
The Hound Dogs Series 15, Episode 20 £3,000
Cardigan Carnage Series 15, Episode 22 £2,000
The Soroptimists Series 15, Episode 31 £9,000 Winnings donated to various local, national & international charities.
Collegiate Quizzers Series 15, Episode 44 £13,000
Stumped Series 15, Episode 53 £9,000
Burns Baby Burns Series 15, Episode 55 £2,000
Meat Bingo Series 15, Episode 69 £14,000
Team 42 Series 15, Episode 70 £1,000 #11 Eggheads lose twice in a row
Cave Aged Series 15, Episode 77 £7,000 £1,332,000

Revenge of the Egghead

On 24 February 2014, a new spin-off series of Eggheads was launched called Revenge of the Egghead. It was presented by Jeremy Vine and saw the return of CJ de Mooi, who left Eggheads in 2012. In each episode, de Mooi faced a team of five contestants hoping to win thousands of pounds.

Main game[]

Each contestant, in turn, is asked a general knowledge question. If their answer is right, £200 is added to the prize fund but if their answer is wrong and de Mooi knows their answer is wrong, he presses a red button in front of him to answer the same question. If he gets it wrong and the contestant gets it right, an additional £100 is added to the prize fund. If he gets it right, the contestant is asked a multiple-choice question by de Mooi. If they get it right, gameplay continues as normal but if they get it wrong, they lose one of their two lives. If a contestant loses both of their lives, they are out of the game. When time runs out, the surviving players move on to the final round, along with the total number of lives remaining for all players, for a chance to win an equal share of the prize fund.

Final round[]

The final round starts out with de Mooi answering ten general knowledge questions. The number of questions he gets right becomes the target that the team has to beat. The team can confer on every question. Every wrong answer means that the team loses one of their lives and if they lose all of their lives, they leave with nothing but if they beat the target, they win an equal share of the prize fund.

Celebrity Eggheads[]

On 15 December 2008, a special edition of Eggheads began, airing five shows of Celebrity Eggheads, ending on 19 December 2008 and presented by Dermot Murnaghan.

On 7 December 2009, 10 more editions of Celebrity Eggheads began. These were also the first shows to feature Pat Gibson, the seventh Egghead. The first nine episodes aired on consecutive weekdays, with the tenth episode airing in March 2010.

From 13 December 2010, 10 Celebrity Eggheads episodes were aired for a third series.

Then, from 12 to 23 December 2011, including a Sunday show on 18 December, the format returned for a fourth series.

From 10 to 21 December 2012, a further ten episodes aired.[9]

From 9 December 2013, a further 10 episodes were scheduled.

Transmissions[]

Series Start date End date Episodes Host Eggheads Landmark
Series Cumulative
1 10 Nov 2003 19 Dec 2003 30 30 Dermot Chris, Daphne, CJ, Kevin and Judith
2 6 Sept 2004 16 Nov 2004 30 60 Dermot Chris, Daphne, CJ, Kevin and Judith
3 23 May 2005 7 Nov 2005 30 90 Dermot Chris, Daphne, CJ, Kevin and Judith
4 8 Nov 2005 12 Dec 2005 25 115 Dermot Chris, Daphne, CJ, Kevin and Judith 100th episode on 22 Nov 2005
5 10 April 2006 6 June 2006 40 155 Dermot Chris, Daphne, CJ, Kevin and Judith
6 25 Sept 2006 5 March 2007 25 180 Dermot Chris, Daphne, CJ, Kevin and Judith
7 6 March 2007 10 Sept 2007 80 260 Dermot Chris, Daphne, CJ, Kevin and Judith 250th episode on 27 August 2007
8 11 Sept 2007 28 February 2008 80 340 Dermot Chris, Daphne, CJ, Kevin and Judith
9 29 Feb 2008 23 March 2009 160 500 Dermot Episodes 1–80
Jeremy (Ep's 81–160)
Chris, Daphne, CJ, Kevin, Judith and Barry Barry's debut on 2 December 2008
500th episode on 23 March 2009
10 24 March 2009 26 Feb 2010 155 655 Dermot Episodes 1–75
Jeremy (Ep's 76–155)
Chris, Daphne, CJ, Kevin, Judith and Barry 600th episode on 11 Nov 2009
11 1 March 2010 6 April 2011 160 815 Dermot Episodes 1–80
Jeremy (Ep's 81–160)
Chris, Daphne, CJ, Kevin, Judith, Barry and Pat Pat's debut on 1 March 2010
750th episode on 26 October 2010
12 7 April 2011 13 April 2012 160 975 Dermot Episodes 1–80
Jeremy (Ep's 81–160)
Chris, Daphne, CJ, Kevin, Judith, Barry and Pat
13 16 April 2012 14 March 2013 140 1115 Dermot Episodes 1–60
Jeremy
(Episodes 61–140)
Chris, Daphne, CJ, Kevin, Judith, Barry, Pat and Dave 1,000th episode on 18 May 2012
CJ's final episode on 31 Aug 2012
Dave's debut on 27 Sept 2012
14 9 April 2013 27 May 2014 140 1255 Dermot Episodes 1–60
Jeremy (Ep's 61–140)
Chris, Daphne, Kevin, Judith, Barry, Pat and Dave 1,250th episode on 20 May 2014
Daphne's final episode on 27 May 2014
15 28 May 2014 TBA 100 1355 Dermot Episodes 1–50
Jeremy (Ep's 51–100)
Chris, CJ, Kevin, Judith, Barry, Pat, Dave and Lisa CJ's return on 28 May 2014
Lisa's debut on 3 Oct 2014

Notes

  1. One team member, Max Thomson, killed himself two days after this episode aired.

Sources[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Jeremy Vine set to return to BBC2 The Guardian, 7 August 2008
  2. Mensa
  3. Are you as clever as an Egghead Beonscreen.com
  4. Eggie Hunt - Updated Quizzing, 14 May 2008
  5. Radio Times
  6. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. title=SWT SMASH BBC EGGHEADS Sussex Wildlife Trust, 3 March 2010
  9. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

External links[]

  • Template:BBC programme
  • Eggheads at 12-Yard Productions
  • Template:UKGameshow
  • Eggheads at Challenge.co.uk
  • Template:BBC programme

Template:Use dmy dates

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