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University Challenge 2021–22

{{Short description|Season of a television programme}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{DISPLAYTITLE:University Challenge 2021–22}}

The 51st series of University Challenge began on 12 July 2021 on BBC Two.{{cite web |title=BBC Two - University Challenge, 2021/22, Episode 1 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000xwlg |website=BBC Online |access-date=30 June 2021}} The final aired on 4 April 2022 when Imperial College London and the University of Reading were declared the series winners and runners-up respectively.

In this series, the University of Dundee made its debut appearance in the BBC series.

Results

  • Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
  • Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated (as it was impossible for them to be in the highest scoring losers).
  • Teams with orange scores had to win one more match to return in the next round.
  • Teams with yellow scores indicate that two further matches had to be played and won (teams that lost their first quarter-final match).
  • A score in italics indicates a match decided on a tie-breaker question.

=First round=

class="wikitable"
Team 1colspan="2" | ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
King's College London

| style="background:#88ff88"|115

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|100}}

| University of Glasgow

| 215

| 12 July 2021

University College London

| style="background:orange"|135

| style="background:#88ff88"|140

| St Hilda's College, Oxford

| 275

| 19 July 2021

London Business School

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|100}}

| style="background:#88ff88"|180

| Hertford College, Oxford

| 280

| 26 July 2021

Emmanuel College, Cambridge

| style="background:orange"|135

| style="background:#88ff88"|140

| University of St Andrews

| 275

| 2 August 2021

Queen Mary University of London

| style="background:#88ff88"|115

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|90}}

| Oxford Brookes University

| 205

| 9 August 2021

University of Strathclyde

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|110}}

| style="background:#88ff88"|175

| University of Reading

| 285

| 16 August 2021

University of Durham

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|90}}

| style="background:#88ff88"|190

| Trinity College, Cambridge

| 280

| 23 August 2021

University of Exeter

| style="background:#88ff88"|130

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|80}}

| University of Manchester

| 210

| 30 August 2021

University of Edinburgh

| style="background:#88ff88"|270

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|80}}

| Peterhouse, Cambridge

| 350

| 6 September 2021

St John's College, Cambridge

| style="background:orange"|155

| style="background:#88ff88"|210

| Imperial College London

| 365

| 13 September 2021

St Catharine's College, Cambridge

| style="background:#88ff88"|130

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|120}}

| University College, Oxford

| 250

| 20 September 2021

University of Dundee

| style="background:#88ff88"|145

| style="background:orange"|135

| Royal Northern College of Music

| 280

| 27 September 2021

Wolfson College, Oxford

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|110}}

| style="background:#88ff88"|165

| University of Bristol

| 275

| 4 October 2021

University of Birmingham

| style="background:#88ff88"|245

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|10}}

| University of Sussex

| 255

| 11 October 2021

==Highest scoring losers play-offs==

class="wikitable"
Team 1colspan="2" | ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
University College London

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|170}}

| style="background:#88ff88"|175

| St John's College, Cambridge

| 345

| 18 October 2021

Emmanuel College, Cambridge

| style="background:#88ff88"|180

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|115}}

| Royal Northern College of Music

| 295

| 25 October 2021

=Second round=

class="wikitable"
Team 1colspan="2" | ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
St John's College, Cambridge

| style="background:#88ff88"|220

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|45}}

| Queen Mary University of London

| 265

| 1 November 2021

Emmanuel College, Cambridge

| style="background:#88ff88"|125

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|120}}

| St Catharine's College, Cambridge

| 245

| 8 November 2021

University of Edinburgh

| style="background:#88ff88"|185

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|175}}

| University of Bristol

| 360

| 15 November 2021

St Hilda's College, Oxford

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|45}}

| style="background:#88ff88"|235

| Trinity College, Cambridge

| 280

| 22 November 2021

University of Reading

| style="background:#88ff88"|245

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|50}}

| University of Dundee

| 295

| 29 November 2021

King's College London

| style="background:#88ff88"|165

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|115}}

| Hertford College, Oxford

| 280

| 6 December 2021

University of Birmingham

| style="background:#88ff88"|225

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|50}}

| University of St Andrews

| 275

| 13 December 2021

University of Exeter

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|70}}

| style="background:#88ff88"|205

| Imperial College London

| 275

| 3 January 2022

=Quarterfinals=

class="wikitable"
Team 1colspan="2" | ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
University of Reading

| style="background:orange"|170

| style="background:yellow"|135

| University of Birmingham

| 305

| 10 January 2022

King's College London

| style="background:yellow"|50

| style="background:orange"|235

| Imperial College London

| 285

| 17 January 2022

St John's College, Cambridge

| style="background:yellow"|140

| style="background:orange"|155

| Emmanuel College, Cambridge

| 295

| 24 January 2022

University of Edinburgh

| style="background:orange"|230

| style="background:yellow"|95

| Trinity College, Cambridge

| 325

| 31 January 2022

University of Birmingham

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|115}}

| style="background:orange"|140

| King's College London

| 255

| 7 February 2022

University of Reading

| style="background:orange"|120

| style="background:#88ff88"|225

| Imperial College London

| 345

| 14 February 2022

Emmanuel College, Cambridge

| style="background:orange"|145

| style="background:#88ff88"|150

| University of Edinburgh

| 295

| 21 February 2022

St John's College, Cambridge

| style="background:orange"|155

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|125}}

| Trinity College, Cambridge

| 280

| 28 February 2022

King's College London

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|80}}

| style="background:#88ff88"|85

| Emmanuel College, Cambridge

| 165

| 7 March 2022

University of Reading

| style="background:#88ff88"|145

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|70}}

| St John's College, Cambridge

| 215

| 14 March 2022

=Semifinals=

class="wikitable"
Team 1colspan="2" | ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
Imperial College London

| style="background:#88ff88"|170

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|65}}

| Emmanuel College, Cambridge

| 235

| 21 March 2022

University of Edinburgh

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|115}}

| style="background:#88ff88"|145

| University of Reading

| 260

| 28 March 2022

=Final=

class="wikitable"
Team 1colspan="2" | ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
Imperial College London

| style="background:gold"|125

| style="background:silver"|{{fontcolor|white|115}}

| University of Reading

| 240

| 4 April 2022

In what was the most closely fought final since 2006 (when the University of Manchester beat Trinity Hall, Cambridge also by ten points), Imperial had leads of 90 to 25 and 105 to 45 before Reading fought back to take a narrow 120 to 105 lead. Max Zeng (Imperial) then narrowly beat the Reading captain Michael Hutchinson to a starter on the Brecon Beacons, after which Imperial took two bonuses and a five-point lead in the process. A five-point penalty for Reading was the final change in the scoreline before the gong.

  • The trophy and title were thus awarded to the Imperial team of Max Zeng, Fatima Sheriff, Michael Mays, and Gilbert Jackson.
  • The trophy was presented by Russian-born Dutch-British physicist Andre Geim.

Spin-off: Christmas Special 2021

=First round=

Each year, a Christmas special sequence is aired featuring distinguished alumni. Out of 7 first-round winners, the top 4 highest-scoring teams progress to the semi-finals. The teams consist of celebrities who represent their alma maters.

  • Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
  • Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
  • Teams with grey scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.
  • A score in italics indicates a match decided on a tie-breaker question.

class="wikitable"
Team 1colspan=2 | ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
University of Edinburgh

| style="background:#88ff88"|160

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|125}}

| University of Leicester

| 285

| 20 December 2021

University of Winchester

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|95}}

| style="background:#88ff88"|130

| University of Bradford

| 225

| 21 December 2021

University of Bristol

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|95}}

| style="background:grey"|{{fontcolor|white|125}}

| King's College, Cambridge

| 220

| 22 December 2021

London School of Economics

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|75}}

| style="background:#88ff88"|130

| Hertford College, Oxford

| 205

| 23 December 2021

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|130}}

| style="background:#88ff88"|145

| St Anne's College, Oxford

| 275

| 24 December 2021

Birkbeck, University of London

| style="background:grey"|{{fontcolor|white|125}}

| style="background:#f44;"|{{fontcolor|white|30}}

| University of Portsmouth

| 155

| 27 December 2021

University of Kent

| style="background:grey"|{{fontcolor|white|115}}

| style="background:#f44"|{{fontcolor|white|95}}

| Goldsmiths, University of London

| 210

| 28 December 2021

==Standings for the winners==

class="wikitable"

!Rank

!Team

!Team captain

!Score

bgcolor="#D0F0C0"

|1

|University of Edinburgh

|Miles Jupp

|160

bgcolor="#D0F0C0"

|2

|St Anne's College, Oxford

|John Robins

|145

bgcolor="#D0F0C0"

|rowspan="2" | 3=

|University of Bradford

|Martin Roberts

|rowspan="2" | 130

bgcolor="#D0F0C0"

|Hertford College, Oxford

|Adam Fleming

rowspan="2" | 5=

|King's College, Cambridge

|Shahidha Bari

|rowspan="2" | 125

Birkbeck, University of London

|Jolyon Maugham

7

|University of Kent

|Peter White

|115

=Semi-finals=

class="wikitable"
Team 1colspan=2 | ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
University of Edinburgh

| style="background:#88ff88"|145

| style="background:#f44"|{{fontcolor|white|125}}

| University of Bradford

| 270

| 29 December 2021

Hertford College, Oxford

| style="background:#88ff88"|155

| style="background:#f44"|{{fontcolor|white|95}}

| St Anne's College, Oxford

| 250

| 30 December 2021

=Final=

class="wikitable"
Team 1colspan=2 | ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
University of Edinburgh

| style="background:gold"|235

| style="background:silver"|{{fontcolor|white|95}}

| Hertford College, Oxford

| 330

| 31 December 2021

The winning University of Edinburgh team consisted of Catherine Slessor, Thomasina Miers, Miles Jupp and Phil Swanson. The second placed Hertford College team consisted of Soweto Kinch, Elizabeth Norton, Adam Fleming and Isabelle Westbury.

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t6l0 University Challenge homepage]
  • [http://www.blanchflower.org/uc/uc22.html Blanchflower Results Table]

{{University Challenge}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:University Challenge 2021-22}}

2021

Category:2021 British television seasons

Category:2022 British television seasons

{{UK-tv-prog-stub}}