BBC University Challenge viewers stunned as team fail to answer question about late sporting legend: ‘Really disappointed’
University Challenge left BBC viewers scratching their heads as both teams’ sporting knowledge seemed to be lacking, with fans particularly shocked when contestants failed to answer a question about the late Rob Burrow.
Former rugby legend Burrow died in June last year after a years-long battle with motor neurone disease (MND), and had been campaigning to raise awareness of the disease since his diagnosis in 2019.
Monday’s University Challenge saw Cardiff taking on Queen’s University Belfast, with host Amol Rajan at the helm asking some tough questions.
While many of the show’s questions are notoriously difficult, some viewers were left “really disappointed” when neither team could answer a question about Burrow.
Rajan asked: “Which former Leeds Rhinos player was made an MBE in the 2021 New Year’s Honours list for services to rugby and to motor neurone disease awareness, having been diagnosed with MND in 2019?”
There was silence as neither team were able to answer, prompting Rajan to ask: “Anyone?”
He soon added: “No – I’ll tell you. It was the great Rob Burrow.”
Fans were surprised by the fact neither team knew the answer, and many took to social media to express their shock.
“Some things they know are staggering but how on Earth did nobody know about Rob Burrow? #UniversityChallenge,” one X user penned.
“Yes, poor,” a second responded in agreement, while another wrote: “As an Irish person, I was really delighted with QUB. But yeah, really disappointed that no-one knew Rob Burrow. I hope it wasn’t generational, Rob was a total legend.”
“Nobody knew Rob Burrow… #UniversityChallenge,” another noted.
“Questions on snooker, the attempted merger of Oxford United & Reading and the great Rob Burrow and the students on #UniversityChallenge didn’t get them right. What do students talk about these days?” another asked.
“I shouted it out and was shocked that not one knew him,” someone else admitted.
Others were more understanding, with one sharing: “I guess they’re quite young students… And maybe haven’t been watching mainstream telly.” (sic)
Queen’s University Belfast ended up winning the round, with host Rajan summarising their defeat as “such a shame”.
As he ended the show, he concluded: “And at the gong, Cardiff have 70 points and Queen’s University Belfast have 180.”
Offering some advice, he added: “Cardiff, you’ve got to be present for the first 20 minutes of the game!
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“But you know, it was such a shame because it’s all about the momentum. And once you guys got going, you were absolutely on a roll.
“It’s just you got going about 15 minutes too late, which is a huge shame.
“And also your tactic of just randomly saying the word Hooke also unfortunately didn’t work…”
Thankfully, the team took their loss graciously and went on to say they’d enjoyed their time on the show.