St Andrews student becomes youngest ever Mastermind winner

A University of St Andrews student has become the youngest ever winner of one of the nation’s favourite television quiz shows.
Jonathan Gibson won Mastermind.Jonathan Gibson won Mastermind.
Jonathan Gibson won Mastermind.

Jonathan Gibson, who is studying for a PhD in modern history at the University of St Andrews has been crowned the new Mastermind champion at the tender age of 24.

He scooped the title by a margin of four points in the grand final of the BBC game show after scoring a perfect 11/11 in his specialist subject – British comedy songwriting duo Flanders and Swann, an act popular in the 1950s and 1960s.

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His other specialist subjects throughout the contest were Agatha Christie’s Poirot in the heat and William Pitt the Younger in the semi-final.

He got full marks on all three specialist subjects, as well as a perfect general knowledge score in his semi-final round.

The post-graduate student ousts the previous youngest winner, Gavin Fuller, who was also 24 – but 90 days older – when he won in 1993.

Mr Gibson said: “To be not only the Mastermind champion but the youngest-ever Mastermind champion just feels absolutely incredible.

“I cannot believe it. It’s like a dream come true.

“That’s definitely not what I would have expected.

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“So, the fact that I was able to increase my score every time, I don’t even honestly really know how I did that.

“When I tell my family about this I imagine they will be even more over the moon than me.

"They have been so supportive to me and I’m just really looking forward to getting home and telling them about it and seeing what celebration meal my mum is going to make for me.

“The fact that I’ve won as the only Scottish finalist means a huge amount, because – despite the confusing evidence of my accent – I am fiercely proud to be Scottish.

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“I’m really proud to demonstrate that Scottish quizzers and quizzers from outside of London exist and can beat the rest.”

He added: “And I absolutely want this victory to inspire, if possible, quizzers of my age and younger to give it a go and prove themselves, because we can win.”

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