[Steve in Pudsey]

More than just meetings - was she not effectively understudy to Paxman should he have been unavailable during the pandemic? Presumably she had recorded pilots with the team as part of that.

[bilky asko]

With Samira Ahmed, you've got a knowledgeable, fluent, personable host, with a provenance that gives her an unimpeachable quality that really suits the show, and not someone who used to play the call handler on The Wright Stuff (for example).

[Keith]

With Samira Ahmed, you've got a knowledgeable, fluent, personable host, with a provenance that gives her an unimpeachable quality that really suits the show, and not someone who used to play the call handler on The Wright Stuff (for example).

A cynic might suggest that Samira suing the BBC for equal pay for presenting Newswatch (and winning) based on Vine's salary for Points of View has hindered her long term career prospects.

[Andrew]

A cynic might suggest that Samira suing the BBC for equal pay for presenting Newswatch (and winning) based on Vine's salary for Points of View has hindered her long term career prospects.

She would probably have wanted the same salary as Paxman was on

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that Amol is being paid less considering he doesn’t have a million years experience like Paxman had

[RhysJR]

Has there ever been a show with two 200+ point scores before?

It does feel, especially tonight, that Amol reads at a quicker pace than Jeremy. Not sure if that is a negative or a positive, but it did produce two extremely high scores tonight.

Still can't take to the new set, the opening shot especially still looks all wrong, the framing making Amol look tiny.

[RhysJR]

Congratulations to Roger Tilling for today reaching a thousand episodes as the University Challenge announcer.

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