Tipped as serious title contenders, a team of Victoria University of Wellington students is taking on other New Zealand universities in the general knowledge contest University Challenge.
Twenty-five years since it was last on New Zealand screens, the famous game show has returned to Prime Television, on Saturday mornings at 11.30am. Victoria’s revival team makes its debut screening on 6 December, going head-to-head against the Auckland University of Technology (AUT).
Team members—Rachel Wilcox, Nick Fargher, Viveka Nylund, Isaac Harris and Jordan McCluskey—were selected by the Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) after scoring well in the trial test earlier this year.
“Our team has a good baseline knowledge in politics, law, science and history,” says Rachel, a Master of Science student and the team captain.
VUWSA Education Organiser Jay Chhana coached the team, who prepared for the round-robin competition by meeting weekly to go through practice questions. They also divided topics, giving each member an area to focus on during individual study time.
Nick had geography covered, joking that knowing capitals and flags has been a party trick all his life. He also studied sport and art. “I learnt far more about boxing than I needed to though,” he says.
Rachel says the practice sessions were really useful for getting to know each other. “We had a good balance between trying to win and having a good time.”
The competition was recorded in Invercargill during the mid-year break in July. The original show was produced by TVNZ in Dunedin and ran from 1976 to 1989. Victoria last won the competition in 1983.
Watch footage of the Victoria and Auckland University final and the last University Challenge episode in 1987.
