Yes, it was pretty shoddy tonight but they'd still have won.

I felt for the other lot when they got stuck with all those sound and picture questions and one on an obscure game that would make normal highly knowledgable people return a shrug. Yes, shoddy.

I can see why they rejected Deathly Hallows on the principle that they weren't looking for the title of the novel, but the team's answer of "magical objects" was just as vague as "something to do with flowers" - yet apparently not as accurate to the verifiers. If they knew their Potter well enough, they could have said Horcruxes, which is just the Potterisation of "magical objects" - I wonder if that would have been accepted.

But if they were really going to be so pedantic about the Deathly Hallows, "ring" is plain wrong and should not have been accepted.

I've noticed when these points of contention arise, VCM is quick to jump in and explain why it's so obviously correct in placating tones akin to Osman on Pointless whenever some bozo no one's heard of is a pointless answer in the final round.

Bit of an odd episode, really.

We couldn't allow Deathly Hallows because it doesn't fit the sequence - it's strictly what the objects are, not the titles themselves. We gave them the chance to fill in the details but they didn't know them. The stone was made into a ring, so no problem there.

The flowers one was a bit odd because VCM herself spotted that red flowers was a valid link between the clues rather than the 'falling petals' one I had intended. That was entirely my oversight. So beforehand we had to agree that we'd be pretty generous on that one as long as petals or flowers were mentioned.

As for Settlers of Catan, we prepare and sort the questions independently of who gets on the series. It was just luck that they happened to be on the right series of the right show to pick the right hieroglyph, just as a Science Editors or History Boys team might get a question on their pet subject. We have always done it that way, because it's simply fairer - even if it 'looks bad' to the casual observer.

Still one of my favourite shows on TV but I'm still finding more and more flaws with it each week, which for a show based on highly-intellectual questions is disappointing. If you're going to have questions based on such high-intellect, then at least make the format intelligent as well, not something akin to a kids TV quiz or a Richard and Judy phone-in.

Tonight's gripes which spring to mind:

1. When a team gets the question wrong and it is passed over (especially where they have buzzed in early, so multiple clues are being revealed to the other team at once), they HAVE to be given a bit more time to confer. Unless a few seconds are being edited out in what we are seeing, Vicky is on them almost straight away for an answer, refusing them conferring time, which is just bizarre in the case where they have just been shown multiple clues. How are they meant to digest, work out, confer between the three of them and agree in the tiny amount of time she is allowing them? They should at least get some chance to benefit from the other team's wrong answer.

2. There has to be some consistency in the sequences round as to whether you accept people saying 'something which represents.... (the answer)' or not. Whilst I agree saying, 'Deathly Hallows' is wrong and shouldn't be allowed, I'd say in this case, it would be good enough to say 'something which represents Deathly Hallows.' Obviously if you couldn't think of something say with four legs then you don't deserve the point but in this case surely spotting the connection was enough.

3. The questions tonight DID seem to pander to the Board Gamers a bit. I agree with Davidbod that questions should be random before the teams are known and you shouldn't be taking questions out just because they match a particular team's areas of expertise. However, how on earth was any random non-board game type person meant to have heard of whatever game it was which was mentioned? Fair enough monopoly, but not that! Also, not just that question, several other geek-type questions which pandered to that team, maths, Harry Potter etc, (not wanting to stereotype.) Reflected in a sadly one-sided scoreboard for a semi-final.

I think it's perhaps one of those situations where the hated person/act/team is kept in a show as long as possible in order to attract viewers wanting to see them fail and that hopefully they will fail miserably in the final. Nothing against the two wingmen, just that **** in the centre that I can't stand. Although, to be fair to him, he does seem to have calmed down since the earlier rounds, unless his inane ramblings are just being edited out now.

Gotta love an Only Connect conspiracy theory

Wouldn't call it a conspiracy, it's just the normal TV production machinations. Trouble is this audience doesn't fall for anything as they would normally!

Yes, people do take this a bit too seriously sometimes. But I do agree with Doe's second point, consistency is needed with the 'something that represents...' type answers.

Unfortunately, I can see them winning, because they are good on the last round. Only needs the questions to fall their way again or have the better team have a bad day like the Oenophiles for the 'doctor' to pick up the trophy.

It would be interesting to know if any other team in the whole series had even heard of "Settlers of Catan". It's hard to think of a more specific question that any of them could have got.

No answer if even going to be meaningful to everyone but really good OC question should leave the a good number of viewers saying "Ah!!" (or even "Arrggghh!) when the answer is revealed not "Huh??"

Amazing that they have got to the final and are probably the worst team ever on the Wall round.

I think if another one like that appears 'at random' in the final and they win then the programme will lose a lot of credibility and probably quite a few viewers. They must be one of the most unpopular teams to have appeared on the programme.

Disappointing result last night meaning we have to suffer Brian May's lovechild again, dont think there has been a team that i have found more annoying.

I think I must be alone in quite liking the Boardgamers, but did think that they were given an easy ride last night.

They were just wrong in the Deathly Hallows question. The Hallow was a Stone, not a ring.

The petals one was wrong, also.

And, though I don't think the game question was a deliberate plant, the question itself was a bit odd. There's obscure questions then there's WTF questions, and this was the latter.

Anyway, they won convincingly, but maybe the Oenophiles were a bit demoralised by the bias?

I used to feel that this programme was unmissable - now I don't know if I'll even bother with the next series. The new format is annoying and the questions are easier. Disappointing.

Pretty much sums it up. I don't know if this show has run it's course but it certainly feels like that to me. The new format is the real killer; I don't know if they just aren't getting enough teams applying for the show anymore or what, but I don't like the fact that it is no longer straight knockout, and a team who lost earlier could potentially become series champions.

Still really like the show, and I don't really get the conspiracy theory myself. David explained it all quite eloquently above.

I would say the show could maybe do with a small change to the format here or there, rather like on Pointless to keep it from going stale.

Also I find having the same team on several times on a confusing passage to a final is a little annoying.

Having said all that, again David has alluded in the past to the BBC telling them how many shows they wanted, and I imagine the budget is tiny (given it's BBC4), so I'm just grateful for something that isn't a cookery/property/antique/jungle/singing contest related show!

To be fair, board games are a bit back in fashion at the moment (maybe a reaction to our increasingly computerised lives) and Settlers of Catan is not 'just another board game', it's a multiple award winning game that has sold in massive numbers, for a board game. It's not on the monopoly/trivial pursuit scale of ubiquity but anyone who has moved beyond the likes of those would probably have heard about it, if not played it.

But that doesn't change the point it was a gift to the Board Gamers. They do seem to have had more luck in the first two rounds than any other team I can remember in all the time I've watched OC. I don't agree with the conspiracy theories but I think there is an undercurrent of a perspective that they've 'fluked' their way to the final while being actually quite poor at at least 1/4 of the show. And that as much as anything is what makes them quite unpopular, IMO.

They aren't horcruxes though, well except the stone. You use the hallows to destroy the horcruxes, which is the plot of the sixth and seventh books.


Exactly, it just got fitted into a ring. Death gave one of the brothers in the story a stone. Otherwise you could've said it was inside a snitch or just one of Voldemort's horcruxes.

I wouldn't have a clue. I know as much about the world of Harry Potter as I do about German boardgames. i.e. nothing.

The Hallows don't destroy Horcruxes. Basilisk venom does that.



I'm a Harry Potter fanatic since I read the books this summer. I tend to get very pedantic about it. Sorry.

You are correct. I should have said the hallows would have better prepared Harry against Voldemort.

Glad others noticed that stupid petals question! You would think Only Connect, of all game shows, would be strict about keeping the rules fair between the two teams. The answer to the flowers/petals questions was wrong, and they even asked her if Lester was in American Beauty? At that point she seemed to be accepting the answer already, which was odd.


Firstly, although you are right, I think calling the ring a hallow is fair enough. During the books, the hallow was mostly inside the ring before it was removed and put in the snitch. I can see why they got away with that particular part of it.

Second bit - totally agree. Result may have been different otherwise.


I guess you work on the show/questions? I'm sure I've seen before when someone has the right connection and only a vague answer and was given the points?


Horcruxes is not a Potter way of saying magical objects. They are a type of magical object, of which there are probably millions

So no, I don't think it would have been accepted, although one of the hallows was turned into a horcrux .


Among other things (I can think of the sword of Gryffindor and fiend fyre)

The Sword of Gryffindor is technically the same thing as basilisk venom; it's only because it was impregnated with the venom that it was able to destroy horcruxes. In and of itself, it can't do that.

CNash has answered for me re the Sword of Gryffindor; You are right about the Fiendfyre.

But I still don't thing "ring" was right. The Hallow/horcrux was only the Stone.

Please stop me from turning this thread into a "Who knows most about Harry Potter" discussion - honestly, I annoy myself with it!

Please can you tell me what the cat smilie signifies? I've no idea.

Please stop. When people start talking about Harry Potter it's as if they are speaking in a different language.

Going back to last night's episode, it was good to see "Scandinavian Dramas" in the missing vowels round. Now that was a proper BBC4-type category.

Parseltongue, perhaps?

(I'm really sorry, I just couldn't resist that. I will definitely stop now, and never mention HP again. Unless someone gets a fact wrong about it).