Despite the old wisdom that there is no “I” in team, it’s often individual contestants that cement themselves as fan favourites on University Challenge. (Who doesn’t love Eric Monkman or Bobby Seagull, after all?)
But last night, it was an incredibly brain team from Corpus Christi College, Oxford and their adorable group dynamic that stole viewers’ hearts.
Quickly labelled as ultimate “squad goals”, the team racked up an incredible score - and appeared to have an amazing time doing it.
While team captain Venkatesh’s panicked faced when Paxman asked him to name the national fruit of India had the audience in stitches, the group’s ability to laugh off a blunder they made over a question about the Bronte sisters garnered them even more support.
Even Jeremy Paxman seemed to be a fan of the team, describing their 250 point score as a “storming performance from a well-balanced team”.
But could the show’s cheeriest team go all the way and take this year’s title?
Only time will tell.