I’ve heard this a lot from Amol Rajan, new host of University Challenge. I don’t think I remember Paxman saying it, but I may well be wrong about that – either way, it’s a new term for me. Apparently it’s often used in judo and wrestling in particular, and refers to a round in a tournament or competition where people who were eliminated in earlier rounds get a chance to compete again. In the context of our student quiz, it’s when the highest scoring losers get a chance to play again to try to stay in the main draw.
As you can probably guess from the spelling, ‘repechage’ is a French term. It comes from the verb ‘repêcher’, meaning ‘to fish out’ or ‘rescue from the water’. That seems like a très bon term for a round where people get fished out of the loser’s pond, oui?
University Challenge has been running since 1962 and originally aired on ITV until 1987. It was revived by the BBC in 1994 where it’s been ever since. It was first hosted by Bamber Gascoigne, with Jeremy Paxman taking over when it moved to the Beeb.
The lowest ever score is 10 points (so that’s one starter question correct), from the University of Sussex (sorry to name and shame). And the lowest score in the Professionals version was 25, which was scored by the House of Commons team. No surprise there then.
One of the most successful contestants of all time was a woman called Gail Trimble from Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Dubbed the ‘Human Google’, she correctly answered more questions than the rest of her team combined (including 15 starter questions). On the way to the final Trimble won two-thirds of her team’s total points: 825 out of 1,235. Unsurprisingly they went on to win the whole thing, scoring 275 points to Manchester’s 190 in the final. But there’s a twist in the tale. Gail’s team were later disqualified after an investigation revealed one of her teammates had finished studying at Corpus Christi before the series ended, which is against the rules. The prize was awarded to the runners up instead #guttedforgail