A top team of students from The Open University has made it through to the televised rounds of the popular television programme University Challenge.
The 2023-24 Open University team has made it onto Series 30, their first-round match will be shown on BBC2 on Monday 4 September at 8.30pm.
The team of five were selected by the OU Students Association from a pool of over 118 students who applied to be part of the 2023/24 team.
They have been through a tough selection process before their interview with the programme’s production team, where they impressed the crew. Team Open has a range of knowledge across a number of subject areas, with members comprising of:
- Ann Gavaghan (captain)
- James Davidson
- Elinor Romans,
- Mike Holt,
- and Nicky Maving (reserve)
‘A huge achievement’
Speaking on her experience of being in the Open University team, Elinor Romans who is currently studying Nursing, said:
“I’ve long enjoyed watching University Challenge and a minor regret from my earlier university career was not having a go at getting involved. So when I saw the advert for this year’s OU team on student home, I decided it was time to have a try.
“In typical OU style, our first team get together took place online. We also did all our training on Zoom. We finally met in person at the auditions in London. The audition was quite nerve-racking but luckily we were successful. At this point I began to appreciate what a huge achievement just getting onto the programme is, well over a hundred teams applied and they only chose 28.
“A month or so later and we were off to Manchester for round one. And my favourite part of the whole thing, walking on set for the first time and realising that you are actually going to be on University Challenge!”
‘A childhood dream’
James Davidson, studying English Literature at The OU, also shared his experience of being part of Team Open 2023. James said:
“This was my third time trying to be part of the team so it is safe to say that I was very keen to appear on the show and especially to represent the Open University. This is my final year studying for my undergraduate so I knew this could be the last opportunity I would have for a while.
“It was amazing getting onto the team and we had a really fun time preparing by going through old question sets and watching episodes of the programme together over zoom to get some practice of the speed we would need on the buzzer.
“When we found out we got onto the show I was at work and couldn’t believe it had happened. It sounds cheesy but it really was a childhood dream fulfilled, no matter what happened next, I got onto University Challenge!”
Click here to find out more about the team: https://www.oustudents.com/get-involved/university-challenge/meet-the-team-2023/.
The Open University has won University Challenge twice in the past, the first time was in 1984 and again in 1999. Tune in to BBC2 on Monday 4 September at 8.30pm to watch Team Open compete in this year’s challenge.
