Jeremy Paxman is retiring from University Challenge

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Sorry to hear this. I think he's done a great job for the last 28 years. Different from Bamber Gascoigne, of course, but UC has remained a huge favourite in our house. I thought he might retire soon when I heard about his Parkinson's diagnosis. The news release below seems to imply he's filming the current series and someone else will be replacing him for the next series.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-62561558

Two things then:

1. When will the current series start? It's long overdue and I'm getting twitchy. It normally gets under way in July. Not scheduled for next Monday.
2. Who will replace him? Due to be announced later this week. Speculation in the article it could be Kirsty Wark, Sandy Toksvig, Samira Ahmed, Victoria Coren-Mitchell or Richard Osman, and various others. My personal choice would be Richard Osman from that group but I think it's a lot more likely to be a woman.

Would have preferred Samira Ahmed, but Amol Rajan will have equally good question delivery.
Transwomen have been on UC quite regularly and whether you, I, Amol Rajan or Uncle Tom Cobley agree with that or not shouldn’t make any difference to a quiz show where teams get through on their intellectual merits.

Hmmm, another Oxbridge educated man. Ho hum.....

I don't think you can call a first generation immigrant from India 'establishment'. I'm sure he made lots of connections while he was at Cambridge which have been very helpful to him in his career though.

He's a very clever bloke. And I'm sure doesn't give a shiny shit about the gender identities of any of the contestants which are utterly irrelevant in a general knowledge quiz.

I’m happy with Amol as choice. I am a fan

University challenge is not a programme where someone’s sex has a bearing so whether he has GC views ( or not, I have no idea) is unimportant just as their views on many other subjects.

The Guardian wrote, "Amol Rajan, (...) is a declared republican who once branded the royal family as 'absurd' and the media as a 'propaganda outlet' for the monarchy."[33] In 2021, he publicly apologised for comments made in a 2012 article he wrote for The Independent, in which he described Prince Philip as a "racist buffoon" and Prince Charles as "scientifically illiterate", and for an open letter he sent to Prince William and his wife Catherine while the two were expecting their first child, in which he described their public role as a "total fraud", the Queen's Diamond Jubilee as a "celebration of mediocrity", and the royal family as a clan "unusually full of fools".[34]

Hadn't heard of him before but from this it seems like he has a good head on his shoulders! A bit disappointing he's an Oxbridgey type, but alas, the media is going to media 🤷‍♀️

As long as he remembers to remove points from teams at the same rate as the teams he dislikes, due to interruptions/incorrect answers etc. Paxman was terrible about forgetting to do that. His biases often shone through.

Oh not Amol. Ubiquitous and unbearably arrogant and smug. Why not Samira for goodness sake.

Well yes, but a first generation immigrant that attended state school and got in to Cambridge despite background not because of it, isn’t quite the same as, say, the Alexander de Pfeffels of this world.

I'm not an Amol fan either. Mind you, I'm not keen on Samira either.

You know who would have been brilliant? Germaine Greer, that's who.

I think Germaine Greer might be a bit old for this. It would be good if the new host did it for years and years.

My husband said it would have been good to have someone with a science background, and I agree with him. Hannah Fry would have been great.

Yes, I realise GG is too old but she'd be fabulous!

Ohh, I'm beginning to like him a lot more!

Yes I thought that! I am hoping he doesn't have an overly abrasive manner though, like Paxman. No need for it.

I think it’s a decent choice - not white, state educated. I guess Oxbridge is a BBC requirement due to the nature of the show?

It does feel like that Oxbridge is a requirement for media and politics. It's as though there are no other Universities that matter.

I'd really like her to get it. She'd know all the answers too.

I don't know much about Amol either, but hope he will be good.

Nothing wrong with being from Oxbridge, given that he is presenting University Challenge. If he is the right candidate, then he may have still got the job if he went to Salford.

She's an Arts graduate, so I doubt this. Far easier for a STEM student/graduate to have a wide-ranging knowledge of history, geography, art, music, literature, politics etc alongside their specialist knowledge, as we see every time Imperial sends a team.

Sorry but Samira Ahmed did NOT deserve it after her awful embarrassing tweets!! She is beyond cringe!

Oh I wanted Michael Portillo. He'd be perfect. It's got to be someone who gives the impression they find all the questions easy to answer.

Argh, UC is my absolute favourite programme, pretty much the only thing I sit down to watch which is just for me, and we get Amol Rajan??!! I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and see how he does, but I really don't like him on the Today programme on R4. If he's on I just don't want to listen. He sounds as if he's reading out something someone else has prepared for him, and just comes across as if he's trying to be cool because he's one of the younger presenters. Same as when he's been on the One Show, not that anyone can do that show without being excruciating and visibly dying for it to be over! I feel rubbish now for being critical, but I just don't warm to him at all. Please don't let him ruin it for me! It's all I've got!😩

I think Amol Rajan is a Very Nice man. Different to Paxman but that’s fine.

I agree with this re UC, although it does sometimes surprise me how little some (not all obvs) of my non arts graduate friends seem to know about literature/history! Some people just aren’t interested in that stuff.

Just another BBC serial job-hogger.

exactly,
i am not keen on him