Nothing quite beats the smug satisfaction of feeling like you’re (maybe) as smart as a University Challenge contestant. That satisfaction can come from either knowing what the answer is or knowing what the answer is not.
One of those latter moments came on tonight’s show when Jeremy Paxman showed the teams from Edinburgh and Durham a map with a small circled island and asked them to name it.
After a few tense seconds, student Boyle from Edinburgh buzzed in and said this:
The cream of the British education system #UniversityChallenge pic.twitter.com/uPJgW2da8y
— Richie McCormÃ¥ck (@RichieMcCormack) September 12, 2016
Wait. Did he just say "Ireland" ? #universitychallenge
— Gavin Gallagher (@gav_gall) September 12, 2016
Did he really just say Ireland?? #UniversityChallenge
— Chris Smith (@smithsview) September 12, 2016
Did he just say 'Ireland??' ð®ð®ð®ððððð #UniversityChallenge
— Plateau Jewellery (@Plateaujeweller) September 12, 2016
Did Boyle actually just say Ireland was an island in the Baltic Sea!? You're better than that, Edinburgh! #UniversityChallenge
— Patrick Jack (@pdjack16) September 12, 2016
It sure did sound like Ireland – but some people are arguing that he actually said Aland, as in the Aland Islands (yeah we’d not heard of them either).
Lots assuming that guy said Ireland on #UniversityChallenge, probably because they've not heard of Aland which was actually a v good guess
— Andrew Willman (@awillman279) September 12, 2016
DOH! Boyle actually said Aland, not Ireland. They are Finnish. #UniversityChallenge
— Mrs B (@GreenPetticoat) September 12, 2016
Either way, he’s still wrong (the answer was actually Gotland if you’re interested) but at least he could save himself from some complete and utter embarrassment.
