There are two types of people who watch University Challenge.
On one hand you’ve got the folks who can actually answer some of the questions and try to outdo themselves week after week.
And then there are those of us who will be happy to get one or two right answers and not shut up about it for weeks.
I just got one right on university challenge and I've never felt more intelligent #universitychallenge
— Bella (@RaBellaSzaz) March 21, 2016
But people in both camps can agree that there’s a secondary reason to watching the BBC quiz show: observing the variety of students who put themselves through the ordeal year after year.
It might be a while before we see another man in a leather vest, but this year we’ve had superhero-in-waiting Eric Monkman and everyone’s new hero, Bobby Seagull.
Seagull captained the Emmanuel College, Cambridge to victory over the School of Oriental and African Studies, and he was clearly loving every minute of it.
In a cynical world, we’re delighted to see such genuine and sincere optimism from a man.
https://twitter.com/ros_clarke/status/803335195122339840
https://twitter.com/gregframe97/status/803334940100358145
Well that's it, Bobby Seagull is the best contestant of all time #UniversityChallenge
— Dr Taryn Bell (@tarynlbell) November 28, 2016
https://twitter.com/milesorru/status/803334741713965056
And that’s before we get on to the fact that he has one of the best names in television, if not the best.
Bobby Seagull is a great name.
— Chris Mayer (@chrismayerV1) November 28, 2016
Bobby Seagull isn't a real name. He should be a gangster who got his name by eating raw birds
— will hardy (@wiliamhardy) November 28, 2016
How have we ended up in a world where Bobby Seagull is a University Challenge captain and not a southern lawyer in a Coen brothers film?
— Tom Victor (@tomvictor) November 28, 2016
Bobby Seagull might not be the hero we deserve, but he is the one we all need.
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