Going to a girls’ school does have it’s advantages in that we can have lots of really girly chats over boys we fancy. Going to a nerdy girls’ school also means we watch nerdy kinds of programs, one such being University Challenge. If you’re not familiar with this then the title really says it all – teams from all the UK’s universities (or in the case of Oxford and Cambridge, teams from each college) are allowed to enter, and then each week two teams battle it out to be awarded the fastest, cleverest, and generally most nerdy university.
A lot of people in my year watch it including myself, perhaps because it appeals to the very kind of girls at my school – desperately competitive, clever and a little bit up themselves. About half of the questions are final-year standard, and more are general knowledge, so I’m sure they get an ego boost too when they can correctly answer questions most uni students puzzle over (I don’t include myself in this since I can only ever remember getting some music ones which noone ever knows, and a further maths one).
Last year Gayle Trimble made the headlines as the captain of one of the Oxford teams, as she became one of the most unlikely sex symbols, purely through her knowledge of aparrently everything. Well this year it’s the turn of the boys.
The first person we saw who appeared to know everything was the captain of one of the Cambridge teams, Alex Guttenplan. He instantly won over the hearts of girls like me by acing the round, yet constantly looking terrified he was going to get it wrong. Although I must admit he wasn’t the best looking of guys, I, and many girls (and guys) loved him and couldn’t wait for his next round.
BUT! That wasn’t all. Imperial College had a team, captained by someone who seemed to know just as much as Guttenplan – a guy called Gilead Amit. Of course, the Jewish girls in school were going crazy since both he and Guttenplan were Jewish, and everyone else instantly fell in love with him because he is pretty gorgeous. AND NOT ONLY IS HE GORGEOUS BUT HE KNOWS EVERYTHING TOO.
These two guys have divided our year – half are siding with Guttenplan because he may just have the edge of knowledge, but half are siding with Amit because he’s cute AND smart. It was tense when they were placed against each other in one of the quarter final rounds – Guttenplan’s team won but Imperial are back tonight because each team needs to win 2 out of 3 matches and this is their third. I, personally, am very much torn between the two, but my friends and I love Amit that little bit more. He studies PHYSICS (hardest subject in the world). He knows poetry. He couldn’t decide between studying English or History at Uni for a time, he was THAT CLEVER. He can seduce you in four languages. OMG.
Judging by the ratio of cute-builder-to-nerdy-guys in the year’s conversation, I think we can safely say that tonight, smart will definitely be the new sexy.
I think my sister’s in the minority on the cavewoman thing.
Tags: hot guys, school, student, swoons, university