24-05-2025
Mastermind champion and runner-up find love on BBC quiz show
Mastermind's champion and runner-up have finished the BBC competition with more than just prestigious titles to their names - they also found romance during the super-tough quiz.
Series champion John Robinson and runner-up Claire Reynolds struck up a friendship over their shared love of quizzing and stayed in touch after filming, with their relationship eventually developing into something more.
Reynolds told The Telegraph: "Naturally one thing led to another and we became a couple."
On Monday, 19 May, Mastermind viewers saw Robinson, a teacher from Birmingham, crowned the winner of the 52nd series of the BBC quiz after beating Reynolds, an actuary from Stratfors-upon-Avon, by just a single point in the closing seconds of the competition.
But while Reynolds admitted to The Telegraph that losing by one point would "always be in the back of my mind", she accepted that Robinson was "a very good quizzer". And she doesn't seem to have held the victory against him too much, as she revealed that they "became a couple" after filming the series.
Although fans of the contest have only just seen the final air, it was actually filmed in November and since then, romance has blossomed between the top quizzers.
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Reynolds said: "The show was shot in Belfast and we were both flying back to Birmingham and were on a flight together. We had some time to kill at the airport so we had a few drinks, got the plane back — and stayed in touch.
"Although we started as friends, it's more than that now, to be honest. It did generally start with the two of us just going out and having a drink together over a pop quiz. We happened to be single. And then naturally one thing led to another and we became a couple."
Robinson, a former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? contestant who won £500,000 on the show in 2019, added: "We've teamed up on a few occasions to do pop quizzes. So we've gone from being rivals to working as a team. Although I think I'm probably more competitive than Claire."
Things were neck and neck going into the closing stages of the final - both Reynolds and Robinson had scored 12 points on their specialist subjects with no passes to subtract points. Reynolds faced questions on German mathematician Emmy Noether, while Robinson's chosen subject was the Empire State Building.
Reynolds had put in an impressive performance in the general knowledge round with a score of 17, leaving Robinson as the last contestant with a score of 29 to beat. In the closing moments, he managed to secure one extra point and was crowned the champion with 30 points.
Champion Robinson admitted he "felt really bad" for Reynolds when he realised he'd won. Host Clive Myrie, pointing at the Glass Bowl trophy, said: "You won half a million pounds on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, money can't buy that."
"It certainly can't," Robinson agreed. "A lot more pressure in this chair as well, compared to that chair."
Mastermind's full series is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
