Shropshire Star

Hospital staff member swaps desk chair for famous Mastermind chair

A staff member at a hospital recently swapped her desk chair for the back Mastermind chair as she took part in the long running BBC quiz show.

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Judith Sansom with her Rupert Everett DVDs.

Judith Sansom, governance lead in the clinical governance department at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital will appear on an episode of the cult game show after successfully applying to take part.

Judith, who lives in Corwen, North Wales, answered a range of general knowledge questions before moving onto her specialist subject, Rupert Everett films.

In preparation for the show, which was filmed recently, she purchased a host of films the British actor had starred in to prepare herself for the show.

She said: "I’ve always been a big fan of Rupert Everett, not just of his films but also his books, I was almost going to choose Rupert Everett’s life as my specialist subject but I think that would’ve been a bit too challenging.

“Getting through all of his films took me long enough because I’d forgotten just how many he had starred in."

“My homework ahead of the show was to order every film he’s starred in on eBay – one of which was in Italian with no English subtitles – and watch them all in date order.”

Judith, 58, said she enjoyed the whole experience, from being backstage to answering questions in the chair, and was proud to have her family there eagerly watching on in the audience.

She said: “It was a really fun experience overall, it was intense at times but it was fascinating to see what goes on behind the scenes and you learn a lot about television production.

“The adrenaline you feel while in that chair is brilliant.

“The nice thing about Mastermind too is that you get to bring up to 10 guests with you. I brought along with me, my daughter, my dad, as well as some friends and other family members.

“In fact, the most daunting part of the experience was walking to the Mastermind chair, it took me a few takes to get it right in the end.”

Despite the announcement of Judith's appearance on the show, she now has to be remain tight lipped about how she got on, with a date for the episode yet to be announced.

She added: "I’m not able to reveal how I got on until my episode airs so you will just have to wait and see."