Tomorrow Gail Trimble, captain of the Corpus Christi College, Oxford, team is set to confirm her status as the greatest University Challenge contestant ever.If form is any guide, when Corpus Christi take on Manchester University in the final, Trimble, 26, will wipe the floor with them, ruthlessly amassing starters-for-10 and cowing the competition with what one contestant described as a form of "intellectual blitzkrieg".
In the Oxford college's run to the final, Trimble has scored more points than her three team-mates combined. In their semi-final, Corpus Christi defeated St John's College, Cambridge, 260-150. Trimble's personal haul was 185. In the quarter-finals, Trimble racked up a record 15 starters-for-10 as Corpus Christi raced to 350 points. Opponents Exeter University limped to 15 points, the equivalent of one correct starter and bonus. It was the lowest score since 1971 and only five points more than the worst of all time.
I've always appreciated and enjoyed quiz bowls, college bowls, "Mastermind" etc, so the story intrigues me. This young woman clearly has unparalleled intellectual skills, but what she seems to lack is an appreciation of social signals. In any sport (competitive knowledge programs included), if one's team has an unassailable lead, common courtesy dictates that one doesn't continue pressing the advantage; or at the least, one allows one's teammates to participate.
I wonder if she has Asperger syndrome or some other autism variant that prompts her to be insensitive to her situation in a competitive setting.