Team's surprise at debut University Challenge slot

Sam Orman-Chan, 22, has just graduated from the University of Lincoln

A university student has told of his surprise at getting the call to be part of University Challenge.

A team from the University of Lincoln is taking on Lancaster University in an episode of the long-running quiz show, which will be aired on BBC Two at 20:30 BST.

The quartet is captained by computer science student Sam Orman-Chan, who is joined by John Clayworth (history), Laura Bruce (conservation of cultural heritage), and Grace Bloomfield (chemistry).

Mr Orman-Chan, 22, said: "I was quite surprised... we just never expected anything to come of it."

"You're competing with the Russell Groups, you're competing with the Oxbridges, and you just don't expect a provincial university to get on it."

It is Lincoln's first time competing in the programme.

The team earned their place on the show after auditioning in Birmingham, where they had to take part in a quiz against another team.

"The quiz is really quite tricky," Mr Orman-Chan said. "They had a chat with us all to see how we are as people and to see if we all get on."

The group prepared for the show by doing weekly pub quizzes at the university bar.

"We all have different specialities. We're evenly split between humanities and sciences so we have a wide enough gambit of knowledge to cover all the bases," Mr Orman-Chan said.

He added: "We've had a pretty good response... everyone's been behind us. It's been amazing.

"It's very scary as I've never done anything like this before [although] it does help that my dad was on The Chase about a decade ago."

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