Monkman: I was just trying to make myself heard
- Published
Eric Monkman says he used a different voice because of "stress" on University Challenge.
The Cambridge graduate became an internet sensation because of his booming voice on the TV quiz.
"When you're on TV it's very stressful," he tells Radio Times magazine.
"I don't normally talk in that tone, but with most of my answers I was just trying to make myself heard."
Eric led Wolfson College Cambridge to the final of this year's University Challenge.
Despite losing to Oxford's Balliol College he became the show's breakout star, loved for his extreme facial expressions and lack of an "indoor voice".
"When it was an answer I knew well, I delivered it with passion," says the 29-year-old.
"You didn't want your team or Jeremy Paxman saying, 'Hey, what was that?'
"So you got used to delivering your answers with a fair bit of volume."
The economics graduate is now a trainee journalist at The Economist, and is even fronting a BBC Radio 4 show later this month.
Eric, who is from Canada, said it was difficult to get used to all the attention.
"It was weird that people were talking about me in Britain, but I was in Canada for most of the time and nobody paid much attention to me there," he said.
"It took me a while to get used to people talking about how you say things, how you look.
"I finally realised, though, that people kind of liked me. People on Twitter would say, 'Thanks for brightening up our Mondays'."
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