University Challenge: Durham students' victory 'amazing'

Durham University's mascot was a toy cat named Badger after Durham Cathedral's moggy

The winners of this year's University Challenge have described their triumph as "amazing".

Durham University beat Bristol University by 155 points to 120 to secure the trophy.

Broadcast on Monday, the final was the last episode of the BBC quiz presented by Jeremy Paxman, who is standing down having been at the helm since 1994.

In 2021, the broadcaster revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Speaking to BBC Radio Newcastle, team member Bea Bennett said: "It was amazing. I love [Jeremy] said I looked like I was about to burst into tears.

"I'd like to clarify that - I was just shocked, but it was still nice of him to show some concern.

"It was so wonderful. We were watching it with all our friends. The atmosphere was incredible."

The final was the last episode to be presented by Jeremy Paxman

"When we got to the final we thought we're either going to win it, which would be insane, or we'd be second which is still absolutely amazing," she added.

The English student, from Icomb in Gloucestershire, competed alongside captain Alex Radcliffe, a maths student from Edinburgh, Chloe Margaux, a sociology student from Haringey, north London, and Harry Scully, a physics and chemistry student, of Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire.

'Back to student life'

Mr Radcliffe said "an incredible number of people" watched the episode together at the university when it was broadcast on BBC Two.

"There was a real sense of community. It was all just surreal," he said.

"We were very nervous [for the final]. We were nervous for all the episodes, but by that point we were kind of used to it.

"I don't think I'd processed we could win the competition."

Asked what comes next, Mr Radcliffe said: "It's just back to regular student life.

"I think this was my five minutes of fame. Barring unexpected circumstances it will be back to normalcy."