The students who appear on University Challenge are unquestionably some of the most intelligent in the entire country, with the ability to answer questions on topics ranging from cytogenetics to French cuisine.
Despite the collectively astounding brainpower of the individuals who make up the panels, some viewers prefer to voice their opinions on the contestants’ appearances rather than their academic performances.
On last night’s episode, Freya Whiteford, who’s studying physics with astrophysics at Glasgow University, became the subject of ridicule on Twitter when a number of people decided to post deriding comments about her hair.
“I just wanna put some kind of serum in this girls hair… [sic],” one person wrote.
“Feel like if pull on Whiteford’s necklace, her hair will slide across and cover her face like curtains,” another person mockingly remarked.
Fortunately, Whiteford made light of the attention that her hair received on social media, writing: “Thank you for the party trick inspiration,” in response.
She also tweeted: “For those asking, my hair can in fact hold 12 pencils if you arrange them right.”
Whiteford had anticipated the comments that she was going to receive prior to the show, tweeting: “I’m the one that people will tell to get a haircut if that helps.”
After the episode, Whiteford and Dani Cugini, who had captained the opposing team from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, discussed the impertinent comments that they had received as female contestants on University Challenge.
“Would like to point out that women on UC get a fair bit of sexist stick and the fact that I a) possess breasts (WHAT?! I DO?! GET THEM OFF ME GET THEM OFF ME) and b) am sitting in the company of male teammates should not raise comment,” Cugini tweeted.
Whiteford then replied, writing: “Responses for me were better than I was expecting, but this probably says something about the inbuilt added scrutiny that comes with being The Girl on an otherwise male squad - I didn’t make the team for being female!”
In December 2016, King’s College London announced that it would be capping the number of men on its University Challenge team.
A statement sent from the university’s student union to its student body requested that more women, transgender and non-binary students apply to take part in the competition.
“This is an important step that reinforces our union values and ensures we are bringing an inclusive and representative team into a largely male dominated show,” the Student Officer Team wrote on Facebook.
