Former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq on her nerdy new game show - and her geeky side
King of the Nerds sees the former Blue Peter presenter embrace her obsessive side – but would she qualify?
If you think of yourself as a nerd, then think again – because you’re about to meet some professionals.
Well, nerd athletes at least – though Sky 1’s King of the Nerds (remade from a US series of the same name) favours mental fitness rather than physical, with 11 challengers battling it out to be crowned the titular geek monarch and sit on the hallowed Throne of Games (geddit?), which you can see below.
“I think there’s something for everyone in King of the Nerds,” says series host Konnie Huq moments after challenging RadioTimes.com with a hefty list of nerdy trivia questions (we did quite well, thanks for asking).
“It’s reality show meets quiz meets documentary, meets science, meets fantasy and sci-fi, meets awesome!”
The Throne of Games
Boasting individual specialties that range from maths and physics to venomous snake species and (of course) encyclopaedic Doctor Who knowledge, the 11 nerds will live together in “Nerdvana” for eight weeks, pitting their skills against each other in team challenges that will eliminate one contestant each week. When two remain, they’ll go head-to-head in the “Nerdliminator” (you might be sensing a theme here) to win £15,000 – and sit on the cool throne, of course.
“You have to be really strategic – because obviously there’s two games that each nerd is playing,” Huq explains. “The long game, where they want to be the ultimate winner. And the short game, where they want their team to win.”
“So you want to surround yourself with good people – but then you know that you’ll be competing against those people ultimately. That’s a clever sort of dynamic that you don’t get in other shows.”
The challenges include costume-making, castle-building, debating and mathematical tests, with an array of suitably nerdy guest judges including a Doctor Who monster designer, a few Harry Potter actors and Mr Konnie Huq himself – Charlie Brooker.
The contestants themselves are all classically geeky as well, as you can see in the exclusive clip above – but what of Huq herself? Surely a former host of mainstream mainstay Blue Peter wouldn’t call herself a nerd?
“I would totally call myself a nerd.I like trivia, and I like science as well, and maths, and I'm not that cool. So I think I'm pretty nerdy, all in all.”
Konnie tries out some cosplay
“But then I think nerd is in the eye of the beholder – I really do. One man’s nerd is another man’s idol.”
She concludes: “People have realised that actually knowledge is flipping cool. Where would we be without nerds? Where would we be without intelligent people? We'd be living in a sort of caveman society, surely. So really, nerds rule the world.”
King of the Nerds begins on Sky1 tonight (Sunday 12th July) at 7.00pm
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
