By 96five Contributors Thursday 25 Feb 2021
By Sam Robinson
Walkley Award winner Marc Fennell is quickly becoming Australia’s busiest media guy.
Host of The Feed on SBS, radio program Download This Show, and the ABC podcast Stuff the British Stole, it’s surprising that he’s found any time to pick up a new role as quizmaster on the new season of Mastermind on SBS. If you’ve never heard of the show – which has been on air since 1972 in the UK – it’s a fairly classic quiz format.
As Marc said, the show was first created from an interesting point of inspiration.
Host of
Download This Show, and the ABC podcast
Stuff the British Stole, it’s surprising that he’s found any time to pick up a new role as quizmaster on the new season of
Mastermind on SBS. If you’ve never heard of the show – which has been on air since 1972 in the UK – it’s a fairly classic quiz format.
As Marc told Hope Breakfast, the show was first created from an interesting point of inspiration.
“If you’ve ever seen it, it’s a very serious show, and there’s a good reason for that. The guy who created it, he was interrogated by the Gestapo [during World War II],” Marc said.
Mastermind fans, the wait is finally over! After COVID-19 delayed filming, we’ve had to wait almost a year to see the final 16 contenders battle it out in Australia’s toughest quiz show.
Season 2 finals week kicks off on Monday 15 February at 6pm. In what has been a nail-biting season, the
Mastermind Australia 2020 winner will be crowned in an hour-long grand finale on Friday 19 February from 7.30pm.
Jennifer Byrne returns one last time as quizmaster for Season 2 finals week before handing over the reins to Walkley Award-winning journalist, Marc Fennell for Season 3, which continues weeknights from Monday 22 February at 6pm.
“I think
Mastermind is a genuine insight into Australia’s psyche,” he said. “Every one of us has that one obsession, that one thing we know and love above all things. The best part of being the quizmaster is seeing the wild diversity of obsessions and topics that the contenders bring with them. But make no mistake, it is the toughest quiz show on Australian television. I’ve been both a fill-in host and celebrity contender on
Mastermind Australia, I know first-hand how intimidating it can be. While I may be the one holding the questions, I truly marvel at the gumption of the contenders. It’s going to be intense.”