The competition, sponsored by Zurich Insurance is based on the BBC “Mastermind” series and after gruelling qualifying rounds, the semi-finals and final of the contest were held in London on 17 October 2013.
Hosted by the BBC’s John Humphrys, the 12 semi-finalists pitted their wits against each other with one minute on insurance knowledge and one minute on their specialist subjects. These were best described as esoteric and ranged from “breeds of domestic British pigs” and “Mr Men books” to “Bones of the Human Skeleton”. Tony scored 9 points in his semi final, matching the score of Tim Wood and moving into the final as a result of having fewer passes.
The final was tense and followed the same format as the previous round but this time, the grilling from Humphrys lasted two minutes per question round. Scott Mathieson from Hendersons raced into the lead with 20 points. Tony was the third finalist to sit in the famous chair under the glare of the spotlights and matched Scott’s score of 20 having demonstrated his knowledge of insurance broking and ……….the life and times of Tony Hancock.
The final contestant’s round seemed to last two hours but he could not match Scott or Tony’s totals. After consultation, a recount and even more tension, Tony was declared the winner – again on the basis of least passes.
Dave Smith, Commercial Broker MD of Zurich Insurance commented that:
“When it comes to mitigating risk, the expertise of Zurich makes a big difference, both for customers and forward thinking brokers. BrokerMind is the chance for Insurance Brokers to show the industry everything you know about helping customers to mitigate their risks – the ultimate demonstration of expertise.”