University Challenge University of Manchester in their first round match in 1975 when for much of the recording they answered only with the names of Marxists as a protest against the Oxford and Cambridge Colleges being able to enter separate teams. Under quizmaster Jeremy Paxman, a low score of 15 was achieved by the University of Exeter in a quarter-final against Corpus Christi, Oxford, whose team captain Gail Trimble amassed 15 correct starter questions. However, the Corpus Christi team were later disqualified from the competition after it was found that team member Sam Kay had been ineligible for the last three matches.
University Challenge specialist Birkbeck, University of London. Birkbeck won the competition in 2003, also with a substantially mature team. Host Jeremy Paxman said that the OU team was not in the spirit of the competition. The team publicly replied by challenging him to specify in what way this was "contrary to the spirit of the quiz – or of the university". In 2009, Sam Kay, part of the team from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, was accused of not being a student when the show was filmed. Kay, who had completed a chemistry degree the previous summer, had been planning to go on