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One Mastermind contestant has left fans with their jaw hanging open in awe after debuting a truly niche specialist subject.
Do you know what a moquette is? If the answer is no, then you wouldn’t have been in with a flying chance of answering any of the questions during Monday night’s specialist subject on the BBC quiz show.
Enter policy researcher Emily Medhurst, whose knowledge of the history of the carpet-like fabric of the capital’s transport vehicles (aka Transport for London) is second to, perhaps, none.
Yes, that’s what the term means; it’s niche, and no one does niche better than an enthusiastic Mastermind contestant.
Over the course of two minutes, she faced a tough grilling, including questions like which line had a Yellow Pages directory-branded moquette (the Circle) and which former official War Artist created two moquettes called Alperton and Arnot (It’s a guy called Paul Nash).
The cherry on top? That she was wearing a moquette-patterned jumper she knitted to aesthetically match the line of questioning (overground themed, of course). Now that’s television at its finest.
Needless to say, her cool, calm demeanour, near-perfect set of answers and sheer level of knowledge were enough to knock viewers’ socks off.
‘Obsessed! Diva!’ Charitydales proclaimed.
‘Niche knowledge is exactly what we need more of in the world, but when you realise that the pattern on her top is the subject of one of the questions… that’s just phenomenal,’ David Rowe praised.
‘I don’t know what the prize for this is, but I know it should be one hundred billion pounds,’ SpecerKlavan declared.
‘Wait…. not her wearing the same pattern as the train seat fabric. taste,’ AshleyReece agreed.
Frances Coppola called the performance ‘astonishing’ while OldStationSt declared: ‘If I ever have a daughter I hope she grows up to feel as passionate about something niche and obscure as Moquettes.’
Celebrating her appearance on the show, Emily wrote on social media: ‘TfL has such a rich history of design, and it was so fun to dive in and learn more about the amazing designers, manufacturers and lore behind the fabric that 2-4 million people park themselves on every day.’
She also shared her excitement at knitting her own themed sweater vest for the occasion. She confirmed the pattern was the 2016 update by Fernando Solis of the original 2008 design by Wallace Sewell.
Mastermind is available to catch up on BBC iPlayer.