Nothing will ever beat the smug feeling of getting a University Challenge answer right in front of unsuspecting family members. That said I’ve just aced a round of bonus questions on dreams in the work of Shakespeare and no one batted an eye. Rude.
I love discovering the weird facts that other people have stored over the years that they fire out at Jeremy Paxman like their life depends on it. Finding out that your mother is a physics whizz, your brother is hot on French philosophy and your grandmother is a geology nerd increases your appreciation of them.
You get to marvel at the wealth knowledge the contestants have and shout when they don’t know something you do. Then you get to see how ignorant you are of so many things and scurry to wikipedia to learn more. Anything that inspires curiousity is fizzy.
There is one disappointment I will admit to. I still feel swizzed that the teams sit next to each other and not one above the other, Young Ones style. You can’t have everything.