DONEGAL’S Paddy Duffy has been selected in the Irish team for the first ever World Quiz Olympiad, which is fittingly being held in Greece this weekend.
While it’s not quite the World Cup, the World Quiz Olympiad, held over four days from yesterday, Thursday, is attracting some of the biggest names in the industry.
Ken Jennings, who won 74 consecutive episodes of Jeopardy, is captain of the American team while Kevin Ashman and Pat Gibson from TV show Eggheads will be there for England.
“There’s about two dozen nations competing with every continent represented, so it’ll be very competitive, but Team Ireland are still running on the momentum of a Celtic Nations Championship victory so fingers crossed,” he said.
“In all honesty I’m going more to test myself than anything – the rest of the Irish team are real pros so I’m sort of the Jamaican bobsleigh team, but I’ll be working hard to win points for the team wherever I can,” he added.
The Olympians and Paralympians have already had their moment on the world stage this year, and now it’s time for the top trivia buffs to shine.
As per the other Olympics there are lots of different events, the big one is the Nation’s Cup, but there are lots of singles, doubles and other team events too, as well as a Quiz Pentathlon consisting of five subjects of your choice.
That’s a place Paddy is hoping that Ireland will show a bit of strength. Also there’s an FA Cup style knockout quiz so there might be scope for a giant killing or two there!
“I’ve been doing quizzes competitively since I was about eight, so it’s pretty surreal to represent your country at anything, but it’s also a real privilege. Athens for a weekend makes some change from the Credit Union Quiz in Jackson’s Hotel,” he laughed.
Crowned World Music Quiz champion in 2013, Paddy was a member of the Irish team who were crowned Celtic Nations Quizzing Championship in Edinburgh earlier this year.
A former columnist for the Donegal News, Mr Duffy is from Argary between Lifford and Raphoe. He went to school at Deele College in Raphoe and then Galway to study History and English at NUIG.
When Paddy’s not taking part in quizzes he’s kept busy working as Assistant Producer alongside former University Challenge and Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman.
He’s just back from Washington where they were working on a programme about the upcoming US Presidential election.