Alva’s Ross Taylor was always told ‘you should go on quiz shows’ by family and friends who knew his intellect could match the contestants on screen.
He went on to prove them right several times over, and they’ll be excitedly tuning in for his appearance in the upcoming final of Mastermind.
The BBC Two programme is set to air at 7.30pm on Monday, April 20, and there will be a short segment filmed on location in Clackmannanshire.
Ross told the Advertiser about his journey to the hotseat. He said: “I got into serious quizzing during Covid times, I had never really done it before or been a pub quiz type of person, but I was doing Zoom ones and off the back of that I applied for a few television shows.
“I was on Jeopardy when that was on, and I got a win off that, then I was on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, that went terribly.
“Then I put in for Mastermind and got a chance. There were three different calls with the production team asking me about what I’m interested in.
"It was May last year when they told me I had been selected, and there was lots of back and forward about what my specialist subject would be.”
More goes into picking a topic than you might realise, and Ross’ suggestions of Clackmannanshire and Stirling Castle were both rejected.
He explained: “There’s a balance to be found of getting something the writers can do 20 questions about and that is of interest to the audience. Even then somebody may have had it last year or on the Australian version.”
After being selected to take part in the series, the 47-year-old former Lornshill Academy pupil travelled to Belfast for filming.
He said: “You wait in a room for two hours with no windows and nobody coming to see you, then they take you in and there’s no shaking hands or smiles. It was very scary.
“On my first time the lights was the biggest difference, I couldn’t even see Clive Myrie in front of me because it was so bright. It was like being interrogated.
“For practice I was going to my pal’s house in Sauchie. He had a big lamp and was shining it in my face, firing questions at me.”
The Wee County man answered questions on Sherlock Holmes and ended up winning, which meant he had to return to Northern Ireland for the semi final.
It was broadcast a couple of weeks ago, with Ross once again triumphing due to his expertise on Clint Eastwood.
We can’t reveal how the final went, so you’ll have to watch it on the night. But no matter what the result, the process has been a fruitful one.
He stated: “I was saying to the producers as I was going through, ‘I much prefer writing questions than answering them, so is there any chance I can go on the panel for future series?' That’s come through now so I’m quite pleased with that.”
Ross already pens questions for competitions all over the UK, and works at a publishing company day to day.
Asked whether he ever dips his toe into more informal quizzes when out and about, he said: “I did go to a pub quiz a couple of years ago on holiday.
"Me, my wife and youngest son who was maybe seven at the time won. One of the questions was, ‘How many elements are there in the periodic table?’ I said 118, and the guy was convinced that I googled it.”
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