King’s Ely student and his family qualify for quarter-finals of ITV quiz show

A King's Ely student and two members of his family have reached the quarter-finals of the popular new ITV show, Britain’s Brightest Family.

King’s Ely Senior student George Collier, 14, appeared on the quiz show, which is hosted by the Queen of quizzing, The Governess, aka Anne Hegerty, on January 17th with his mother, Janine, and grandfather, Brian.

The Collier family, who are from Cambridgeshire, were battling it out against the Brolly family from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, to win a place in the quarter-finals. Questions tested everything from the family members’ general knowledge to their mental arithmetic, as well as how well they know each other as players had to nominate their teammates to answer the questions.

George and his family beat the Brolly family by 60 points, earning them a place in the quarter-finals. If they win the show, they will not only earn the title of Britain’s Brightest Family but will also be jetting off on a holiday of a lifetime to Orlando, Florida.

George, whose younger brother Benjamin also attends King’s Ely, has been a student at the school since joining King’s Ely Acremont in Reception. He hopes to pursue a career in medicine. George said: “It was surprising that we made it to the quarter-finals to be honest, as we haven't done any quizzes before! However we're pleased at how well we did. Our tactic to let the other team answer and get us points by default worked well! It was also very interesting learning about the production of TV behind the scenes as I do film, animation and photography in my spare time.”

Mum Janine, who is married to Nick, added: “We had a lot of fun during filming with the host Anne Hegerty and seeing behind the scenes of a TV production. Wednesday night was the first time we’d seen the edited version and it was, mostly, a relief, although my father has a new-found notoriety for his howler! Filming for the quarter-finals has already taken place and we’re looking forward to watching that episode in a few weeks’ time.”

The Collier family do not know the exact date that the quarter-finals will be televised but the show is on ITV every Wednesday at 8pm. If you missed the show on January 17th you can of course catch up by visiting www.itv.com.