Starter for Ten got one thing about University Challenge dead on: the entire process is surreal but wonderful. The buzzer practice, the team dynamic and the way people treat you after you've faced Paxman.

As a first year on the 2003/4 Magdalen College, Oxford, team, I thought we'd get through a couple of rounds before returning home with a few anecdotes and some (very) local fame.

But we won the whole thing and matters took a turn for the odd: lascivious fan mail from would-be lovers and admiration from old ladies, your picture in newspapers all over the world and being recognised in the street.

Starter for Ten also captured the crippling embarrassment that rushes through you when Jeremy confirms you just got the starter question wrong. And highlights the vanity you never knew you had, which creeps up and attempts to consume you as the cameras begin to roll.

If the cameras inspire vanity, the viewers' reaction tries to corrupt even your humblest of thoughts. One of my letters actually contained the phrase: "You are by far the yummiest specimen of gorgeousness ever to have appeared on the programme." I assure you, this is not true, even with my post-trendy Hoxton fin.

You might expect a handful of newspapers to report the result of the final, and they did. But I was not expecting to receive a text to say my grinning face was in the Cyprus Mail. Apparently, the show's audience is wider than you might think. I still need to complete my set of cuttings, so if you saw me in the Dubai Daily or the Bora-Bora Enquirer, do let me know.

Not content to share the truth about the scariest quiz on tv Josh explores Starter fort Ten's position in the student movie hall of fame

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