THE BBC has responded to increasing complaints about 'elitism' on University Challenge, firmly stating, 'we totally reject this'.
A campaigner has asked the broadcaster to defend what he called an "elitist" format of the quiz show in a public debate.
Professor Frank Coffield, an emeritus professor of education, suggested a fairer entry rule: allowing only one team from Oxford and Cambridge.
He claimed that the current format of the show is biased towards Oxbridge colleges, which he believes violates the BBC's impartiality rules.
Mr. Coffield has written to the BBC director-general and the show's presenter, Amol Rajan, proposing a debate at Durham University to address the concerns, as reported by The Guardian.
He argued that the show's bias towards Oxbridge was evident in its Christmas specials.
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Since they started in 2011, Oxbridge colleges have won 9 out of the 12 Christmas specials.
In fact, a whopping 25% of the 168 teams that have participated in these specials have been from Oxford or Cambridge colleges.
He wrote, in his letters: "What was the BBC so determined to conceal? The fact that it continues to rig this quiz in favour of the already privileged.
"The senior executives in charge of the show ignore criticisms and continue to push their unjustifiable favouritism of the Oxbridge colleges they themselves attended."
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He continued: "Why do you allow this programme to tarnish the BBC's reputation for impartiality? Is it because you are part of the elite, using your position to perpetuate these privileges?"
His demand was that the BBC provide details of all contestants over the 61-year history of the show, which ran on ITV between 1962 and 1987 before moving to the BBC in 1994.
But the BBC were quick to shutdown the claim, hitting back: "We totally reject this.
"Over the last 12 years the University Challenge Alumni series has set out to reflect the UK's graduate population and has represented a wide range of universities in each series."
Earlier in March, this year, University Challenge fans were outraged when the team from UCL appeared to have the upper hand.
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