30 September 2023 , 07:09
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If you've ever sat down to watch an episode of University Challenge, you'll know how difficult some of the questions can be. The BBC Two quiz show pits students in teams of four against rival universities and colleges, and those who go on the programme are often boffins with heaps of general knowledge.
While some questions might be easy to answer if they land in one of your specialist areas, others can leave you scratching your head and struggling to find the solution. In fact, some may even seem completely impossible. There's one question that left thousands baffled when it was asked by former host Jeremy Paxman - who hosted the show from 1994 until May this year - but do you know the answer?
One of the toughest questions ever asked by Paxman - who has been replaced by Amol Rajan for the next series - involved naming a colour, which might seem simple enough, but the question even stumped both teams who were competing at the time. Neither of them knew the correct answer, but do you?
The question was: "The packaging for a perfume launched in the 1930s by the designer Elsa Schiaparelli is the origin of the two-word name of which colour, described in a contemporary publication as a 'crude, cruel shade of rose'?"
During the episode, Menkus from Imperial College London thought the answer might be 'Chanel Pink' but was told the answer was incorrect. Goldman from Balliol, Oxford, then entered a guess of 'Flame Red', which was also wrong. So do you think you can get the better of the brainy quizzers and answer it correctly?
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Remember, we're looking for a two-word name for a colour, which from the sound of the description, seems to lean toward a shade of red or pink. We already know it's not Chanel pink or flame red, so what else could it be? Hot pink, maybe? Or perhaps cherry blossom, salmon pink, cardinal red, or poppy red? Unfortunately, if your guess was any of these, you've got it wrong too.
The actual answer is shocking pink! The shade is an incredibly vibrant and bright shade of pink, which was, as the question states, made by popular designer Elsa Schiaparelli, who released a perfume named Shocking de Schiaparelli which came in a box covered in the bright shade. She also famously dressed Zsa Zsa Gabor in it for the 1952 film Moulin Rouge, and was known for smoking cigarettes with tips dyed in the bright shade.
Did you get the answer right? If you're still looking for ways to challenge your brain, why not try these Mensa-level questions to prove you're a real brain whizz? Or, if you want to keep the University Challenge hype going, you can try out this question that also left viewers stumped, or this one that some say is the hardest ever question.