Clive Myrie To Be The New Host Of Quiz Show ‘Mastermind’

The BBC’s Clive Myrie has been named the new presenter of the Mastermind questionnaire show, replacing John Humphrys, who resigned 18 years after being on the show.

Myrie will be the fifth presenter of BBC Two quiz show, which is going to reach a history of 50 years since its inception next year.

Big Shoes To Fill

“They are big shoes to fill but all I can do is bring a little bit of my own personality to what is a grounded format,” he said.

He will continue to present programs such as BBC News at Six and Ten.

“That side of me is still very much in place, but it’s good to be able to be released every time I do a Mastermind,” he added.

Myrie’s Career

Myrie recently won two awards for Royal Television Society journalists – the network presenter of the year and the annual television journalist award.

As well as being a journalist, he is best known for his work as a foreign journalist and most recently presented a series of acclaimed reports from hospitals dealing with the Covid pandemic.

On Monday, he said he thought the producers had given him a Mastermind job after seeing his simple side in the BBC News Channel nightclub campaign.

“I can’t imagine they would have got me to present Mastermind if it was just seeing me in some refugee camp in Yemen,” he said. “It’s that other side of my personality that I think they noticed.”

‘Clive Will Be A Superb Host’

In a statement, Kate Phillips, the BBC’s director of entertainment, said: “Clive will be a superb host, witty, wise and with a wicked sense of humour, he’s a consummate interrogator who also understands the fear involved when facing a barrage of questions in the spotlight.”

Myrie said he might change “little things” on his new programme, but added: “The fundamental format, the basic structure – the chair, the spotlight on the individual who’s dealing with this – is going to stay the same.

“You can have more fun in a celebrity series, for example. That’s maybe where there’s a little bit more latitude.”

It will start recording in July, as the program will return to screenshots later this year. The final episodes of Humphrys will be broadcast next month.