C.J. de Mooi,

C.J. de Mooi,

Connagh-Joseph "C.J." de Mooi, is a professional quizzer and is the ‘bad boy’ team member on the BBC show Eggheads. As filming for the tenth series gets underway, I caught up with the man we love to hate to find out about his specialist subjects, his modelling career, and most excitingly, mouthing off to Anne Robinson!

Hey CJ, how are you?

I’m just having all the fun in the world having a drink in Selfridges.

How’s filming going for the latest series of Eggheads?

Well the last block went pretty quickly and for the first time I had a decent result for myself and did pretty well and got up to my own standard. Usually in the past I start off well and then have a disaster later on but I did quite well this time.

I believe there is a funny story surrounding how you got onto the show… care to share?

Well I’d been a contestant on a few shows and I got more notice for being willing to be forthright with my opinions than for my general knowledge! I was on The Weakest Link and in that interview when you get voted off people usually say; “oh I’ve had a lovely day and I want so-and-so to win… thanks for having me.”

I was a little less subtle and said; “It’s pretty obvious they’re all idiots, they’re all off my Christmas list, I hope they never win another penny and I hope them, their loved ones and all their pets die horribly in freak yachting accidents.”

Unsurprisingly that got me noticed and they invited me back for a Weakest Link Bad Losers Christmas Special which I managed to win!

Yay! At least you won something in the end!

After that Anne Robinson said in the Radio Times saying how much she hated me and I wear that as a badge of honour. And after that lots of shows invited me on as a contestant as they thought I would be rude and make good TV!

So do you enjoy playing the bad guy?

Fortunately I’ve got very thick skin and I love playing the character and being the one people love to hate and being nasty and being a piece of work. When Eggheads started I was a lot nastier but they cut a lot of it out now and I think they’re trying to make me look nicer!

When it started I wasn’t a very good quizzer and I was getting so many questions wrong but now that I’ve been working hard for four years I can get most of them right I think they’re trying to change my personality and I don’t like it… I want to come over as the Simon Cowell of the quiz world!

So when you finished University you embarked on a modelling career; did you think you’d get further with beauty rather than brains?

I finished university and decided to go travelling. I wanted to go to Germany for five days so I booked a return rail ticket and I’d been there three days when I met up with a guy in Dusseldorf who owned a modelling agency, and he asked me if I wanted a modelling job.

I thought it would be good for a laugh even though I absolutely hated the way I looked and I still now can’t watch myself on TV or see myself on photos but the plastic surgery isn’t too far away!

Oh no CJ, we love you, we think you’re pretty!

Haha, well he offered me this job and I ended up staying with him for four and a half years and it was wonderful and then when I finished there I moved to Amsterdam and just enjoyed myself. I did quite well in beauty and went as far as I could but with brains I can still keep going and I don’t have to rely on my ageing, withering looks!

I mean I’m sitting here and I just bought a load of shopping and I still have enough room in the bags under my eyes to carry it all!

Haha, legend! What would you say is your ‘specialist subject’ on Eggheads?

My strongest subject is ‘Film and TV’ even though I never watch TV or films! When it comes to films I just don’t have the attention span and TV I just don’t enjoy but I do know about it and read about it and I’m a bit of an expert on films but the problem is I never get picked for it because they always pick one of the older ones. Kevin is a film expert and is very, very tough but they will always pick Daphne, Judith or perhaps Chris.

What has been the most memorable moment of your career?

We’ve had some celebrity shows that haven’t gone out yet and a few years ago Phil Taylor, that Darts word champion came on and I didn’t know he was coming on but he’s always been one of my sporting heroes because he has been World champion 13 times. I’m not into sport but I admire excellence and he came on and he said “whatever the first subject is I’m going to take it and play CJ because he needs taking down a peg or two!”

The first subject was Arts And Books and he took me on and I got my two questions right and he got his two wrong and I nearly wet myself laughing and he headed back to his desk with his tail between his legs!

Doing something like that and getting to meet my genuine hero was a real high point and I got a photograph with him, got his autograph and it was wonderful! I just get totally star struck by people!

What other goals do you have?

At this very moment I’m in the middle of taking a TV presenters course because that’s ultimately what I want to do in life. It’s a lot easier for me as I’m already in the BBC, so hopefully that will give me an advantage.

When I was younger I always wanted to be an actor and I went to drama school and did it at school and at college and University but then because of one realisation I had that I couldn’t actually act I decided to be realistic and that it wasn’t going to happed.

But because of the modelling work I managed to stay in a showbiz field and now I know that presenting is what I want to do but the good thing is that as I’m on TV a lot, at least I can go into Panto if all else fails.

If you could trade places with one person for a day, who would it be?

I’d like to have a look at the world of American politics because I do find it fascinating but there’s no way I’d want to be a politician so I think I’d be an American television journalists for CCN. There is a guy with the best name ever; Wolf Blister, and he’s a very in-depth, thorough and hard-hitting journalist and he’s their TV anchor and he covers lots of interesting things.

I would love to see that his life is life because he see’s so much but because he’s been around for like 30 years he basically has access all areas, he can just turn up and say; “This is my name” and go wherever he likes and be able to talk to the President!

When was the last time you felt truly inspired?

Ooh, very good question. About two years ago I was doing a lot of work for charities and one of them was Amnesty International and I went to talk to some of the people there and I got chatting to this guy who was a political prisoner in China.

He’d been in prison there for six years for supporting democracy and he got thrown in jail just for his beliefs and he has every reason to be bitter and angry but he just isn’t; he’s just calm and just forgiving but If it was me I would be furious and out for revenge at every point. This guy has so much forgiveness in his soul and it is so admirable but I just wouldn’t be able to do it myself, I’m far too nasty!

Aww CJ stop it! We love you!

FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison

Connagh-Joseph "C.J." de Mooi, is a professional quizzer and is the ‘bad boy’ team member on the BBC show Eggheads. As filming for the tenth series gets underway, I caught up with the man we love to hate to find out about his specialist subjects, his modelling career, and most excitingly, mouthing off to Anne Robinson!

Hey CJ, how are you?

I’m just having all the fun in the world having a drink in Selfridges.

How’s filming going for the latest series of Eggheads?

Well the last block went pretty quickly and for the first time I had a decent result for myself and did pretty well and got up to my own standard. Usually in the past I start off well and then have a disaster later on but I did quite well this time.

I believe there is a funny story surrounding how you got onto the show… care to share?

Well I’d been a contestant on a few shows and I got more notice for being willing to be forthright with my opinions than for my general knowledge! I was on The Weakest Link and in that interview when you get voted off people usually say; “oh I’ve had a lovely day and I want so-and-so to win… thanks for having me.”

I was a little less subtle and said; “It’s pretty obvious they’re all idiots, they’re all off my Christmas list, I hope they never win another penny and I hope them, their loved ones and all their pets die horribly in freak yachting accidents.”

Unsurprisingly that got me noticed and they invited me back for a Weakest Link Bad Losers Christmas Special which I managed to win!

Yay! At least you won something in the end!

After that Anne Robinson said in the Radio Times saying how much she hated me and I wear that as a badge of honour. And after that lots of shows invited me on as a contestant as they thought I would be rude and make good TV!

So do you enjoy playing the bad guy?

Fortunately I’ve got very thick skin and I love playing the character and being the one people love to hate and being nasty and being a piece of work. When Eggheads started I was a lot nastier but they cut a lot of it out now and I think they’re trying to make me look nicer!

When it started I wasn’t a very good quizzer and I was getting so many questions wrong but now that I’ve been working hard for four years I can get most of them right I think they’re trying to change my personality and I don’t like it… I want to come over as the Simon Cowell of the quiz world!

So when you finished University you embarked on a modelling career; did you think you’d get further with beauty rather than brains?

I finished university and decided to go travelling. I wanted to go to Germany for five days so I booked a return rail ticket and I’d been there three days when I met up with a guy in Dusseldorf who owned a modelling agency, and he asked me if I wanted a modelling job.

I thought it would be good for a laugh even though I absolutely hated the way I looked and I still now can’t watch myself on TV or see myself on photos but the plastic surgery isn’t too far away!

Oh no CJ, we love you, we think you’re pretty!

Haha, well he offered me this job and I ended up staying with him for four and a half years and it was wonderful and then when I finished there I moved to Amsterdam and just enjoyed myself. I did quite well in beauty and went as far as I could but with brains I can still keep going and I don’t have to rely on my ageing, withering looks!

I mean I’m sitting here and I just bought a load of shopping and I still have enough room in the bags under my eyes to carry it all!