Marc Fennell is a journalist and presenter known for shows like The Feed, Stuff the British Stole, The School That Tried to End Racism, and many more. He is about to begin another year as host of Mastermind.

Marc Fennell as host of Mastermind on SBS.

What’s your Mastermind special subject?
Well, I’ve done it: before I took over as host I did the celebrity edition of the show, and I think I picked Star Trek: The Next Generation.

How’d you go?
I think I did OK. To be honest with you, the thing that pulled me apart in that show was the Slow Burn. That’s the thing that completely upends – in reality TV parlance it changes the game forever. So I did all right with my special subject and then it all went to shit in the general knowledge and the Slow Burn. The other thing I realised as I was doing it was that when you’re in the chair, everything kind of passes as a bit of a blur. So my memory of it is fine but I’ve watched the footage and been like, I don’t know who that guy is, but he’s entered some kind of weird state that I can’t quite explain. So whenever the contenders sit in the chair – they always end up cutting it out – but I’m like, everything’s going to be fine, you’re OK, you won’t remember any of this, I’m going to ask you some questions now. I always feel an obligation to take care of them: as soon as the questions are done I’m like, you need to breathe. Breathe now.

I think that comes across. I think you come across as the caring kind of quiz show host, as opposed to the other kind, which we all know well.
It’s complicated, right, because when they first approached me – because I filled in before I took over as host – I remember thinking, the British version takes itself very seriously. And we take the questions and the rules of Mastermind very seriously. But there was always a question in my mind of, how do I maintain me, because I’m not an actor, while still not pulling anything out of what makes this format so special. We talked about it a lot and what we came up with was, when they come out to the chair, I genuinely want to understand why they love this particular subject. I think there’s two reasons for that: one, I’m genuinely interested in people, but also the audience need to work out quite quickly who they’re supposed to root for, or not. I think the only way to get that is to get some of the contenders’ character out. I think I’m the only Mastermind host in the world who takes this view, but I do maintain that the show is a celebration of nerds. Everyone else gorges on the interrogation part, I’m like nope, you’re here because you love something, I want to know why you love it, and then the light goes down and let’s put it to the test.

You said you’re not an actor, but given that you do and have done such a wide variety of projects, is there any element of acting, or adjusting who you are depending on what you’re doing?
I think people can recognise when you’re putting on an act. And certainly I lean in to the genre of whatever I’m doing. The version of me you see when I’m doing Stuff the British Stole isn’t a world away from the version of me you see on Mastermind, because I can only really be me. But I think there’s a certain amount of dexterity involved, because it’s like how can you be you, but a you that helps enhance the environment you’re in?

‘There’s very few places on television where nerds, often quite introspective nerds, get pride of place.’

So what version of you do we see on Mastermind?
If the goal is to bring a bit of drama and see how people cope in a quiz show setting, it’s leaning in to the slightly more storyteller, slower version of me. Stuff the British Stole has a lot of that: pieces to camera out in front of palaces and dingy hallways and whatnot. A lot of it comes down to why you’re doing something. Sometimes that’s really obvious: School That Tried to End Racism was a very personal thing. With this, because I didn’t chase Mastermind, they approached me with it, I took a second to go, ‘Why this? Why is this an important thing?’ There’s very few places on television where nerds, often quite introspective nerds, get pride of place. I agree, honestly I wish I was more of a nerd.

Oh, you are a nerd. You are TOTALLY a nerd.
I love people who are really passionate and enthusiastic about a thing that they love. Sincerely and unironically into stuff. And that’s what Mastermind contestants are. It also slightly breaks down the idea of what a nerd is. In one episode you can have French lace manufacturing and V8 Supercars and Greek gods and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I think those are the episodes that are the most fun, where we get really diverse subjects. I think if you get too many movie or too many pop culture or too much history … the best episodes are where you get a deep dive in all completely different universes. As a question asker I find them the most interesting because I learn the most. I tend to only do jobs where I feel like I can learn something.

Mastermind is on SBS, weeknights at 6pm.

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