I have never been one for wanting to be the centre of attention; at school, just the thought of presenting to the class caused me a feeling of unshakeable anxiety, which has carried on throughout adulthood. So, when I had the opportunity to appear on the BBC quiz show Pointless, I was met with equal parts delight (because I spent hours after university lectures bingeing past episodes) and equal parts dread. Not only would I be standing answering general knowledge questions in front of a live audience, but I would also have a crew of eager cameramen recording my face for the television.

Nonetheless, how many of us can say we’ve appeared on a TV quiz show throughout our lives? And so, I made my way down to London with my partner at the time; we’d spent weeks brushing up our pointless knowledge to get our hands on that illustrious Pointless trophy. The prize money? That’d just be a bonus – imagine how fabulous those shiny, crystal-glass trophies would look in our living room!

We spent the morning of the show being made up and dressed for the cameras, and then we were marched down to the studio where we met Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman, who were both ever-so welcoming and made us feel at ease. That didn’t last long for me, however. When Alexander announced the cameras were rolling, the bright lights suddenly felt a whole lot brighter. I had never fainted before, but at that moment, when the room spun around me and my vision became blurred, I knew I was close.

Amazingly, despite my blunder during the second round, after a contestant who went before me gave the answer I prepared, we somehow made it to the head-to-head. Unfortunately, the order we went in put us in a less-than-desirable position, and we got knocked out after failing to name an anagram of a pasta dish that was low enough to beat the other team.

I never did get my trophy, and I’ve never been able to watch an episode of Pointless since, but there is a rather embarrassing clip of me on the internet facepalming on live television, which my loved ones will never let me live down.