Sam Quek is one of many Olympians who have made the leap from sports to screen, but none of her jobs has been as talked about as Question of Sport.
The hockey player – who is headed for Strictly’s upcoming series – became a captain on the much-loved programme in 2021 as part of a revamp. However, the shake up didn’t go down well with viewers who weren’t convinced the long-running series needed tweaking, and just two years later Question of Sport ended altogether.
As Quek signs up for this year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing, we remind ourselves of what happened.
Presenter Sue Barker had hosted the sports quiz show from 1997 but in 2020 it was announced that she was departing and that Paddy McGuinness was taking over. The show’s team captains Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell were replaced by Quek and rugby star Ugo Monye.
At the time Quek said it was a “dream job”. “I’ve watched Question of Sport since I was a little girl and my ambition to appear on the show came true five years ago – but I never thought that I would one day be a captain,” she said.
However, it soon became clear that many viewers missed the old guard. Many posted messages on social media saying they wanted to see Barker, Dawson and Tufnell back.
Quek didn’t let the backlash bother her too much, with the Daily Star quoting her as saying: “Getting the reaction came with the job… there are keyboard warriors who don’t have anything better to do than decide to say horrible things about people. Social media has a dark side. But I don’t really care what people are saying.”
But viewers switched off in their millions after the changes on the show, tumbling from four to five million to around 2.2 million for the first series with the new team.
An episode in August 2022 saw a record low of just 730,000 people watching, and there started to be whispers about how long it could go on.
In December 2023 it was confirmed that Question of Sport was ending after 53 years.
The BBC insisted it could be back one day, saying it was “not the final whistle” but that “due to inflation and funding challenges, difficult decisions have to be made, therefore Question of Sport is currently not in production at the moment”.
Quek, who is mum to two toddlers with her husband Tom Mairs, has already given reality TV a go. She was a camper on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2016 and went on Celebrity MasterChef in 2020, coming third.
It has now been confirmed that she will be slipping into spandex and sequins for the new series of Strictly Come Dancing. Quek appeared on The One Show when the news was announced, and told fans she “can’t not be competitive”.
“It’s difficult though because with hockey I knew I had the ability, I knew what I was looking forward to and what I needed to do,” she said. “But with Strictly, I can dance on the dancefloor with the girls on a night out, that’s as far as my dance experience goes.”
She also said: “I’m chuffed to be a part of this legendary show and Quickstep into the shoes of a performer, it feels absolutely surreal but I’m ready for every bit of the adventure.”
Strictly Come Dancing 2024 starts on Saturday 14 September on BBC One and iPlayer.
