‘We wanted people watching at home to schep naches’: All-Jewish team wins Only Connect

Four Opinions, the all-Jewish Only Connect team that instantly endeared its three members to Jewish audiences across the UK with its in-joke name, won the BBC game show’s 20th series Monday night.

Made up of Rafi Dover, Aron Carr and Jacob Epstein, the Four Opinions beat their competitors, the Tea Totallers in the finale episode of the British television quiz show on Monday, taking home a trophy for their wits – and unabashedly displaying their Jewishness throughout.

“The three of us all wear our kippahs all the time, so we weren’t wearing kippot to make some kind of point,” said Dover, a civil servant and team captain of the Four Opinions. “That said, we were conscious that people who wear kippot aren't often on TV, so we were aware it might be unusual to be on TV so visibly Jewish, but we figured since that’s how we present ourselves in the wider world there’s no reason why we wouldn’t present ourselves like that on TV.”

After the first episode aired in August, Carr, a history teacher, said the trio was “inundated” with social media posts about their team name, affirming their choice to lean into their Jewishness rather than try to minimise it. “There was no way we'd consider doing the show and not being true to ourselves, and the warm responses have been overwhelming. We wanted people watching at home to schep naches.”

Jews tuning into the finale episode likely schepped nachas at the sight of the Four Opinions’ matching kippot, lovingly crocheted with the Only Connect logo by Dover’s mum after the team qualified for the semi-finals.

“We spoke to the crew, who obviously thought they were hilarious,” said Dover. “They really helped us show them off with an overhead shot near the end of the episode.”

The three members of the Four Opinions wore kippot crocheted by Dover's mum with the Only Connect logo for the series finale. (Photo: BBC)[Missing Credit]

The tournament-style show, presented by Victoria Coren Mitchell, pits teams of three in competition with one another to find connections between seemingly unrelated clues, and the Four Opinions prepared by rewatching old episodes and working their way through past questions.

“We knew that puzzle solving and lateral thinking were where we might have more of an edge than trivia knowledge - Rafi and I are enthusiastic cryptic crossword solvers, and for all three of us many years of studying gemara has probably helped,” said Carr.

Dover added: “As captain I was keen to make sure we were more than the sum of our parts, bouncing ideas off each other, that kind of thing. But I would say that working together came very easy. Aron and Jake are wonderful players.”

During production, the crew provided the team with kosher snacks and accommodated them by refraining from filming on Shabbat.

“Everyone we met along the journey was so friendly and supportive,” said Epstein, a pharmaceutical consultant. The trio also spent three Shabbats with the United Synagogue community in Cardiff during filming and expressed gratitude for the experience.

“Everyone we interacted with from the production was hugely welcoming and supportive - they took amazing care of us every step of the way,” said Carr. “We loved hanging out in the backstage area and chatting with the crew and other teams, playing board games and drinking copious amounts of coffee.”

The Four Opinions have been sitting on the news of their win since filming wrapped in September and were finally able to celebrate with a big watch party for the finale episode on Monday night. But aside from the trophy and bragging rights, Dover, Epstein and Carr are most satisfied with having made their community proud.

“The response we’ve received from the Jewish community has been amazing,” said Epstein. “Especially at a time when national coverage of Jewish interests seems to focus on more negative topics, it’s been great to see the happiness and pride that people have taken from seeing us represent the community in this way.”

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