Could Hornsea teacher Clair Collins be Britain's Brightest?

SHE blew away the competition to be the runaway winner in the first episode of a new BBC1 series.

Now, maths teacher Clair Collins is in with a shot of winning £50,000 and being crowned Britain's Brightest.

The Hornsea School teacher, 25, was one of six competitors in the programme, which is searching for Britain's brightest mind.

Each week, six people will fight to win the show and book their place in the final.

Clair won the first show by notching up a massive 42 points out of a possible 48.

Her closest rival finished with 19 points.

Contestants included a charity administrator and the Sunday Times crossword editor.

Clair said: "I impressed myself. I didn't realise I was going to do that well, so I am really pleased.

"I find maths naturally easy so I enjoy it.

"I have not mentioned to my students I was going on the show, so when they saw it, it will have been a surprise to them.

"I have always enjoyed maths from a young age, I think because I find it easy – it's a natural gift of mine."

Clair was one of the youngest contestants on the show and said her profession helped her.

"Being a teacher absolutely prepared me for being on Britain's Brightest," she said.

"I'm good at the maths side of things, which in turn means I am quite good at the logic."

In the first round, Clair was pitted against Ben, a PhD student in particle physics. The duo were battling each other to solve a series of picture clues and identify the famous names.

Clair won, earning six points and taking her joint top of the leader board.

Next, she had to keep the pressure of the occasion in check as she stepped up against the five other contestants for a maths round.

The teacher aced the round, winning both sections and impressing with her speedy answers to multiplication questions.

To win the round, it took her just 2.97 seconds to give the answer to 75 x 75.

She said: "I did think that would be one of my strongest, so I am pleased with that."

Show host Claire Balding said: "Clair was straight there, so fast."

She told other contestants they could hold their heads high as they were up against a real maths master.

In the third round, Clair and the other contestants watched Strictly Come Dancing stars Aliona Vilani and Matthew Cutler perform, as well as a martial arts group.

They were then asked a series of observational questions.

Winning the round again, Clair went into the final round on 30 points, 15 ahead of her nearest competitor.

She again impressed in the final round as the contestants were asked to multi-task.

They had to identify four letter words in a grid of letters, at the same time as stopping the clock on themselves at 27 seconds.

While the competitive nature of some contestants took over as they searched for words and forgot about the clock, Clair calmly picked out five words before stopping the clock at 26 seconds.

It earned her a fourth consecutive round win and an automatic place in the final.

Clair said: "It would be brilliant if I walked away with the title of Britain's Brightest.

"I'd like to think all the students would be proud of me and I think it's really important to show them that being bright is a really good thing."