As the evenings begin to get dark earlier and earlier, and exams are around the corner, it’s harder for students to find something to be excited about – that is, besides, Dr. Michael Bennett.

The students pick for faculty of the month this November is Kings Alum and beloved professor Michael Bennett. Dr. Bennett has been teaching at Kings since 2014, and students’ appreciation for him has never faltered. The Watch spoke to Dr. Bennett to talk advice, King’s, and, of course, the reality television show Big Brother.

Q: Do you have any hobbies?

A: I like crosswords and trivia, that sort of thing. I like listening to music, mostly classical. I like watching reality TV with my wife. No secret.

Q: What’s your favourite reality TV show?

A: Well, I’m glad you asked. One of the best reality shows ever, in my opinion, is Big Brother. It has a structural feature that makes it good, which is that they have live shows every week so they can’t edit. They can’t give contestants a winners edit or a losers edit right from the beginning. So it’s always kind of surprising who end up winning that show.

Q: What was the first paper you wrote when you were in FYP?

A: The first paper I wrote in FYP was on Gilgamesh, of course. And I’m not sure if it was completely organised around this topic, but I remember picking up on what I thought were sort of homoerotic details. You know, in retrospect, I think I was totally right.

Q: Do you have a favourite movie?

A: I have two favourite movies. One is Election. When I was in elementary school, I was always jealous of students who got better grades, keeners and ‘type As’. So the satirical representation of Tracy Flick in that movie scratched my itch. The other one is more of a pretentious movie, I guess: Koyaanisqatsi by Godfrey Reggio.

Q: What advice would you give to a FYP student preparing for their first oral exam?

A: Don’t be afraid to say what you think is the obvious thing. When it comes right down to it, what we’re looking for is evidence that you’ve engaged with the material and thought about it.

Q: What’s your favourite thing about Kings?

A: I think the students are always so consistently excellent and insightful. It’s generally not the case that students with this sort of degree of commitment and buy-in and interest are the students you might teach in other places. Students are not like that.