Father of Indian-origin Child Genius winner labelled ‘disgusting’ for pushy behaviour

Kid wins Child Genius. Dad wins Twitter’s wrath.

When 12-year-old Indian-origin contestant Rahul Doshi won Channel 4’s ‘Child Genius’, it must have been a proud moment for his parents. Rahul, whose IQ of 162 is speculated to be higher than that of Einstein, became the talk of town. But what overshadowed Rahul’s win was the cringeworthy behaviour of his father, Minesh Doshi, that incited the concentrated wrath of viewers.

Minesh Doshi with his son Rahul’s trophy.

Doshi, an IT manager, came across as a pushy Papa when he was caught smirking on camera after Rahul’s 9-year-old opponent Ronan got a question wrong. Any time Rahul couldn’t answer a question, Doshi would grimace openly. After Rahul was declared the winner, an exultant Minesh took the trophy from his hands and brandished it.

Child Genius is a British reality TV show where a group of child prodigies complete tasks and answer questions. Rahul, who has an IQ high enough to be a member of Mensa, the world’s largest and oldest high IQ society, fought off competition from 19 children aged eight to 12 in the week-long show.

After Rahul clinched the title, Doshi said, “I am actually willing him with the answers, it’s like I’m on his shoulder, telepathically trying to get the words to him.”

During the competition, Minesh’s advice to Rahul was to see other children as his rivals. “There are no prizes for being friendly with your opponents,” he said.

Doshi’s pushiness did not go down well with viewers of the show, who took to social media to pan his behaviour. On Twitters, commentators called him ‘disrespectful’ and ‘disgusting’, some even expressing a wish that Rahul loses because of his dad.