A second Oxford college’s team was this morning embroiled in another row over fielding an ineligible contestant in University Challenge.

Charles Markland, 23, has revealed he had transferred from Christ Church to Balliol College halfway through last year’s competition but stayed in the former’s winning team.

Christ Church beat Sheffield University in the final.

It comes after the BBC stripped Corpus Christi of this year’s title because team member Sam Kay had graduated during the series’ filming and was working for an accountancy firm.

Mr Markland claimed his Christ Church team captain contacted a researcher on University Challenge concerning the possible change and was told that it was not a problem.

Mr Markland said: “At the initial auditions in May 2007, my team captain informed the Granada television researcher in charge of conducting the written entry test for prospective teams that there was a possibility that I might be at a different college before the series had concluded filming.

“He was told that this was not a problem, nor a barrier to entry for our team.”

He added: “Our captain contacted a Granada researcher on the programme again by telephone prior to the filming of the quarter finals to explain that I was indeed no longer at the same college.

“He was told that for continuity purposes, Granada wished us to field the same team regardless and that my move was not a problem.”

Nobody from Granada Media was available for comment, but the company said: “The University Challenge rules state that team members should all be students of the university or college for the duration of the recording of the series. This issue was not brought to our attention.”

Corpus Christi’s title this year was handed to beaten finalists Manchester.