Fans Fuming
BBC Mastermind viewers slam show after ‘ridiculous’ subject choice
Viewers demand Mastermind return to its roots after controversial subject choices spark outrage
FURIOUS Mastermind fans have slammed the BBC quiz show after branding one contestant’s specialist subject choice as “ridiculous”.
BBC quiz show Mastermind has come under fire yet again, with furious viewers blasting its "low standards" and demanding a rule change.
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Fans reckon the show, hosted by Clive Myrie, has set the bar too low by allowing a subject that "only needed a few hours of binge-watching TV."
This week’s specialist subjects – Henry II, Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple novels, Wales rugby test matches, and sitcom Friday Night Dinner – sparked outrage, with fans branding the final topic “hardly mastermind material” after contestant Gary smashed through the round with ease.
While Gary won some respect after acing his general knowledge questions to bag the win with 22 points, the controversy raged on.
Viewers slammed the show for veering away from its traditionally tough topics, which have ranged from Norse mythology to quantum mechanics.
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With past subjects including Narnia, The Matrix films, and Robbie Williams' solo career, fans are fuming over what they see as a shift towards pop culture, claiming the show is now a "shadow of its former self."
The show began in 1971 and requires contestants to sit in the famous black chair under the glaring spotlight and answer a series of questions.
The show's creator, Bill Wright, drew inspiration from his experiences of being interrogated by the Gestapo during World War II, and the questions are supposed to be notoriously tricky due to this very reason.
But this isn't the first time viewers have slammed the quiz show and its changes.
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Viewers have previously questioned if the show has been "dumbed down."
Fans pointed out that some questions were “too easy” after a viewer controversially took to X, formerly Twitter.
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Viewers went to great lengths to explain how the show had dumbed down from its usual standards, with one saying: “I have to say the general knowledge questions on #MasterMind are way too easy.
"I'm not looking for University Challenge levels but it’s been dumbed down a lot.
“I haven't watched Mastermind in years, but I just caught tonight's show's last couple of minutes. Has it been dumbed down?"
The questions the last contestant got wouldn't have been out of place on Junior Mastermind.”
Hardest Quiz Show Questions
Would you know the answers to some of quizzing TV's hardest questions
- Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Earlier this year, fans were left outraged after what they described as the "worst" question in the show's history. Host Jeremy Clarkson asked: “From the 2000 awards ceremony onwards, the Best Actress Oscar has never been won by a woman whose surname begins with which one of these letters?” The multiple choice answers were between G, K, M and W. In the end, and with the £32,000 safe, player Glen had to make a guess and went for G. It turned out to be correct as Nicole Kidman, Frances McDormand and Kate Winslet are among the stars who have won the Best Actress gong since 2000.
- The 1% Club - Viewers of Lee Mack's popular ITV show were left dumbfounded by a question that also left the players perplexed. The query went as follows: "Edna's birthday is on the 6th of April and Jen's birthday falls on the 15th of October, therefore Amir's birthday must be the 'X' of January." It turns out the conundrum links the numbers with its position in the sentence, so 6th is the sixth word and 15th is the fifteenth word. Therefore, Amir’s birthday is January 24th, corresponding to the 24th word in the sentence.
- The Chase - The ITV daytime favourite left fans scratching their heads when it threw up one of the most bizarre questions to ever grace the programme. One of the questions asked the player: "Someone with a nightshade intolerance should avoid eating what?" The options were - sweetcorn, potatoes, carrots - with Steve selecting sweetcorn but the correct answer was potatoes.
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