Fans of Mastermind were thrown a curve ball at the start of the latest episode, when they noticed one of the contestants had “gone missing”.
The format of the popular BBC quiz show calls for four contestants to compete against one another in rounds of general and specialised trivia.
In the first moments of Monday’s (21 February) show, however, viewers noticed that this week’s episode instead featured three contestants and an empty chair.
Host Clive Myrie provided an explanation for the change, telling viewers: “Now, you will have noticed that there are three contenders in the spotlight tonight, rather than the usual four.
“That’s because the person in seat two has withdrawn from this programme.”
One viewer described the incident as “the most dramatic OPENING scene of an episode of Mastermind EVER”.
However, many people tuned in after this disclaimer, and were baffled as to why one of the contestants had been replaced by an empty chair.
Others were still unsatisfied with the explanation, and demanded to know more about the candidate’s withdrawal.
“Missing contestant on Mastermind? Truly the end times!” joked another person.
Someone else wrote: “Why is it chair 2 that is empty? #mastermind That’s as much of a mystery as WHY? which he passed on.”
“Intriguing empty #Mastermind 4th chair!” wrote another viewer. “Panic? Too much wine? Oooh drama...”
The series airs on BBC Two at 8pm every Monday.
