Richard Osman was notably missing from Pointless this evening as Alexander Armstrong hosted his first episode without the presenter.
The telly personality, 51, announced his exit in April, remarking on how "lucky" he felt to have worked alongside Alexander since 2009.
He co-hosted the show, which he created, for 12 years before deciding to step down.
And tonight, the new team of hosts took over from his legacy, with Sally Lindsay taking over from him for the first ever episode.
She is the first of a list of celebrities set to sit in the hot seat in a shake up on the hit BBC show.
Tuesday’s episode saw Xander introduce the actress by saying: “She’s my new Pointless friend, my first in 12 years, the wonderful Sally Lindsay!”
“This is so exciting and so surreal!” Sally said. “Just wanted to ask you – do you feel like you’ve cheated a bit?”
‘It feels a bit naughty, but we’ll work through it,’ Xander replied.
Richard was delighted to be watching along at home for the first time. He took to his Twitter to wish the new hosts good luck.
“So excited about watching this at 5.15. The first time I’ve ever been able to watch #Pointless and actually play along without knowing the answers already. Good luck to the first of the ace new co-hosts @sally_lindsay!” he said.
And the telly favourite couldn’t help but joke about the show’s laptop, which Pointless co-hosts must rely on, quipping: ‘Wait, the laptop WORKS NOW???? #Pointless.’
Richard will continue to appear on celebrity specials of the show, and is continuing to host House of Games.
But fans took to social media to voice their disappointment as Richard was replaced.
"No co-hosts will be as natural as Richard, he had over 10 years+ to perfect it but I am sure these co-hosts will be great #pointless," one gutted viewer wrote.
Another penned: "Fact is, Richard Osman bestrode Pointless for 12 years and his mighty big shoes are going to be almost impossible to fill. Good luck to all the new co-hosts. #Pointless."
In April, Osman announced he was stepping back from hosting the show after almost 13 years to “concentrate on writing”.
His debut novel, The Thursday Murder Club, was published in 2020 and became a bestseller, with global film rights bought by Steven Spielberg’s production company Amblin Entertainment.
A sequel, The Man Who Died Twice, was published last year, and his third novel, The Bullet That Missed, is expected in September.
“Richard has had to put more time into being a superstar global best-selling author which is so annoying and so inconvenient and thoughtless of him,” Armstrong joked at the time.
“He still does the Saturday shows so he is still around and I still get to see my old friend. We’ve got a rotating roster of exciting guests and its very lovely, we get guests to come in for 11 shows and just as they’re finding their rhythm and it’s all going really well, they go out and the next comes in.
“It’s been really exciting, so far we’ve had five guest hosts, Sally Lindsay, Lauren Laverne, Alex Brooker, Konnie Huq and Stephen Mangan.”
Pointless sees members of the public competing for a cash prize by finding correct but obscure answers to four rounds of general knowledge questions.
Osman was not originally intended to be Armstrong’s co-presenter but after filling the role as part of a demonstration laid on for the BBC, executives asked him to continue for the first series.
The programme moved from BBC Two to BBC One after a successful two years.
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