BBC Mastermind viewers complain about 'unnecessarily long' question

Watch: Clive Myrie poses extra-long Mastermind question that had viewers up in arms

What did you miss?

Mastermind viewers have complained about an "unnecessarily long" question in the semi-final that they felt held the quiz up.

In the BBC Two show's last semi-final, one unlucky contestant had to wrestle with an incredibly long-winded description of a chess piece as he tried to race through the general knowledge round.

Viewers shared in the quizzer's frustration, claiming that the questions are too long and slow the pace of the programme too much.

What, how, and why?

Mastermind fans know that one of the BBC Two quiz show's more frustrating rules is that contestants are not allowed to answer questions before they are finished being asked.

But the rule became even more annoying than usual in the last semi-final of this series as viewers complained that one contestant was held up by a ridiculously long-winded question about a chess piece.

Quizzer Tom Moody was hoping to make up some ground in the general knowledge round when he was unlucky enough to be given the question and tried to answer believing it must be finished halfway through, before it continued even further.

Mastermind host Clive Myrie read out: "Which chess piece performs an L-shaped move either up or down one square vertically and across two squares horizontally, or up or down two squares vertically and across one square horizontally?"

Eventually, Moody was able to answer "Knight" correctly, but viewers were in agreement that the long question was too much.

One viewer commented on X: "Even by recent #Mastermind standards, that chess Knight question seemed particularly long winded ..."

Someone else asked: "How long did that Chess question last for," as another person agreed: "The chess question was taking the p***!"

One viewer noted: "Unnecessarily long and over detailed question about the movement and ability of a chess piece," while another sympathetic viewer added: "That meandering chess question & the way it annoyed Tom did make me chuckle tho… I’d have been raging."

"These questions are ridiculously long," commented one person. Another wrote: "It was still light outside when he started reading that last question out."

What else happened on Mastermind?

The episode eventually saw health policy officer Ruth Hart make it through to the final following her special subject of the novels of Dame Muriel Spark.

After the general knowledge round, Hart had scored a joint high of 20 with another contestant but won after giving fewer passes.

However, viewers still thought the long questions had sabotaged the game as one person commented: "Are the questions harder, longer, or is there just more stuff to know, twenty's not a great score to get you into a #Mastermind final ..."

Mastermind airs on BBC Two at 7.30pm on Monday.

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