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Mastermind fans call out BBC bosses in brutal live final: 'He was robbed'
Reach Daily Express | April 21, 2026 3:48 PM CST

Mastermind viewers were left up in arms minutes into the live BBC final after one player was left kicking himself after a disastrous final round. On Monday (April 20), Clive Myrie returned to the helm, where he welcomed six series winners back to the black chair to fight it out to become the Mastermind champion and take home the coveted Glass Bowl. This week, the veteran presenter welcomed back Ross, Diane, Lorna, Miles, Danielle, David and Miles to put their general knowledge to the test.

Before the nail-biting quiz, the show gave viewers insight into the quizzer's personal lives and the reasons behind each of their specialist subjects. The topics included the films of Danny Boyle, the astronaut Jim Lovell, the life of Dame Julie Andrews, the history of Notre-Dame de Paris, the works of Beatrix Potter and the work of Robert Burns.

Each player put up a strong fight in the hot seat, but things took a turn in the general knowledge round. It was at this point that Ross began to stumble in the final stretch, where he was quizzed about his soap knowledge.

Myrie asked him: "What British television soap, first shown in 1995, is named after the fictional village just outside Chester where it's set?" The player ultimately passed this question and was later informed that the correct answer was Hollyoaks at the end of the round.

But one question that really got viewers riled up was when the presenter tested his general knowledge on Hindu mythology. He asked: "In Hindu mythology, what's the name of the monkey god who's a hero of the Sanskrit poem the Ramayana, in which he helps to rescue Sita, the abducted wife of Prince Rama?"

Determined to get this question right, he answered "Haman" before the broadcaster corrected his pronunciation, revealing that the answer was Hanuman. Despite being so close to the correct answer, Ross walked away with one less point, with a respectable score of 24 questions correctly answered at the end of both rounds.

It didn't take long before viewers swarmed to social media to call out the corporation for their harsh scoring system. One user penned: "Not much in that. Ross mispronounced Hanumna, and if he had thought for a second, I'm sure he would have got Hollyoaks too."

Another fumed: "Ross was robbed on that question where he mispronounced the word differently," as a third agreed: "Ross f***ed over with the general knowledge questions there."

On any other day, his final result could have been a winning score. But in a grand final against fellow champions, he found himself in the middle of the leaderboard, with Lorna and Diane leading the charge with a matching score of 25 points.

This meant the show had to go to a sudden death round, where both players were asked the same five questions before the host revealed the correct answers at the end of the round. After a tense series final, housewife and carer Diane came out on top, beating her contestant by just one point.


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