Mastermind contestant sparks backlash with specialist subject that ‘shouldn’t be allowed’

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Mastermind viewers have been left complaining that one contestant’s specialist subject ‘shouldn’t have been allowed’.

The Monday-night quiz show, hosted by Clive Myrie, saw topics including Henry II, Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple novels, and Wales rugby union test matches.

However, retired teacher Gary Austin’s topic of choice, TV sitcom Friday Night Dinner, failed to impress viewers.

The contestant racked up a whopping 12 points, showing off his expertise on the Goodman family.

Friday Night Dinner, which ran from 2011 to 2020 and received two Bafta nominations, starred Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal and Mark Heap, and grew a huge fan following.

However, Mastermind viewers aren’t convinced it’s enough to count as a specialist subject.

Clive Myrie hosting Mastermind — Mastermind viewers weren’t impressed by one specialist subject this week (Picture: BBC)

Taking to X, Paul fumed: ‘#Mastermind shouldn’t allow TV programs as specialist subjects! You watched a few episodes of a program? Great. That’s not the [same] as studying world history, science, literature. Moan over haha.’

@Mackadoodle63 agreed, writing: ‘At the least, they should ask questions about the production. Very rarely are there any questions about the writers, actors, or even when was it first aired. It’s often quite marked the relative differences in the first and second round scores.’

Rik said: ‘A show that was on relatively recently and ran for six seasons Just binge watching a TV show doesn’t feel like studying for.’

Retired teacher Gary opted for Friday Night Dinner as his subject (Picture: BBC)

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‘Can we please up the bar for acceptable specialist subjects?’ Norbert wrote, adding: ‘six series and 37 episodes. That’s not a specialist subject, that’s a passing interest.’

Peter also seethed: ‘Ruins #mastermind when someone answers sitcom questions.’

Viewer Laura added: ‘I got almost as many right as him – Friday night dinner is a great show but hardly mastermind material.’

Gary racked up points on the sitcom before the general knowledge round (Picture: BBC)

‘They need to ban people from doing a sitcom as their specialist subject in mastermind. It’s a sham of a mockery,’ Luke meanwhile said, while Nick wrote: ‘Friday Night Dinner is way too narrow a specialist subject for Mastermind. 15 hours of telly.’

Gary did prove he wasn’t just an expert on Friday Night Dinner during the second round of Mastermind, where he scored a total of 22 points from a series of general knowledge questions, marking his victory and sending him through to the next round.

‘Having won, I’m absolutely exhilarated,’ he said. ‘Completely amazed.’

Television programme: FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER. Adam (Simon Bird), Jonny (Tom Rosenthal), Jackie (Tamsin Greig) Martin (Paul Ritter) — Fiday Night Dinner, which ran from 2011 to 2020, starredSimon Bird, Tom Rosenthal, Paul Ritter and Tamsin Greig (Picture: Channel 4/Mark Johnson)

He added: ‘I was delighted when Clive said that I’d got all of my specialist subject questions right, and then I thought I had a bit of a cushion against some of the others who might have had better general knowledge because I’m not really a quizzer.

‘I’m not in a team, not in a league, I’m basically what you might call an armchair quizzer.

‘I’m a massive fan of Friday Night Dinner, I had loads and loads of questions that I’d written on Friday Night Dinner and rather than read them on my mobile phone, I asked my wife, would she be Clive and so everyday, she would read me a few hundred questions so that I could answer them and practise being in the spotlight.

He’d been practicing with hundreds of Friday Night Dinner questions (Picture: BBC)

‘For someone who loves quizzes as much as I do, I think the glass bowl of Mastermind is the pinnacle of anything you can win so to win that would be a dream come true.’

Ahead of quizzing the contestants, Clive assured viewers that Mastermind was about more than just the knowledge they revised the night before, saying: ‘It’s also a test of the knowledge you’ve picked up and absorbed over the years.

‘It’s about long-term as well as short-term memory recall and that makes for a tough challenge and some great telly.’

Mastermind airs Mondays at 7.30pm on BBC Two.

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