Mastermind received backlash for being ‘very unfair’ last night as fans accused host Clive Myrie of ‘sтιтching up’ one contestant by asking him longer questions than the others.

Alex Thomas, was one of the four new brainiacs to join Clive as he asked them a series of questions in their chosen specialist subject within a two-minute time period for each round.

Alex chose the history of the West Indies men’s cricket team from 1974 to the present day as his specialist subject but sadly came in third place.

However, fans had been defending him on social media since his first round of question when they compared the length of his questions to fellow player and winner Olivia’s.

One wrote: ‘His questions are way longer than the other contestants that seems a bit unfair?’

Alex Thomas, was one of the four new brainiacs to join Clive as he asked them a series of questions in their chosen specialist subject within a two-minute time period for each round

Fans accused host Clive Myrie of asking contestant Alex longer questions than the others

Another said: ‘These Mastermind comments appear every week. They go on and on and on; just how long will these questions last for? Very unfair!’

‘Just how long were those questions! Very unfair,’ another added.

But some were not convinced that Alex had been sтιтched up as one maintained that ‘everybody’s questions are the same length’.

The final results saw Alex come in third place with 16 point, just one point ahead of Joyce whose specialist subject was British aviator Amy Johnson and came last. 

Alan, answering questions on the James Bond books of Ian Fleming came in second place with 21 points, whilst Olivia was crowned the winner after scoring 24 points with the rock band New Order as her topic, sending her through to the semi-finals.

This is not the first time the quiz show has faced backlash over the length of questions.

In fact, every week people take to social media platform X to point out the lengthy questions, with one from last month asking: ‘How long are Mastermind questions now? They seem to go on forever!’

Another recently posted: ‘The questions on Mastermind are too long winded.’ 

Meanwhile, others accused the show of being ‘dumbed down’ and criticised the quality of the general knowledge questions.

‘Haven’t watch Mastermind in years but just caught the last couple of minutes of tonight’s show. Has it been dumbed down? The questions the last contestant got wouldn’t have been out of place of Junior Mastermind,’ wrote one person.

In the same vein, another said: ‘I have to say the general knowledge questions on Mastermind are way too easy. I’m not looking for University Challenge levels but it’s been dumbed down a lot.’

New episodes of Mastermind air every Monday at 7.30pm on BBC Two.