Entertainment Funny fails mastermind
The cancellation of Celebrity Mastermind sent the clip of former footballer Troy Deeney’s hilariously excruciating round viral all over again
Times are hard at the BBC, and the people holding the purse strings have taken some drastic steps to balance the books.
BBC cancels Blankety Blank, Celebrity Mastermind, and Live At The Apollo as part of sweeping cost cuts amid funding crisis. Corporation cites 'difficult decisions' to save £500M. #bbc #cancellations
— Giri (@giris4u) July 29, 2026
If you’re a comedian, you can kiss goodbye to that Live at the Apollo dream, and stop swotting up on your specialist subject, because first they came for the light entertainment.
Thankfully, there will always be the viral clips to dip into, including former footballer-turned pundit, Troy Deeney, whose nerves or preparation let him down in December 2023.
RIP Celebrity Mastermind 💔 The BBC may have axed you but it’ll never axe this from my memory pic.twitter.com/pocAgi4XSk
— The 5 Metre Channel (@FMC_Rugby) July 30, 2026
“In Spider-Man 2, the nuclear physicist Dr Otto Octavius tells Peter that he thinks which poet is more complicated than advanced science?”
“Michelangelo.”
1.
The delivery of “Troy, at the end of that round, you have no points” gets me every single time. 😂 https://t.co/YpmchHCAJE
— HLTCO (@HLTCO) July 30, 2026
2.
How do you actually get zero points on your chosen specialist subject?
I’ve seen enough, ban headers in football https://t.co/OQXWGZioub
— Connor Cain (@TheConnorCain) July 30, 2026
3.
This went exactly how I would’ve expected if someone told me Deeney was on celebrity mastermind https://t.co/9I58jLLMSQ
— ‘ (@SherzCapone00) July 30, 2026
4.
Surprised he got as many as he did. Fair play to him https://t.co/c0IOpXXXPq
— Up The Villa (@KingGary1234) July 30, 2026
5.
I’ve never seen a single Spider Man movie and still got one of these right. What an absolute weapon. 😭 https://t.co/5moPpPLHPn
— Blue6oy (@blue6oy) July 30, 2026
6.
Typical. He had all those attempts to score, missed them all, and only passed once.
— Storm Garelli (@StormGarelli) July 30, 2026
7.
He’s actually in the top 0.1% of most intelligent blues fan https://t.co/YJY86jQQpU
— Opac Jr (@OP4C) July 30, 2026
8.
He would have got the same score had he chosen football.
— Daniel Daniel (@huckleberrydan) July 30, 2026
9.
No more Celebrity Mastermind means no more of these absolute corkers.
…
Questionmaster: “Which *poet* is more complicated than advanced science?”Deeney: “Michelangelo?”
You might think we lack “cojones”, Troy, but at least we don’t lack brains.
🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/95PYduBzpi
— Matt Scott (@Matt5cott) July 30, 2026
10.
He thought he was going to get asked "what was Peter Parker bitten by to become spiderman"🤣
— Amorim Era (@Ruben4morim) July 30, 2026
11.
He passed the test in my book cos he proved he’s not a fucking nerd
— NoCapy (@CapybaraKnows) July 30, 2026
12.
— panda (@ajthfc) July 30, 2026
13.
See the fake thinking he’s doing before every answer 🤣🤣🤣
— Juan Román Riquelme (@jerm_port) July 30, 2026
14.
Is there a general knowledge bit, he can’t have got many on that 🤣
— Kippax75 (@Kippax752) July 30, 2026
15.
— Chad Edgecombe (@ChadEdgecombe) July 30, 2026
Respect to Troy for taking it so well.
First day back on X and I'm reminded of this…good to be back I guess 🤣 https://t.co/hi9IkPLORN
— Troy Deeney (@T_Deeney) July 30, 2026
In case you were wondering, Troy scored six for his general knowledge, and managed to avoid the ultimate embarrassment.
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