Only Connect broadcaster Victoria Coren Mitchell has responded after a fan alleged that a team was ‘robbed’.
Victoria, 51, has hosted the quiz show since it began in 2008.
Over time, it has been renowned as one of the most difficult quiz programmes for players to compete on because it needs a high degree of general knowledge and reasoning abilities by forcing teams to link four seemingly unrelated facts.
Competitors also receive points if they accurately predict the solution before all of the clues are revealed.
However, the current programme prompted several viewers to protest the host, alleging she made an unjust decision.
Patrick Murphy took to X to share his thoughts.
‘The team who lost Only Connect by one point tonight were robbed!’ he began.
‘The last buzzer was before the bell; they should have been asked the question and maybe drawn!
‘The beauty of iPlayer is you can watch it back and hear the buzz before the bell!’
But, after seeing the post, Victoria defended both the regulations and herself.
‘I never let them answer after the bell, whenever they’ve buzzed! Not the protocol at all,’ she commented.
Others also jumped in to back her.
‘Someone doesn’t watch very often. Stay strong Victoria. Take no prisoners, them the rules,’ Neil Darby said.
‘If your buzz comes so late before the bell that Victoria DOESN’T have time to say your team name and allow you start answering it, then she’ll call time on the round,’ Andrew Codling explained.
‘If she DOES, and you’re halfway through answering when the bell comes then they’ll allow it. Always been that way.’
Mike Grundy simply said: ‘Victoria’s game, Victoria’s rules…end of debate.’
In the end, it was the team called Also Rans that made it to the final with 22 points.
Only Connect is now one of the most popular series on British television, having built a dedicated audience since its debut.
However, Victoria chastised the New York Times’ puzzle editor last year when they introduced Connections, a new game about grouping words with a similar thread.
Commenting on the announcement, Victoria wrote: ‘Do you know this has been a TV show in the UK since 2008?! It’s so similar I guess you must do?’
Only Connect continues on Monday at 8pm on BBC Two.