Pointless sparked a wave of complaints after viewers fumed that a ‘wrong answer’ was accepted by host Alexander Armstrong. 

The BBC quiz show, which hit our screens in 2009, is presented by the 55-year-old and Richard Osman, 54.

Viewers watch teams of two battle it out to win a cash prize after trying to figure out the most obscure answers to various questions. 

One episode in particular, which first hit our screens on November 11 2024 and was recently repeated, has raised a few eyebrows after players were asked to point out a UK city without an A in its name.

A player put forward the answer of Derry. 

The answer was given the green light by Alexander and the producers. 

Pointless sparks wave of complaints as viewers fume that ‘wrong answer’ was accepted by Alexander Armstrong – and episode suddenly vanishes from iPlayer

The BBC quiz show, which hit our screens in 2009, is presented by the 55-year-old and Richard Osman, 54

A spokesperson for BBC’S Executive Complaints Unit explained: ‘A viewer complained an inaccurate answer had been accepted by the presenter, leading to one of the contesting couples being unfairly prevented from going through to the next round. 

‘The ECU considered whether the programme met the requirement for due accuracy set out in the Guidelines.’

They added: ‘Contestants were asked to give names of cities in the United Kingdom in which the letter A did not appear.

‘The criterion was “according to the updated list of cities with official city status published by the UK Government website at the end of August 2022″. ‘

‘A contestant proffered the name “Derry”, which was accepted as a correct answer although the city is named in the list as “Londonderry”.

‘In the ECU’s view, it was within the discretion of an entertainment programme like Pointless to allow such a reply.’

The complaint is officially ‘not upheld’. Now, according to The Sun, the episode is not available to watch on BBC iPlayer. 

Read More I was on Pointless – the hardest part of the show completely caught me off guard

Pointless hit our screens 16 years ago. 

There has been 1695 episodes across the 31 regular series as of now.

Meanwhile there has been 357 across the 17 celebrity versions. 

Between 2009 and 2011, the quiz show aired on BBC Two.

But from 2011 the show has aired on BBC One.  

Although Alexander and Richard are the main presenters, there are various co-presenters. 

It comes after a former contestant from Pointless shared what the hardest part of the show is and claimed it is something viewers would never notice at home.  

Rosie Mullender, 47, appeared with her 71-year-old mother Janet on the long-standing BBC game show back in 2019. 

She described to FruitySlots how the ‘set up is made for TV’ and added: ‘Alexander actually stands in front of the questions on the board, so you can’t see them!

‘He stands in a position where they’re visible on camera but not for contestants. It’s hard as you have to memorise them or try and peer around him to see.’

Pointless airs on BBC One and is available to stream on iPlayer.