Victoria Coren Mitchell returned to BBC Two on Monday night with the 20th series of Only Connect. The highly anticipated first episode saw teams Al Frescans and Midlanders compete in the first heat.
Everything seemed to be going well until the quizzers reached the third round and had to face the Connecting Wall.
The challenge consists of 16 shuffled clues that must be sorted into four connected groups within two and a half minutes.
The Al Frescans successfully decoded all four groups and achieved the maximum score of 10.
For the people of the Midlands, however, the challenge was more difficult and they did not know what the obvious answer should be.
They successfully worked on forming two groups, but did not realize that “Firework,” “Hot N Cold,” “ET,” and “Rise” were hits by Katy Perry.
Instead, they mistakenly assumed they were Drew Barrymore films.
After the Midlanders all three lost their lives and the wall was “frozen”, Victoria remarked: “If I liked to visibly bite my nails on the canvas, I would have done it there… I think you are clearly not a fan of Katy Perry’s work. Katy Perry’s songs are what they are.”
Victoria wasn’t the only one frustrated by the missed answer, and viewers rushed to Twitter to react to the tense moment.
One user exclaimed: “Screaming ‘KATY PERRY SONGS’ at the TV #onlyconnect.”
Another wrote: “Well, watching Only Connect tonight made me realise that I know a lot about Katy Perry songs and Welsh castles, even though I don’t own any of her albums and have never visited any of the castles in question.”
A third joked: “Just got a reply direct from Only Connect (yes, it was Katy Perry songs).”
And a fourth noted: “Seeing smart people on Only Connect not recognizing Katy Perry songs makes you wonder what planet are you living on?”
As the bell marked the end of the quiz, Victoria confirmed that the Al Frescans had won with a score of 28, beating the Midlanders by 18.
The win means the Al Frescans move into the next round of the competition, while the Midlanders will remain in the same phase and play one more game in the hope of progressing.
