BBC University Challenge fans were outraged after a technically correct answer was denied a point by host Amol Rajan.
This Monday’s show saw students from UCL and St Andrews compete for a place in the long-running BBC quiz show’s final.
UCL emerged victorious with an impressive score of 215 to the still admirable effort of 105 from St Andrews.
Rajan, 41, described St Andrews’ attempt as a “terrific performance from a really strong team.”
However, earlier the host had done the Scottish university no favours by ruling out a correct answer for being too slow.
Deep into the quiz, Rajan posed the question: “Of the seven SI-based units from which all other units may be derived, which two have capitalised symbols because they are named after scientists?”
The host added he was looking for: “Two answers promptly here.”
Prabhakar, representing UCL, buzzed in but immediately passed, conceding: “No, sorry.”
The question was then passed to St Andrews with the warning they must not confer with each other.
St Andrews player Rosas buzzed, determinedly answering “Kelvin and… Ampere” with mere seconds in between the names.
Despite their being no formal question timer, Rajan deemed he had taken too long and ruled out his answer despite it being correct.
The host explained curtly said: “No I’m afraid if you answer you’ve got to answer straight away. It was Kelvin and Ampere, but you took too long to answer.”
The disappointed Rosas threw his hands up in the air in frustration while his teammates consoled him.
After the incident, fans took to social media to protest Rajan’s decision.
“Rosas got the answer right there he barely paused – def should have been allowed that point it can make all the difference! NOT fair,” one viewer declared.
Another fumed: “Rosas was robbed!”
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Despite the claims of injustice, even a valid answer would not have saved St Andrews who fell short of UCL in the competitive match.
One viewer summarised: “Excellent contest that, UCL the better team and worthy winners, but St Andrews didn’t disgrace themselves at all. Well done both, and best of luck UCL in the second round.”
