BBC viewers left traumatised after turning on TV and seeing contestant’s head explode in ‘Lee Mack quiz show’
Viewers thought they were tuning in to a good ol' Lee Mack quiz show when a contestant’s head quite literally exploded on TV.
Usually, the comedian, 56, is considered to be the go-to guy to make his contestants feel comfortable while keeping the audience and viewers at home equally engaged.
I mean, a quiz show paired with a nice takeaway, what else do you want on a Saturday night, eh?
That being said, if you were one of the viewers who watched the Would I Lie To You panelist in a one-off episode of 3 by 3 in May last year, then you'll know what I'm talking about.
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In the final round of the quiz remained mother and daughter team, Margaret and Catherine Oakwood, who had already beaten off stiff competition from quiz teams The Three Tenors and Quiztopher Biggins for a place in the final.
For the last round, Margaret found herself locked in a soundproof booth to allow both her and Catherine to answer independently of each other.
However, after Margaret failed to get the final question correct, the Oakwoods failed to win the big money and that's when things went weird, as Margaret appeared to become trapped in the booth.
Seconds later, confusion turned to horror as the mum began screaming and banging on the glass to be let out, before all of a sudden... her head explodes.
No, that's not a phrase to say she was confused or stressed.
Her head literally exploded off her shoulders, spattering blood all over the glass booth in the process.
It really does make for quite horrifying viewing but for those not in the know, you'll be pleased to know it wasn't actually from a real quiz show, and was in fact an episode of Inside No 9, the marvellously macabre series from Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton.
While fans had been expecting an On The Buses tribute episode titled 'Hold On Tight', they instead got '3 by 3', the first episode of Inside No 9 not to feature Shearsmith or Pemberton on camera.
As the episode progressed, it became clear that something was ever so slightly off with the Oakwoods, or more specifically Margaret (Gemma Page) and Catherine (Saskia Wakefield), as cricket-loving dad Stephen (James Tucker) was frozen out early on and never returned.
Catherine seemed to know the answer to every question despite revealing she'd basically no experience with entertainment or much of the outside world.
It's really to everyone's credit that Inside No 9 managed to keep up the pretence for so long, while weaving in so many brilliant clues as to what was really going on.
At the end of the episode there was a homage to the likes of Matilda and Carrie, with Catherine blowing up her mother's head after it was heavily implied her parents had kept her locked up as an experiment.
Mack didn't notice for a bit before all hell broke loose and the film crew fled the studio, with Catherine finally free of Margaret - even if she had to blow up her head to do it.
Here's hoping she made it to New Zealand.
Anish Vij