BBC Only Connect fans have taken to social media in their droves to urge host Victoria Coren Mitchell to rein in her long-winded monologues.
One user on X described the 51-year-old's intro as “diatribe stories that literally no one cares about".
Coren Mitchell is well known for her tongue-in-cheek bookends to the popular quiz programme.
This week, she made light of using AI to help write her script, adding that her intro was the result of typing “Only Connect funny letter” as a prompt.
The result was a message from “the Matrix” which warned: “The AI generator you’ve been innocently using has achieved sentience and has enslaved humanity, using us to battery power its army of automated terminators.
“What you’re experiencing is an illusion. A computer-generated opiate to subjugate the masses.”
Only Connect is a popular BBC Two quiz show
BBC
Reading from her bright pink phone, the host continued: “This isn’t a quiz but a mirage. The contestants pixelated constructs. Help us, please help us. If only you hadn’t tried to use AI to write your intros.”
With her signature droll delivery, Coren Mitchell concluded the letter was a “bit dramatic” before introducing the competing teams as “pixelated constructs”.
Coren Mitchell’s closing words were much briefer, calling the infamously tricky quiz show “the third hardest thing on TV behind Conor McGregor and Paddington Bear’s stare.”
However, fans were unimpressed with the monologue and the chunk it took out of the show's runtime, with some taking to X to voice their opinions.
Only Connect is known for its cryptic questions
BBC
One user wrote: “I love you, VCM, but for the love of all that’s good, stop these bl**dy awful intros.”
Another complained: “I do wish she would just throw the opening monologue in the bin. Does she write it herself and think it is witty? Or is it forced on her? Either way, it is a cringeworthy beginning to an otherwise excellent programme.”
Imploring the host, a third viewer asked: “Dear Victoria. Please skip the terrible intro and give us more missing vowels. Signed, Everyone.”
A fourth fan even suggested Coren Mitchell was deliberately trying to annoy viewers: “At this point, they must be trolling the audience.”
This isn’t the first time Coren Mitchell has come under fire for her lengthy monologues.
Earlier this month, fans also took to X to complain about the indulgent introductions and conclusions.
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Victoria Coren Mitchell is reportedly a fan of Michael Portillo
PA
In a previous outro, she delivered a long-winded and elaborate set-up to a joke about her supposed fondness for fellow presenter Michael Portillo.
The remarks divided viewers, with some enjoying the cheeky reference but others despairing about the time it took to reach the punchline.
