Only Connect contestant responds after viewers call episode the “worst ever”

An Only Connect contestant has responded with humour after viewers reacted strongly to an episode that saw both teams struggle for points.

The BBC quiz returned on Monday, August 10, with Double Features facing Colonial Geese in a first-round match. By the end of the contest, Colonial Geese had won 16-14, but the low-scoring game quickly became the subject of jokes online.

Viewers react to low-scoring Only Connect episode

Hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell, Only Connect has been testing contestants’ ability to spot links between seemingly unrelated clues since it launched on BBC Four in 2008. The programme later moved to BBC Two and has become known for its particularly demanding questions and distinctive format.

The show’s title comes from a passage in E. M. Forster’s 1910 novel Howards End: “Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted.”

Each match is divided into four rounds, with teams attempting to identify connections between clues. The team with the highest score at the end wins. If the scores are level, the captains face a sudden-death puzzle, with the first correct answer deciding the match.

The August 10 episode, however, produced a much lower score than viewers are accustomed to seeing.

Colonial Geese finished with 16 points, while Double Features ended on 14. The narrow two-point margin was enough for Colonial Geese to progress, but the overall score prompted a wave of comments from viewers who were surprised by how much both teams struggled. The match has also been described as a game that was ultimately decided in the Missing Vowels round.

One viewer joked:

“Think these contestants on #onlyconnect tonight meant to apply for Tipping Point.”

Another suggested the episode initially looked so unusual that it could have been part of a prank by television presenters Ant and Dec:

“I honestly think that this episode is one of the pranks pulled by Ant and Dec to scupper certain hosts and fully expect them to appear shortly lol #onlyconnect.”

Another viewer simply summed up their reaction by calling it:

“This is the worst episode of #onlyconnect ever”.

The reaction was particularly striking because Only Connect is generally built around difficult questions, with contestants expected to use logic, lateral thinking and general knowledge to work out connections that are far from obvious. The August 10 episode was the fifth episode of series 22 and featured three Rocky Horror fans in Double Features against the New Zealand team Colonial Geese.

Katie Rae Taylor sees the funny side

One of the contestants caught up in the social media reaction was Katie Rae Taylor, who competed for Double Features alongside Daisy Jeavons and captain Mia Lewis.

Rather than taking the criticism personally, Taylor responded in a light-hearted TikTok post on her account, @wonkytescostrolley.

She shared a gallery of photographs from her time filming the BBC quiz, alongside some of the comments viewers had posted about the episode.

Taylor also appeared to poke fun at the contrast between the excitement of appearing on the programme and the reaction that followed its broadcast.

Alongside a photograph of herself with Daisy Jeavons and Mia Lewis, she wrote:

“Took a bit too far and ended up on the ‘worst episode ever’ of a show but at least we had a hoot!!!!”

She continued the tongue-in-cheek response by posting another photograph with the caption:

“Smile so full of light and joy… little did she know…”

A further image was accompanied by:

“just happy to be here”

Taylor eventually finished the post by sharing the comment from @fletcherchriss that had described the instalment as:

“This is the worst episode of #onlyconnect ever”.

A tough night for both teams

The episode was part of Only Connect‘s 22nd series, which began on July 13, 2026. The Double Features and Colonial Geese match aired on August 10 as the fifth episode of the series.

Despite the criticism from some viewers, the low score did not prevent the contestants from completing the match or Colonial Geese from securing the win.

For Taylor, the social media reaction instead became another memorable part of her Only Connect experience. Her decision to share the comments alongside behind-the-scenes photographs showed that she was willing to laugh along with viewers at an episode that had clearly not gone the way either team might have hoped.

And while some viewers may have regarded the 16-14 result as an unusually low-scoring Only Connect contest, Taylor’s response suggested that the contestants themselves could still look back on the experience with plenty of humour.