What did you miss?
ITV1’s rebooted darts-themed gameshow Bullseye aired its Christmas special on Sunday, 22 December, but viewers were left annoyed by the constant clapping within the sound mix.
Fronted by Freddie Flintoff in his major return to primetime TV – the ex-cricketer suffered severe injuries whilst shooting a driving sequence for Top Gear back in 2022 and needed to take a lengthy period of time off work – the festive episode saw three teams of two throwing arrows at the board and answering questions to build up their prize pot.
It was all fun and games in the studio, hampered by unnecessary mechanical audience clapping at any given interval.
What, how and why?
Over on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), one verdict read: “@ITV The new #Bullseye show, really looked forward to this, however, please please please if you do another can you stop the compulsory clapping by the audience. So annoying!”
“I get there would be an applause for answering a question right, but why are the audience clapping them for selecting the category before the dart is thrown at the board?” asked another fan, before a third went on to quip: “Needs more clapping…”
Read more:
Fan complaints over the audio didn’t end there, either…
Clapping every five seconds must be exhausting #Bullseye
— ❤🦁🇺🇦🇳🇬🇬🇧J🇬🇧🇳🇬🇺🇦🦁❤ (@MissLionHeart) December 22, 2024
Quite liking the reboot of #Bullseye so far.
Only gripe is the clapping every give seconds, cut it out please.
— Conor Wells (@CWells_155074) December 22, 2024
This new bullseye is actually alright but what’s with the over excessive use of everyone clapping every 30 seconds?
It’s really annoying and completely unnecessary.#bullseye
— Andy Mich (@MrAndyMich) December 22, 2024
Watching the new Bullseye there is more annoying clapping than dart throwing .#Bullseye
— 💕✨🌟Sparkles 🌟✨💕 (@amaya_sparkle) December 22, 2024
What else did fans think of Bullseye?
Meanwhile, World No. 4 darts sensation Luke Littler (who is just 17 years old) stopped by the Bullseye studio to help the contestants boost their winnings.
This guest appearance somehow transformed into another bone of contention for those watching at home, with many people thinking the programme overindulged Littler throughout the episode.
“They’re milking Luke Littler in this,” was one comment on X.
A second writer pointed out: “Luke looks embarrassed with this OTT fawning.”
Bullseye airs on ITV1.