Mastermind’s Clive Myrie forced to step in as anxious contestant fights back tears

CLIVE Myrie was forced to step in on the latest episode of Mastermind after the quizzing contest took an unexpected turn.

The BBC Two quiz favourite returned with four more hopefuls battling it out in a bid to win the show.

However host Clive had to step in as one contestant was left noticeably rattled during her appearance on the high-intensity show.

Hillary Burton was a copy editor who had chosen the Peter Wimsey stories by Dorothy L. Sayers as her specialist subject.

It was clear that the quizzing contestant was incredibly nervous from the outset as she stumbled her way through answering Clive’s opening questions about who she was and what her subject was.

The hopeful looked extremely uncomfortable as she took quick and short breaths and fiddled with her hands in an agitated manner.

Clive began to ask her the questions as she continued to look fearful with a panic behind her eyes as her shoulders continually shook and shuddered from the pressure of sitting in the infamous black chair.

Despite the obvious nerves, Hillary put in an impressive performance as she had no passes and breezed her way through the first set of questions to find herself with a total of 11 points after the first round.

As it came to a close, Hillary appeared more nervous than ever as she spoke in a breathy tone and continued to fidget and move unnervingly.

As she returned to her seat, a camera close-up showed Hillary’s face begin to crumble as she became overwhelmed as her eyes filled with tears and her chin began to tremble.

As she took her seat, Clive said: “Hillary can I just check are you ok?”

A more composed Hillary flashed a hint of a smile as she nodded her head and simply whispered: “Yeah.”

Fans on Twitter shared their sympathy for Hillary and her anxiety and also praised host Clive for checking in on the visibly uncomfortable contestant.

One fan declared: “Never seen this before! Kudos to @CliveMyrieBBC to check she was OK.”

Another wrote: “Fair play to Hilary, man. She felt the fear and did it anyway. Practically havin a panic attack but just like that “NOT TODAY SATAN” and bossin through questions. Legend.”

A third shared: “Awww lovely Clive checking Hilary is ok.”

While a fourth penned: “Hilary did great! Massive kudos to someone who would know they’ll be very anxious to go for it anyway and push their comfort zone. Great score too, bravo!”

As a fifth added: “Go Hilary! Anxiety is the worst and my gosh that black chair brings pressure. She smashed it!”

Appearing much more relaxed as she approached her second round, Hillary had a smile on her face as managed to take her total up to 27 with another stellar round.

She finished the show in second place with her 27 slightly falling short of the winning score of 31.

Mastermind airs on BBC Two at 7:30pm on Tuesdays.