Pointless Celebrities contestant Bobby Mair stunned host Alexander Armstrong during Saturday, June 21’s show by getting a question horrendously wrong despite it being tailor-made for him.

Playing alongside his wife (at the time) Harriet Kemsley, whom fans will recognise from Prime Video’s comedy series LOL: Last One Laughing UK, the Canadian standup was seemingly gifted a subject from the Gods by Armstrong and Richard Osman.

He needed to score low on ‘US states and US state capitals that do not contain the letter ‘L” to send the pair through to the next round. Instead, he answered Omaha, leaving the presenter “flabbergasted”.

What, how and why?

Pointless Celebrities contestants Harriet Kemsley and Bobby Mair. (BBC/Remarkable Television/Olivia Robertson)

When the round’s topic was unveiled, Osman highlighted: “Good round for a North American, isn’t it!” as his regular co-star agreed.

ADVERTISEMENT

Comically wide-eyed, Mair – the third cousin of Justin Bieber, no less – suggested he was “very con…fident” ahead of his turn. Kemsley went first, answering Texas and scoring a mid-table 53, but surely her partner’s natural connection would save them?

Read more:

“Because of the position Harriet has put me in I’m very nervous,” Mair then told Armstrong, who informed the player that there would be a number of Pointless answers up for grabs – easily for him with his “North American insider knowledge”.

Mair opted to go for Omaha in the end, believing it to be the state capital of Nebraska.

Armstrong couldn’t believe his ears. (BBC screenshot)

Omaha might be Nebraska’s most populous city, but its capital is Lincoln, and so the Pointless scoreboard emitted its devastating red ‘X’.

ADVERTISEMENT

Kemsley saw the ironic side, bursting into laughter, while Mair stood there in awkward silence.

“If you’d just said Nebraska you’d have scored three points,” revealed Osman, referring to the fact they were now both out of the game.

Full of sympathy, Armstrong added: “I don’t know what to say, I couldn’t breathe. I’m flabbergasted. It’s been lovely having you. I’m sorry it came to a terrible end on Omaha.”

Kemsley and Mair’s relationship

Mair and Kemsley pictured attending the ITV Palooza in November 2021. (Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images)

The two comedy stars married each other in 2017, while the ceremony’s build-up was documented on the Viceland programme Bobby and Harriet Get Married. Mabel, their daughter, was born four years later.

However, it was announced in one of Kemsley’s broadcast standup sets – as part of the last episode of The Now Show – that they’d divorced in the first quarter of 2024 and she was then looking for love via the dating app Hinge.

ADVERTISEMENT

Writing a piece for Vogue in August last year, she candidly shared: “After six years of marriage, the birth of our daughter, the acquisition of a poorly trained hypoallergenic dog, and the making of a TV show, Bobby & Harriet Get Married, about said union, I realised last year that I had to file for divorce.

“I never thought that I would be divorced, but it’s become apparent I never really thought about the act of being married. I got married in 2017, and I believed that was it – if you love someone you make it work. But now, I believe love isn’t enough and it really is worth having a little think about whether you’re going to be compatible long-term. If, after that little think, you don’t believe you’re going to be – RUN.”

Pointless Celebrities airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.