BBC Only Connect contestant proud to be ‘fat and loud’ after cruel jibes-Sabrina Barr-Entertainment – Metro

The contestant has received a wave of support (Picture: BBC/Remarkable Entertainment/Rory Lindsay)

An Only Connect contestant has fired back after being targeted with cruel jibes online, expressing her pride in being a ‘loud, fat, confident woman’.

On Monday evening, the BBC quiz series hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell returned for a new season, where a team called the Al Frescans after their love for the outdoors went up against the Midlanders in the opening heat.

Danielle Cope was introduced as the captain of the Al Frescans, described as being a ‘a health and wellbeing practitioner who performed at a music festival on a moving steam train’.

When asked by the host why they decided to take part, Danielle answered on her team’s behalf, stating: ‘We’ve been watching Only Connect together for years and always saying, “Oh we should do that, we should have a go.” And then we applied and couldn’t believe we got on, so absolutely thrilled to be here.’

In the end the Al Frescans beat the Midlanders with 28 points to their opponents’ 18 to proceed to the next stage of the competition.

Following the release of the episode, Danielle revealed on X that she’d been browsing through tweets about the programme, and ‘was kinda shocked to see that most of them are about me’.

‘But then again I am a loud, fat, confident woman. Maybe I should be proud that I have annoyed so many people! I cringed at 99% of the things I said too. 😅,’ she added.

In follow-up tweets, she continued: ‘Also funny that so many people take saying it ‘hornèd viper’ as pretension rather than silliness.’

The quizzer then concluded: ‘Anyway, glad to have made an impression and helped the series get off with a bang. Can’t wait to just watch it like normal next week.’

Browsing through the Only Connect-related tweets, one viewer called Nick said that they found Danielle ‘annoying to begin with’, before adding: ‘But credit where it’s due – she is some player.’

Only Connect host Victoria Coren Mitchell chimed in to show her support for Danielle (Picture: BBC/Remarkable Entertainment/Rory Lindsay)

Steve wrote that Danielle was ‘trying to be too smart’ – a bizarre claim to make about someone on a quiz show – while an X user going by the handle @Eegrayne rudely said that she was ‘full of her own self importance’.

Fortunately, Danielle appears to be brushing off the insulting remarks, like water off a duck’s back. Onwards and upwards towards the next stage of the competition for the Al Frescans!

Host Victoria chimed in to show her support, tweeting: ‘Ssh now get away with you, you gorgeous creature. Social media isn’t real, it’s just a place people go to shout things. You’re clever and fun and the viewers love you ❤️.’

Danielle then replied: ‘Thanks so much Victoria, you’re totally right! I’m not letting it get to me ❤️.’

Other people also shared their support for her, including Kirsty who wrote: ‘Big up the loud confident women!!’

Jill added: ‘Danielle, genuinely I mean this – I thought you were terrific. There’s a reason the series opened with you. It’s because your character really shone through the screen. It shouldn’t matter what women look like but you looked terrific! And you’re super clever! You’re my favourite.’

Nathan also shared: ‘You did awesome, takes a lot of courage to go on a gameshow, I was too scared of online hate to go through with more applications.’

Only Connect returns on Monday at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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