The BBC has been embroiled in a Celebrity Mastermind cheating scandal after one loose-lipped contestant revealed bosses hand out hints before the show.
TV and radio personality Richie Anderson leaked the secret while making excuses for a huge blunder he made on Monday night's show.
Anderson was left mortified after getting wrong a basic question about Mel B, who he picked as his specialist subject.
He was appearing on the celebrity version of the notoriously tough show, hosted by Clive Myrie, alongside JLS star JB Gill, comedian Susie McCabe, and adventurer Lucy Shepherd.
But Anderson was left covering his face with his hands after giving the wrong answer to Myrie when he asked for Mel B's nickname as a member of the Spice Girls.
He blurted out 'Abrupt Spice' instead of the correct answer Scary Spice - part of the reason some viewers branded the episode the 'worst 30 minutes in TV history'.
Anderson was so embarrassed by the gaffe that he felt compelled to explain himself to listeners when he was back on the radio - but let slip how show question-setters coach celebrity contestants before filming.
Confronted with his error on BBC Radio 2's Trevor Nelson show, the traffic reporter protested: 'There is a reason why I gave that answer.'
He went on: 'When you go on Mastermind you have a chat with the question team, they're the people who write the questions.
'They send you all the sources that they're going to get the questions from.'
According to the celebrity, contestants are given resources to cram from in advance that contain the answers to all the questions they will face.
Anderson explained that he initially ignored the material because he knows 'everything there is about Mel B', but at the last minute glanced at one that referenced an alternative nickname for Mel B: 'Abrupt Spice'.
He said: 'When I flew out to film it, because it's in Belfast, there was a four-hour delay on my flight.
'So I needed to pass the time, so I clicked on one of the links. It’s an old BBC interview that she did with Mark Savage.
'In the interview, she says that the band in 1997 used to talk about alt nicknames and she said hers would be Abrupt Spice.'
In a video posted later to Instagram, Anderson added: 'Right, I'm finally going to talk out about Abrupt Spice gate. So first and foremost, I know it's Scary Spice, the woman is my absolute idol.'
Anderson was devastated by his blunder on the show and posted a video to Instagram explaining himself again
He said in the video: 'I know it's Scary Spice, the woman is my absolute idol'
He repeated his explanation of having read of the alternative nicknames for the band in a BBC article - though not the behind-the-curtain secrets.
According to the BBC's A-Z, Emma Bunton, aka Baby Spice, wanted to be known as Gets-Away-With-Murder Spice while Posh Spice, or Victoria Beckham, suggested Posh-half-the-time Spice.
This was not the first time that Celebrity Mastermind has been embroiled in controversy over staff allegedly providing help to contestants.
In 2008, journalist Victoria Derbyshire got into hot water after suggesting staff on the programme had offered her a 'crib sheet' to prepare after she was asked to appear on the show with just ten days' notice.
She said on her radio show: 'I don't know if I should reveal this because it will probably bar me from ever being asked again but it was such short notice when they asked me and they said: 'What would your specialist area be?', and it would probably have been the novels of Thomas Hardy.
'And they said: "Well, don't worry about re-reading everything because we can give you a crib sheet so you would just, you know..."
'They would provide you... I'm probably revealing far too much here.'
After the programme, Derbyshire said: 'What I meant was the Celebrity Mastermind team offered research guidance on my specialist subject area.
This is what I meant by a crib sheet and not answers to specific questions.'
The flagship BBC programme was first aired in 1972, with the celebrity edition hitting screens in 2002.
The BBC has been approached for comment.