12 of the funniest, weirdest and downright most brilliant election night moments
Arise, Lord Buckethead
So, election night finally came and went. And it was weirder than we could have imagined. Not only did the country vote for a poll-defying hung parliament, but viewers were treated to hours of oddities that made all those weeks of campaigning worth it.
Firstly, BBC stalwart David Dimbleby was upstaged by a rogue fly live on air.
And over on ITV, viewers noticed MP-turned-political-pundit George Osborne laying out all the sass come the surprising exit poll result…
I cannot stop thinking about how sassy @George_Osborne is tonight pic.twitter.com/2YpKxq8i3q
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) June 9, 2017
While back on the BBC, exit poll analysis from psephology professor John Curtice went a tad Shakespeare.
While waiting for results, John Curtice & David Dimbleby decide to act out 'Romeo & Juliet' in the BBC Studio. #GE2017 pic.twitter.com/X6tlMxqnK9
— Michael Gray (@GrayInGlasgow) June 8, 2017
That’s before the camera shifted to green screen guru Jeremy Vine, who presented results from a virtual House of Commons. Because why the hell not?
Back at the count, Jeremy Corbyn celebrated his night in style, sharing a high-five with Emily Thornberry. Well, we think that was the intention...
But this was nothing compared to the brilliance spotted at Theresa May’s count in Maidenhead…
This line-up included Lord Buckethead, a candidate who garnered support from 249 voters with his pledges to reintroduce Ceefax and transform Birmingham into a star base.
The Prime Minister (at the time of writing) also had to share the vote with a man dressed as Elmo.
While over in Barrow and Westmorland, Tim Farron managed to beat off competition from Mr Fishfinger.
And then Labour’s Clive Lewis gave a, shall we say, enthusiastic reaction to keeping his seat.
Even Dimbleby got overly excited by the results, getting caught saying “bloody hell!” live on air…
But he wasn’t the only BBC presenter to suffer a slip of the tongue…
Re-what? #BBCelection pic.twitter.com/oN8filrvUh
— Sophie Hall (@SophLouiseHall) June 9, 2017
Take a bow election night, you've earned it.
Authors
Thomas is Digital editor at BBC Science Focus. Writing about everything from cosmology to anthropology, he specialises in the latest psychology, health and neuroscience discoveries. Thomas has a Masters degree (distinction) in Magazine Journalism from the University of Sheffield and has written for Men’s Health, Vice and Radio Times. He has been shortlisted as the New Digital Talent of the Year at the national magazine Professional Publishers Association (PPA) awards. Also working in academia, Thomas has lectured on the topic of journalism to undergraduate and postgraduate students at The University of Sheffield.