The April Fool's joke in this episode of a spoof edition of
Mastermind (1972) met with a mixed response in the press.
Hilary Kingsley wrote in the Daily Mirror (4th April 1987): "MAGNUS MAGNUSSON was the prize April fool, I reckon. His Sunday Mastermind was terrifically exciting [...] Then he spoiled things by lugging a not very witty spoof edition on to the Wogan Show. If anyone had been fooled, which I doubt, an announcer told us soon afterwards it was a joke. Ho, Ho - l don't think."
Far more impressed was Patrick Murray, who wrote in Dublin's Evening Herald (4th April 1987): "THERE hasn't been a decent television April Fools gag since Richard Dimbleby described the spaghetti harvest In Italy. But Wogan came close this week. The "Mastermind" shown on Wednesday was brilliant. Many were caught out by the questions and answers particularly those of a scientific nature. But if you listened closely you would have noticed that even the scientific ones were utter jibberish. The best question was the one which asked "Who wrote Gene Rodenberry and Shatner?" The answer was, of course, de Forrest Kelley. Kelley and Shatner are of course stars from "Star Trek" which was created by Gene Rodenberry. Nice one Tel."