Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman has come under fire for his recent performance on the BBC's flagship current affairs show.
Last week when an EU Commission spokesman stormed off after being branded "that idiot in Brussels" by Peter Oborne all eyes turned to host Paxman.
Having built a reputation as a hard-nosed, no nonsense operator, some commentators thought it strange that he didn't stop guest Oborne's relentless jabs at Euro representative Amadeu Altafaj Tardio.
Now some are asking why Paxman didn’t step in before the knock-out blow was delivered.
"For a few minutes the BBC's flagship political programme seemed as though it had been taken over by the shock-jock values of Fox News," wrote Andrew Anthony in The Observer at the weekend.
"Yet what was most striking was the presenter's almost comical indifference to Tardio's plight, as if he were some kind of joke figure, Fawlty Towers's Manuel recast as a hapless Eurocrat," he added.
Newsnight has suffered stiff competition from rolling news and the Internet. New talent has been tested on the late night show to make it more appealing and also to deal with the prospect of Paxman moving on.
As Andrew Anthony concluded in his Observer piece: "Without a fresh challenge there is a danger that Paxman will become bored."
So if Paxman did decide enough was enough – who would replace him? Bookmakers William Hill have now started to offer odds on possible new lead hosts to succeed him.
SEE ALL THE CONTENDERS IN OUR SLIDESHOW