This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

Stuart Bingham won the Masters 10-8 but one of the biggest days in the snooker calendar was briefly disrupted by an electronic “whoopee cushion” in the crowd.

“Play momentarily stopped at Alexandra Palace. Looks like someone has planted a whoopee cushion inside the arena and it keeps going off making a ‘poooooop’ sound. Crowd laugh, Bingham not happy,” tweeted BBC journalist Shamoon Hafez.

BBC Sport (@BBCSport) Not sure we've seen any sport stopped for this reason before! 😶



🔊 Erm... you're going to want your sound on for this one 💨 pic.twitter.com/gDURA7DIs5

The match between Ali Carter and Bingham was briefly halted early in the fifth frame, with referee Brendan Moore asking somebody in the crowd to “stop that now, please”.

Moore and Bingham sought out the perpetrator, who was quickly removed from the venue – but not before a number of fart noises had caused much mirth inside Alexandra Palace.

‘He got me!’ Wasp stings Masters snooker referee at Alexandra Palace Read more

“I think it could be someone with a whoopee cushion,” Dennis Taylor said on the BBC’s commentary. “Not very funny at all.”

Bingham did not see the funny side either, with Moore saying that the noises were the “same thing as the other day”. A YouTube prank site has claimed responsibility for planting a “fart box” in the Alexandra Palace crowd earlier this week.

The 2015 world champion didn’t let the incident put him off his stride and, after trailing 7-5, he won four frames in a row and sealed victory with his first century of the tournament.