University Challenge came under fire last night after both teams put forward all-male line-ups without any ethnic minority contestants.

Birmingham University and Balliol College, Oxford, each featured four white men on their teams, prompting viewers to speak out against the lack of diversity.

Dozens took to Twitter to blast the BBC2 quiz show, with one saying: 'Nine white blokes sitting in a row! Diversity and gender balance nowhere to be seen! Awful.'

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Something missing? Two white, all-male teams competed on University Challenge last night

Criticism: Host Jeremy Paxman, pictured, has previously commented on the lack of women

Blasted: Frustrated viewers took to Twitter to criticize the lack of women contestants

Another wrote: 'Not a fan of tokenism, but where have all the women gone on #UniversityChallenge? Have they been banned?'

A number of academics also spoke out against the show.

Professor Lesley Dobree, Deputy Vice Chancellor at Anglia Ruskin University, wrote: 'Poor show that no women on University Challenge tonight... doesn't reflect well on either university or BBC2 #UniversityChallenge #bbc2.'

Professor Cara Aitchison, President and Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Geography & Cultural Economy, Cardiff Metropolitan University, tweeted: 'Zero points for gender equality (again).

'Hard to believe there are actually more women than men in British universities #UniversityChallenge.'

It is not the first time University Challenge has faced criticism over diversity.

Backlash: Viewers questioned why there were no women on either of the teams last night

In 2015 the semi finalists were all men, prompting Jeremy Paxman himself to question why there were no female faces on the teams during the later stages of the competition.

Commentators have previously suggested that women are reluctant to go on the show because they fear social media backlash and commentary on their looks.

A BBC spokesman said: 'The make-up of each team is determined by the universities themselves and whilst we do encourage them to reflect the diversity of their student population ultimately each university has their own team selection process.'