Ah, late December. The time for end-of-year lists and reflecting on the biggest stories of the past 12 months.
It’s also a time for some more light-hearted enjoyments, like voting for the greatest Christmas film of all time.
But sometimes the two can unwittingly combine in the most tragically ironic way.
If someone asked you to name the biggest British news story of the year, it would probably be that 52:48 Brexit vote.
Now, some will say Richard Osman, who set up this year’s World Cup of Christmas Films, should have known better.
Osman is an intelligent man, so much so that he has managed to trick the British public into thinking that laptop he uses on BBC quiz show ‘Pointless’ is switched on all the time (spoiler: it’s not even plugged in).
So he should have known that a vote on a contentious subject – like whether or not Elf is better than The Muppet Christmas Carol – was always at risk of seeing an identical result.
But did he listen? Did he think about how he was in danger of reopening old wounds and splitting the British public down the middle yet again? Of course he didn’t.
WORLD CUP OF CHRISTMAS FILMS 2016
Semi-Final 2 of 2. Winner qualifies for the grand final. Voting starts now! #wcocf
— Richard Osman (@richardosman) December 24, 2016
52 to 48 again, across more than 40,000 votes. What are the odds?
And if that weren’t enough, the meeting of the two Christmas favourites at a critical stage of the World Cup has led to very vocal arguments from both sides.
https://twitter.com/HenryDimbleby/status/812600030687268864
https://twitter.com/HenryDimbleby/status/812603900817719296
https://twitter.com/BentheScrivener/status/812600642166472704
https://twitter.com/darren_bell/status/812687872260182017
Elf is not only the top Christmas film ever… I'd argue that it is up there in the top 10 comedies of all time. Just putting it out there.
— Joshua Zitser (@mrjoshz) December 24, 2016
https://twitter.com/borocrazyfan/status/812615599620816896
Easiest choice ever – one of the best films ever, full stop, against the shite that is Elf #AnythingButElf
— Mike Chapple (@Trumpetmike) December 24, 2016
Oh Richard, what have you done?
