Storming off Robot Wars 'not because we lost to children', says Behemoth captain

A disgruntled Robot Wars contestant who stormed off camera when his team lost a match to a group of children has said his actions were out of frustration over a decision made by his team-mates.

Team Behemoth, a group of four adults, took on Team Cherub, made up of three children and one adult, and had used a new “grabber” innovation on their robot for the showdown, but it did not go to plan.

The match was reset mid-way through as Robot Wars veteran Behemoth pushed Cherub under one of the arena’s floor flippers – an unprecedented occurrence – and there was no clear winner by the end due to neither robot being immobilised or knocked out.

Host Angela Scanlon told the two teams the unanimous decision from the judges was that Cherub was the winner, prompting Behemoth team captain Ant to hand over his controller to his colleague and walk away angrily from the set without congratulating the victors.

James Nesbitt and Ruth Jones lead cast in new Harlan Coben adaptation on Netflix

Who are Marian and Dolours Price? IRA sisters at centre of Disney Plus and Hulu series Say Nothing

Ant said he did not storm off because his team lost to a group of children, aged 12 and 13.He told the Press Association: ”I am incredibly passionate about Robot Wars and it is something I take very seriously.“I want to clarify that in Sunday’s episode I didn’t walk off because I was beaten by children, I walked off because I was very frustrated by the decision we made for Behemoth’s weapon for the battle.

“I respect Cherub as competitors and age is not something I took into account – as such, I would have acted the same way with any other competitor.

“I apologised to the Cherub team and Angela after the cameras stopped rolling for that moment.”

Before the match, Ant had expressed his concern to his Behemoth colleagues about the “experimental” grabber, a tool they had hoped would pick up their rival robot and carry it around the arena.