On Friday, France kicked off the 2024 Summer Olympic Games with their highly-anticipated opening ceremony in Paris.
With athletes from each nation sailing down the River Seine, with nearby rooftops, river banks, and bridges adorned with excitable performers - it had all the potential to be one of the most memorable opening ceremonies in Olympics history.
And it certainly was... but for all the wrong reasons.
With outlets like the BBC remaining neutral and describing the event as "unique" and "ambitious", the overall consensus online was much harsher.
Sadly, the opening ceremony in France's capital city was marred by blunders and bizarre choices that left the rest of the world feeling as cold and damp as the athletes left in the pouring rain.
We had the Olympic flag raised upside down:
Lady Gaga's fans were left greatly disappointed after her performance was hit by a major sound issues":
And then there was this blue little fella... and his blue little fellas.
Yes, non-French viewers were left absolutely baffled when a semi-naked blue man appeared on screen while lying on top of a huge fruit platter.
Some people online branded him "Papa Smurf", others compared him to an "Avatar" - but others simply called him "Blue Scrotum"... for obvious reasons.
Who was 'Blue Scrotum' and what did it all mean?
Underneath all the blue paint was French actor and singer Phillippe Katerine, 55. And although many people failed to recognize his costume, Katerine was actually dressed as Dionysus.
On GreekGodandGodesses.net, Dionysus is described as "the ancient Greek god of wine, winemaking, grape cultivation, fertility, ritual madness, theater, and religious ecstasy."
The son of Zeus, it is believed that Dionysus was worshipped as early as 1500-11000 BCE by Mycenean Greeks, with later depictions of the god portraying him as a naked or semi-naked androgynous figure, who has been described in literature as being "man-womanish".
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Katerine shot to fame in France in the early 2000s with his Euro-pop hits. During last night's Opening Ceremony, he - quite fittingly - sang 'Nu", which translated to "naked".
It wasn't long before X users shared their scathing thoughts, with one person writing: "This... this #PapaSmurf guy... WHAT was this about? Apparently, this is a thing... #BlueScrotum."
"I am not a Christian. I'm a Norse pagan. But even I am appalled by this display. The blatant disrespect is atrocious. Also that blue guy has no business showing his scrotum to the world," tweeted another.
"Who had seeing a blue scrotum on their Olympic opening ceremony bingo card," wrote another. "For teenagers of the 90s this is like Eurotrash the movie. Incroyable."
Amid the confusion, many of Katerine's biggest fans took to X to shower the singer with praise, with one person writing (translated): "1 billion human beings who discover Philippe Katerine in this way, that’s my France".
A second French natice echoed these sentiments, writing: "I'm thinking of the billion viewers outside France who have just discovered Philippe Katerine painted in blue and in underpants this evening."
Despite many of Katerine's fans loving his performance at the show, sadly, the rest of the world continued to share their scathing responses, as many viewers branded the ceremony the worst in Olympics history.
"I’m actually embarrassed on the behalf of France, this is going down as the worst opening ceremony in history," one person said.
"This has to be the worst, most pathetic, cringe worthy and embarrassing attempt at an opening ceremony I could ever imagine," another added.
Nevertheless, the focus of the Olympics should be on the sports and competition! This is where the real magic of the games comes alive.
And with 6,800 athletes from 205 delegations ready to complete over the next two weeks, it's safe to say that memories are going to be made.
...Blimey, that's just reminded me - we've still got the closing ceremony to come on August 11.
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