Emmerdale viewers were far from impressed over a horrifying twist on Thursday night that saw Mack Boyd’s attempt to escape thwarted by an axe-wielding John Sugden

Fans of Emmerdale slammed the show on Thursday night, saying they “hated it” after yet another “cruel twist”.

After two weeks of being held captive by killer John Sugden, Mack Boyd managed to escape the bunker he’d been chained up in. Mack had been shot with an arrow and hit with a rock just weeks earlier leaving fans believing he had died.

But Mack was alive, with John ‘helping him’ while refusing to let him go, knowing he knew all of his dark secrets. So when the latest episode saw Mack desperate to flee, knowing his best friend Aaron Dingle was now also in danger as his husband John began drugging him.

Mack had told John about Aaron’s fling with his ex Robert Sugden AKA the love of his life. Robert also happens to be John’s brother, and wanting to get back some control over Aaron he began drugging him – only for this to leave Aaron collapsing and seemingly having a seizure in the woods.

Mack had only just managed to get out and was halted by John, who spotted his escape on the camera he’d set up. So as John vowed to stop Mack from leaving he was caught off guard by Aaron screaming his name clearly in trouble.

As Mack told him he needed to go and save Aaron, John hit him over the head with a rock to stop him from going anywhere. As John left, Mack managed to flee once more but this was short-lived.

Mack managed to get up, and made his way towards a road. With his ankle broken and him in a bad way, Mack managed to get to the road and let out a smile of relief to be free.

But as he fell to the floor, his hopes of being rescued soon faded. As a vehicle pulled over, Mack’s thoughts were on Aaron and his fears of what John would do to him.

Knowing Aaron needed help and had been drugged, this was the first thing he said when the driver got out of the vehicle. Mack begged for the mystery person to help Aaron, not even thinking about himself.

But in a horrifying twist, following what had already been a tense showdown for Mack and John, the driver was revealed to be John. Events then took an even more horrifying twist, when John moved towards him wielding an axe.

As the episode faded to black it was heavily hinted that John had killed Mack, while nothing has been confirmed. Fans watching the moment called it “cruel” as many slammed the twist, wanting Mack to live and for John to be found out.

Taking to X one fan said: “This is the cruelest thing Emmerdale has ever done I hate this f***ing show.” Another viewer posted: “I can’t believe it looks like Mack is actually getting killed.”

A third fan reacted with: “I’m so annoyed,” as a fourth said: “I was just starting to feel fine and now I’m about to cry again.” A further post said: “He’s going to die isn’t he?”