GAME of Thrones fans were up in arms over that disastrous ice melting stunt pulled by HBO to announce the date for the new season, calling it "the biggest troll job in the world" - and it seems even the show's creators agree.

Earlier this month, the network broadcasted a Facebook Live stream, which involved viewers watching a block of ice melt in order for the date to reveal itself.

At one point, the stream had more than 130,000 people watching and reached two million views after being online for just over an hour.

Now, one of Thrones' lead actors, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) says that the people behind the show were just as horrified by the cringe-worthy stunt as we were.

"I spoke to [showrunners] Dan [Weiss] and David [Benioff] about that and they were like, 'Oh god … That's embarrassing'," Coster-Waldau told The Daily Beast.

"It's like, just walk away … just walk away. It's just a date! You know, I was actually thinking, 'Is there going to be a backlash and people will think, 'F**k you guys for that!'"

The internet certainly wasn't happy about it, although it's highly unlikely that will translate into any lost viewers when the much-hyped new season finally hits screens on July 16.