Not everyone likes Paxman's style but I do. Frankly, if you can't withstand 20 minutes of his sort of questioning from TV's toughest interviewer then you have to wonder if you're up for the 'top job'.
The former Newsnight man showed us what we had been missing by tearing straight into the Prime Minister - knocking the normally Teflon Cameron right off his stride. It was the most uncomfortable I'd seen the PM for some time and he must have been thinking 'why didn't I just do a head-to-head with Ed?'.
He recovered a little from a shaky start but was clearly rattled throughout.
Then came the Q&A with the crowd. It's a little harsh to expect the same level of electrifying grilling from the audience that Paxman had just managed and it'd be arrogant to suggest voters shouldn't get their chance to ask whatever they want. Still, this section flagged, Cameron was calm and collected and breezed through a largely forgettable 20 minutes. For me it showed the benefit of having a trained journalist at the top of his game - and also that the PM is a smooth operator who is relaxed when dealing with the public.
Still, to be fair, the audience found its feet with Ed Miliband. The Labour leader faced a trickier test - as well as more interruptions from Kay Burley - making it a far tougher Q&A. It probably helped Miliband prepare for what was to come but he was less accomplished with the audience than Cameron. He stumbled a little when faced with a question on his brother - but recovered and took the knocks relatively well.
There were, predictably, more knocks to come when he sat across the ridiculously over-large table from Paxman. The seasoned broadcaster gave Miliband a lesson early on - exposing the well-worn tactic of the media trained politician that is 'posing and answering your own questions'. Jeremy was having none of it and Ed found it hard going.
He admitted mistakes from the previous Labour Government, floundered a little on immigration and then, surprisingly, recovered when the spotlight fell on his personality. It's odd that this is seen as his weakness yet it's where he did better - batting off criticism relatively well, even taking Paxman on. I do think people might start to feel sorry about him having to face too many more questions about his family too.
In some respects Miliband was the winner. He was expected to be savaged by Paxman yet actually did better with him than with the crowd. Cameron was expected to do better yet was clearly thrown out of his comfort zone at the start. There were low expectations of Ed so it's perhaps unsurprising that he topped them while Cameron struggled to live up to his billing at the start but still came on on top in the first snap poll, probably after his comfortable Q&A.
It'll be interested to see how Miliband copes with the aftermath. Yes, he landed two lines that will be remembered - namely 'you're not that important Jeremy' when refusing to discuss an SNP deal and 'am I tough enough? Hell yes'. The latter made me wince but might well get some attention - especially on social media. He was a little more proactive than Cameron in the audience session - I guess he has to be as the challenger - but looked less relaxed and more unnatural as a result.
But what about the policies? There was little detail from either side but there are some papers that might want to make a lot about Miliband's words on immigration and the fact he labelled an EU referendum 'unlikely'. He's likely to face some scrutiny on those two issues.
The race is well and truly on and I still can't help but thinking Cameron made the biggest mistake for agreeing to this show in the first place. His saving grace was that his worst moments were at the very start - but he'll be less pleased that Ed's better moments were at the end.
After Clegg in 2010, it's maybe a poisoned chalice to win these early exchanges anyway. Brace yourself, there's plenty more of this to come.
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