If you thought the BBC’s optics couldn’t get any worse, think again, for they have hit a crushing new low. Last week, the broadcaster, alongside production company Banijay, took the controversial decision to go ahead and air the latest series of MasterChef – despite its host, Gregg Wallace, having just been fired from the BBC. His sacking came after an independent report substantiated 45 allegations against him, including claims of inappropriate sexual language and one incident of unwelcome physical contact. Today, it emerged that a female contestant had opposed the decision to broadcast the show, saying it would send the wrong message about the treatment of women. The solution? Make her disappear. Aspiring chef Sarah Shafi, who at 57 might be what Wallace would have dismissively dubbed “a woman of a certain age”, has been edited out of the series.
This grim development is the latest in a long line of abysmal decisions from the BBC, which seems to have become its own worst enemy of late. Recent months have seen disaster after disaster befall the corporation, in scenes that would seem too absurd and implausible even for the satirical farce W1A.
