John Torode was axed from MasterChef after an investigation upheld a claim he had used a racist term (Image: Getty)

When the BBC axed John Torode from MasterChef they may well have assumed it would draw a line under what has been a very grim and damaging period for the show, which began when his co-presenter Gregg Wallace was accused of inappropriate behaviour. Instead it has only served to highlight the hypocrisy that is rife within the broadcaster’s hallowed halls. Surely they must now call to account every single person who works for them who has ever strayed from the straight and narrow or else it is clear Torode is merely a scapegoat to allow them to shake up their flagship cooking programme. Indeed if he does sue, as it is believed he will, it will only help his case if they don’t address other foibles retrospectively.

The reason he lost his plum role was because he used a racial slur years ago, during drinks outside of work hours. He claims not to remember it and the witness said it wasn’t intended as a slur and he apologised immediately. Compare that to Strictly Come Dancing’s Anton Du Beke who in 2009 used an insensitive slur about people of Pakistani origin towards his celebrity partner Footballer’s Wives star Laila Rouass.

The remark was made off air after she had a spray tan but was overheard by colleagues and caused Rouass to storm out. When it became public knowledge the BBC were inundated with complaints and Du Beke apologised profusely saying he regretted his use of the word. Instead of getting sacked he has subsequently been promoted to a judge on the show. I did contact the BBC to ask if they would also be firing Du Beke in light of their seemingly new attitude to historic racism but they didn’t respond.

While Du Beke didn’t get the chop, just weeks earlier they had fired Carol Thatcher from The One Show for a racist remark about a tennis player. Justifying the double standard at the time a BBC spokesman said: “When it was explained the term was offensive to lots of people she still refused to offer an unconditional apology. Anton understands that it’s offensive and has unconditionally apologised.”

So is the problem that John Torode wasn’t contrite enough? This seems unlikely given the BBC have form when it comes to such double standards.

One of the most famous race rows in TV history happened on Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 4 in 2007. The controversy involved British contestants Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, Jo O’Meara, and Jack Tweed, who made comments perceived as racist towards Indian contestant Shilpa Shetty.

Strictly judge Anton Du Beke was embroiled in a racism row in 2009 (Image: Getty)

The BBC clearly didn’t get the memo that historic racism was bad following that incident as Jo O’Meara has been welcomed back onto their shows numerous times since including their annual charity telethon Children in Need. In 2023 she and bandmate Jon Lee even took over from Fearne Cotton on a sepcial episode of Sound of the 90s on BBC Radio 2. I can therefore only assume their aversion to historic racism is newly discovered since the Torode debacle.

It’s not just racism. They have shown a double standard in other areas too. Back in 2002 Angus Deayton found himself sacked by the BBC from his role as host of Have I Got News For You following reports he had taken cocaine and had sex with prostitutes. The BBC stated that the stories had made him the subject of headlines rather than a commentator on them. His dismissal was depite the fact a poll, on the BBC’s own website, indicated over three-quarters of respondents wanted Deayton to stay on as the programme’s host.

Maybe it was the prostitutes which pushed them over the edge as they seemed to have a far more liberal attitude to drugs when Danny Dyer was on EastEnders. At a charity night in May this year the actor admitted: “I was off my nut for a lot of that job. I was squinting a lot for a couple of years, a lot of Valium and Diazepam.You have 30 pages a day you’ve got to learn. There’s no f***ing about. You organically make the scene work, you rehearse nothing. It f***s your nut up. I ended up in rehab twice.”

The BBC seem to be making it up as they go along when it comes to who they decide to make an example of. They have famously ignored some complaints for decades yet immediately jumped on others, such as the Jermaine Jenas sexting scandal which saw the former footballer fired from The One Show. While I don’t condone the actions at the heart of these issues it is ludicrous that the BBC have an inconsistent pattern when it comes to dealing with them. It reeks of a hypocrisy which shows no sign of letting up anytime soon.