Mastermind's host attacks cheat claim

Published on Saturday 3 January 2009 19:21

BBC broadcaster John Humphrys has hit out at fellow presenter Victoria Derbyshire after she claimed she was offered a crib sheet for an appearance on Celebrity Mastermind.

The Mastermind host, below, said Derbyshire's comments were "idiotic and flippant".

The BBC Radio 5 Live presenter has insisted that her comments were misinterpreted and that she had merely been offered research guidance and not specific answers to questions.

She told her show's listeners on December 29 that despite the offer she decided not to appear as she was not confident of getting the answers right.

Derbyshire later issued a statement clarifying her remarks and emphasising she was not offered the answers to her specialist subject, the novels of Thomas Hardy.

But Humphrys labelled Derbyshire's initial comments as disgraceful. He said her comments were offensive to junior producers on the show and that he would resign on the spot if crib sheets containing answers were ever offered to contestants.

He said: "Her comments were idiotic and flippant. She should be ashamed of herself.

"She's an intelligent woman and she should know better. The programme takes its integrity very seriously indeed, and for someone in her position to say such a thing was disgraceful."

A BBC spokesman said: "Celebrity Mastermind does not provide contestants with crib sheets and all contestants work hard in the run-up to the recording."

Derbyshire said: "What I meant was the Celebrity Mastermind team offered research guidance on my specialist subject area.

"This is what I meant by a crib sheet and not answers to specific questions."