Masterchef Contestant Was Cut After Urging BBC To Ditch Series

A contestant from the forthcoming series of MasterChef has been edited out of the programme after telling its producers she did not want the show to be broadcast.

- Michael Savage

Sarah Shafi said she had made it clear that airing the show would send the wrong message about the treatment of women after complaints were upheld against its presenters, Gregg Wallace and John Torode.

Both presenters feature almost throughout the forthcoming series, which was filmed at the end of last year. Both have since been dropped from the programme. In an interview with the Guardian, Shafi said she had initially rejected an offer by MasterChef's producers, Banijay, to edit her out of her episode.

The 57-year-old, from Leeds, agreed to be removed once the BBC announced that it had decided to broadcast the series starting next Wednesday.

"I didn't say edit me out," she said. "I said: 'Axe the show, don't air the show. I'm asking you not to air the show.' Prominent figures have been abusing their power. What message does that send out to women?"

Shafi added: "For me, it's about the enabling environment. It's that complicity. Those individual powerful men do not [act] in isolation. There is an enabling environment, turning a blind eye... It's about years of these institutions not being accountable."