Aimee Walker
Countdown bosses have apologised for reportedly airing an offensive gay slur.
The episode aired on August 16 and showed a contestant answer the challenge with the word ‘p******’.
Channel 4, who produces the game show, has now issued an apology.
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It read: “The airing of the word was an error of judgment. It does not align with our values and we apologise for any offence caused.”
The contestant has apologised for saying the offensive term and claimed that he was under the impression they would use a ‘reshot’ of the scene.
He explained: “I apologise for my part in this. I thought it might be edited differently.
“At the time I said ‘I have an inappropriate 7 that I know is in the dictionary or a riskier 7 that I’m less sure about’.
“I thought that bit would be reshot with a non-offensive 7 letter word.”
Despite the show’s apology over the ‘error of judgment’ people have taken to social media and blasted producers of the teatime programme.
Richard Osman, who is the host of the game show Pointless, said the scene should have been cut.
“The contestant was embarrassed to be saying it, but in that situation, the easy solution is to all agree he scored 7 points and to retake with a different answer,” he said.
He added that it was an ‘easy’ situation to fix.
Journalist Scott Byran was also hurt by the word being aired.
He penned: “As someone who was called a ‘p******’ by homophobes on a daily basis why on earth is Countdown allowing it to be said cheerfully as an answer on daytime television?
“Yes, I know it is in the dictionary.
“But having been at the receiving end of that word as abuse for years (along with f*****), then hearing it casually as an answer on a quiz show.”
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