...and no one even checked if she was joking about not believing in evolution

Victoria Coren Mitchell has said she is ‘touched and grateful’ that the BBC threw out a complaint over her joking that she did not believe in evolution.

And she also reveals that the broadcaster’s editorial complaints unit did not even check with her whether the throwaway line was meant sincerely or not.

Yesterday, Chortle revealed that the corporation rejected a complaint from a viewer that she ‘inappropriately expressed a personal view’ – after apparently getting the wrong end of the stick.

And now she tells us: ‘People are so quick to complain about absolutely anything these days, I am touched and grateful that the BBC complaints unit chucked this one out without even coming to me with it. 

‘They correctly surmise that in the context of a show like Only Connect, which has very intelligent viewers and frighteningly brilliant contestants, I thought the audience would be amused if I took it back to first principles and challenged the concept of evolution. 

‘However, we do not have a live studio audience so I never really know when people are amused and when they’re not - another thing for which I’m profoundly grateful.’

Her comment was broadcast in August, after a team had deduced a mystery sequence was the evolutionary stages of humans, but with their Latin names translated into English – handy man, upright man, man of Heidelberg and thinking man, homo sapiens.

Coren Mitchell then told the teams: ‘There's reasonable consensus but there are some differences of opinion about about evolution. I myself don't believe in it at all, I don't mind telling you. Those who do mostly say this is the sequence.’ 

Investigating the complaint, the broadcaster’s editorial complaints unit (ECU) said that Coren Mitchell would be allowed to express an opinion on controversial matters as she is not a  journalist nor a  news presenter.  

And they added: ‘It was at least debatable whether the theory of evolution should be regarded as a controversial matter in the sense intended by the guidelines.’

They concluded ‘In any event, it seemed to the ECU that viewers would have taken the presenter’s remark as typical of her sardonic and humorously-intended asides rather than as a serious expression of opinion.’

Some viewers picked up on the comment at the time, with one directly asking Coren Mitchell on Twitter: ‘Do you really not believe in evolution?’ 

Another said: ‘I was really surprised she’d make this inflammatory statement, especially on such a high brow programme, I can only hope that it was a joke, I’m surprised the press haven’t picked up on it.’

To which Coren Mitchell replied: ‘If the press picked up on everything in Only Connect that viewers hoped was a joke, they’d never print anything else.’

Published: 11 Nov 2023