BBC Suggested Presenter Get Botox, Spray-Paint Hair

by Liz Colville

Miriam O’Reilly, a 53-year-old former BBC presenter, began her age and sex discrimination against the corporation today, revealing that she was called a “rare species” by her employers, told she should consider Botox in light of the high-def revolution, and offered black spray paint to cover up a patch of gray hair. She was subsequently fired from the show she presented and was “sidelined” by the company, she says.

The BBC is defending itself, claiming it employs many “mature” people, but the show O’Reilly used to work for, Countryfile, fired several employees in 2009, all of them women. They were replaced by two women in their 30s. Helping O’Reilly’s case, she said she was never told why she was fired from the show and was then unable to find work within the corporation. She is still struggling to get work now.

She tells of having performed a number of difficult tasks just as well as anyone half her age: she’s “jumped in and out of helicopters, climbed 60ft trees in the dark and took part in cheese-rolling to demonstrate her physical fitness.” The BBC’s dreadful response to this: “It is not that she cannot do these things, but cannot do them to the standard required.”

Two separate co-workers discussed Botox with O’Reilly. A male director told her, “You’re going to have to be careful about those wrinkles when High Definition comes in,” and another, a woman, once asked her, “Is it time for Botox?”

Photo via the Daily Telegraph