Richard Osman has weighed in on the ongoing furore surrounding Steven Bartlett, explaining why he thinks the podcaster’s pivot to wellness could become an “issue” for the BBC.
Bartlett is currently in the unenviable position of being the internet’s main character after a clip of him saying a couple of glasses of wine once “ruined my life for three days” resurfaced and went viral.
The 33-year-old made the admission in a 2025 episode of his Diary of a CEO podcast, saying that while he “didn’t get drunk”, the alcohol had a “domino effect” on his body.
"It meant that I got worse sleep that night, I ate more poorly the next day because my dopamine system or the cortisol system or whatever was all messed up,” Bartlett continued. “Then I podcasted worse, and I didn't go to the gym the day after, and I could track all of this on my Whoop.”
The clip has sparked plenty of debate – and mockery – with Bartlett’s decision to use “podcasting” as a verb sparking eyerolls aplenty, while other critics have questioned optimisation culture and whether reliance on health trackers is a good thing.
Osman became the latest celebrity (and fellow podcaster) to weigh in on the saga in the latest episode of The Rest Is Entertainment, explaining why he thinks Bartlett’s wellness-related content could be “an accident waiting to happen” for the BBC, which has featured Bartlett as a Dragons’ Den investor since 2021.
“If we’ve learned anything from people who’ve worked at the BBC for 10 years… If there is a minor, minor issue, any sort of tiny issue that might come up, then the BBC gets in enormous trouble.
“And I love [Bartlett] on Dragons’ Den by the way, and I love Dragons’ Den, but that feels like an accident waiting to happen.”
Osman continued: “That feels like a difficult thing, to ride both horses. To be on the BBC, where everything has to be squeaky clean, and any newspaper will pick up on anything that happens, and to run an enormous podcast that interviews controversial people on the edge of intellectual thought, as we know it at the moment, and on the edge of health thinking, as we know it at the moment.
“Both of those things you’re allowed to do. You’re allowed to Dragons’ Den and you’re allowed to do a podcast that pushes the boundaries of what we think about things. [But] it feels like at some point that might become an issue.
“I find that dual carriageway he is on quite an interesting one.”
It’s not the first time Diary of a CEO has faced scrutiny. In 2024, a BBC World Service investigation found 15 health-related episodes contained an average of 14 “harmful” health claims that went against scientific advice.
These included anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and claims that autism and polycystic ovarian syndrome can be reversed with diet.
The Rest Is Entertainment, co-hosted by Osman and journalist Marina Hyde, is produced by media company Goalhanger, co-founded by Gary Lineker, who had many of his own well-documented controversies during his time at the BBC.
On multiple occasions, Lineker was reprimanded for breaching the BBC’s impartiality guidelines with posts on his social media accounts. His 2025 exit from Match of the Day came after he issued an apology for resharing a post about Zionism that featured an antisemitic trope.
More recently, Gladiators reboot star Giant, real name Jamie Bigg, claimed he was sacked by the BBC after telling bosses he was in a relationship with an OnlyFans creator.
