Vanessa Feltz’s December appearance on This Morning is now among the top five most complained-about television moments in 2023, after her “ignorant” comments received more than 2,000 viewer complaints.
The 61-year-old TV presenter said it was “completely unreasonable” for a caller’s mother-in-law to stop them from bringing their own food to a gluten-free Christmas dinner during an episode of the ITV show on 18 December.
In response to the caller being told not to bring anything to the dinner party, Feltz said: “So she’s treating coeliac disease as if it’s a potentially fatal peanut allergy and they can’t have anything with gluten in the house which is completely unreasonable.”
Coeliac disease, which affects one in every 100 people in the UK, is a condition where a person’s immune system attacks their own tissues when they consume gluten, a protein present in foods such as wheat, barley, and rye.
According to an Ofcom report released two days after the episode was aired, Feltz’s remarks received 1,092 complaints, making it the ninth most-complained about programme in 2023.
In a new report released on 3 January, the media watchdog said a further 1,177 complaints have been made, brining the total to 2,269.
As a result, the programme is now the fifth most-complained about, just behind a discussion on the junior doctors’s pay dispute on Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine show which received 2,302 viewer complaints.
Feltz later apologised for the comments on her TalkTV show, saying “if anyone misunderstood or felt that I did, I am very sorry”.
Feltz recalled: “I said what I said there, and then I said, but I’ve been thinking about it, and in the spirit of Christmas I think you should go, I think you should eat the gluten-free meal that your mother-in-law is kindly preparing.”
Feltz continued: “I did not, nor would I for a second, suggest that they should put the coeliac guest at risk in any way, nor did I suggest that they bring their own food and shove it in their mother-in-law’s oven or put it on the table, I wouldn’t dream of that.
“And nor did I intend in any shape of form to show any disrespect or misunderstanding of how unpleasant it can be leading your life as a coeliac, partly because some of my best friends are coeliacs...
“So I know how horrible it is as a coeliac if, by any mistake, you should find yourself eating something with gluten in it.
“I am astounded by the reaction and horrified that anyone’s upset, I would never want to upset anyone.”
She claimed she checked her language before and after the show with professionals, adding: “I don’t think I said anything wrong, but if anyone misunderstood or felt that I did, I am very sorry.”
In an episode on 19 December, This Morning followed up the segment by discussing coeliac disease and cross-contamination further.
This programme also received 92 complaints relating to Dr Zoe’s comments about the topic, according to Ofcom.
Gluten-free food writer Becky Excell also appeared on the ITV show in the lead-up to Christmas to discuss gluten-free meal options.
Additional reporting on wires
