- Round Robin - 19th February 2026
- Dark speak easy part one - 18th February 2026
- X marks the spot again - 17th February 2026
Shocking news that tragic former Strictly Come Dancing professional Robin Windsor, left a suicide note declaring that he had been “destroyed” by the BBC, puts centre stage their REFUSAL to answer The Eye’s questions about the huge number of scandals which have engulfed the giant corporation.
An inquest into the death of Mr Windsor heard that he claimed treatment by the huge organisation “destroyed me” and the jury there concluded that being “vulnerable to rejection both emotionally and professionally” were factors in the decline of his mental health.
But this appalling news follows other alarming details about the BBC. Details emerged of a rape accusation with ‘Strictly’ involved (which centred on an alleged incident in 2024 after a BBC event) and it came less than three months after another star of the dance show was arrested in an allegation of rape.
The woman who claims she was assaulted was not a contestant or pro dancer, but the pair had met as a result of the star’s participation in the contest, which has been rocked by a vast number of scandals in recent years.
In August the BBC launched an investigation into accusations of Class A drug use by two of the stars, and in the same month it was revealed that a male contestant on the show had been arrested for alleged rape — which is separate to the latest allegations. This suspect was also questioned by police over allegations involving “non-consensual intimate image abuse”.
Other recent scandals to beset ‘Strictly’ include a bullying probe into Giovanni Pernice, after Amanda Abbington had launched a formal complaint against the Italian, who denied any wrongdoing.
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The following month the BBC issued an official apology to Ms Abbington after six of 17 complaints were upheld.
But the list of controversies is incredible. Pro dancer Graziano Di Prima was fired from the show for gross misconduct, after a video showed that he had kicked celebrity partner Zara McDermott in the back during rehearsals.
The most recent ‘Strictly’ live tour was shrouded in controversy after Welshman Wynne Evans was axed for using the term “spitroast” during a photocall, and he himself had made accusations of cocaine use by others.
This instance shows how Mr Evans has hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Close examination of online messages reveal that he was first offered an interview by the BBC yet bizarrely it was then withdrawn. The emails that were posted on the internet, show how a journalist at BBC Radio Wales Breakfast had asked: “Would Wynne Evans be available to speaK to us anytime between 7-9am?”.
However he was informed soon afterwards: “Unfortunately we won’t be able to come to you tonight for a considered interview and do justice to the story and. for obvious reasons we won’t be able to offer a live interview tomorrow morning on radio”.
Afterwards a bemused Mr Evans told his followers online: “Yesterday I was offered an interview on Radio Wales and BBC Wales News about the BBC process and my new show. I emailed the director of BBC Wales (Rhuanedd Richards) to say I’d be delighted to do the interview ………weirdly after my email to the director they then emailed to say they didn’t have time to do it justice …..also for obvious reasons. I’m not sure what the obvious reasons are.”….
Perhaps the ‘obvious reasons’ refers to earlier controversies. He apologised over an obnoxious “spit-roast” comment – but denied that it was a sex slur. He also gave details to the Sun on Sunday (SoS) of his “terrifying” mental collapse.
MailOnline (MO) followed up the extraordinary story, and said: “Strictly star Wynne Evans has broken his silence on his controversial ‘spit roast’ comment that left his career in tatters – claiming he was forced to apologise. The opera singer, 53, denied it was a sexual jibe about a female presenter – as he lifted the lid on the incident in an explosive new interview.”
EastEnders star Jamie Borthwick was also sacked after a video emerged of the actor using derogatory language.
The BBC has announced new safeguarding measures for ‘Strictly’ in the wake of the scandals, which included having chaperones in all rehearsal rooms, adding two new welfare producers and providing additional training for the dancers, production team and crew.
However, the then BBC Director-General Tim Davie admitted to MPs in September that “we may see more things coming out”. But these issues have left insiders and those who have left the enormous corporation reeling. Our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry (who spent 23 years with the BBC) proclaimed: “I just can’t believe what has happened – and now there is another scandal. Whoever takes on the top job will have to clear up the mess Tim Davie left behind. It is a poisoned chalice”.
It is clear that Mr Davie had hung on for too long (one publication described him as “Teflon Tim”), it seems, though, that taking disciplinary action earlier against him was tempered by the knowledge that there were few alternatives, but the decision was taken out of the hands of senior officials by his resignation.
The Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) committee Dame Caroline Dinenage, proclaimed in the wake of his resignation, that it was “avoidable”. She said: “…there is no escaping the fact he (Tim Davie) was very slow to act on this particular issue”.
As possibly Dame Caroline has alluded to here, he and his lieutenants had known about a mistake in editing for months, but, as far as we understand, DID NOTHING ABOUT IT hoping, perhaps, that it would all go away.
From this it is obvious that the BBC’s entire media operation needs to be looked at, because embarrassing facts NEVER go away. They are ALWAYS leaked to papers like the Daily Mail or Daily Telegraph.
Quite apart from this case, their astonishing silence can also be seen in their reaction to our questions about the awful series of scandals.
For example, in one of the controversies, disturbing news was revealed in court documents that former BBC Television star Gregg Wallace wants thousands of pounds in damages for “distress and harassment”.Mr Wallace is seeking up to £10,000 in damages from the BBC, claiming managers failed to comply with his request for copies of his personal data.
The former BBC TV presenter Jay Blades was in Telford Magistrates’ Court (TMC) charged with two counts of rape (as with the other unnamed man), and went on to Shrewsbury Crown Court (SCC), appearing by videolink. He denies all charges and the case was adjourned for trial in September 2027.
Apart from The Repair Shop, Mr Blades was also the presenter of the BBC’s ‘Money For Nothing’ until 2020 and took part in ‘Celebrity MasterChef’, ‘Celebrity Bake Off’, as well as ‘Comic Relief‘.
Separately, he has also appeared at Worcester Crown Court (WCC) (again via videolink) for a preliminary hearing in relation to a charge of engaging in controlling or coercive behaviour, towards his estranged wife, Lisa-Marie Zbozen, between January 1 2023 and September 12 last year, but has denied it.
His broadcasting colleagues Mr Wallace and John Torode were both fired after the report into their conduct on MC upheld allegations against them. The inquiry, led by law firm Lewis Silkin, found that 45 of 83 allegations were substantiated, with Mr Torode mentioned too although not by name.
The unbelievable event of Mr Wallace’s alleged ‘distress’ in his legal action, follows an apology for his supposed actions..
In a statement before Mr Torode’s dismissal which was posted on his Instagram page, he elaborated on a racist allegations against him as well as others, but it has been insisted that there was “no recollection of the incident” and it’s been said that it wasn’t believed to have happened.
Mr Torode commented:“For the sake of transparency, I confirm that I am the individual who is alleged to have used racial language on one occasion.
“The allegation is that I did so sometime in 2018 or 2019, in a social situation, and that the person I was speaking with did not believe that it was intended in a malicious way and that I apologised immediately afterwards. I have absolutely no recollection of any of this, and I do not believe that it happened”.
Nevertheless he was fired, and a BBC spokesperson stated: “The BBC takes this upheld finding extremely seriously. We will not tolerate racist language of any kind and, as we have already said, we told Banijay UK, the makers of MasterChef, that action must be taken. John Torode’s contract on MasterChef will not be renewed“.
50 more people had come forward with fresh claims about the man he seemed so close to on screen (Mr Wallace) – including allegations that he groped one MC worker and pulled his trousers down in front of another when not wearing underwear. Mr Wallace denies all the claims including the following:
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A participant on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen said that, during a dinner ahead of filming in 2002, Mr Wallace put his hand under the table and onto her groin, declaring: “Do you like that?”.
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A university student proclaimed she met him in a nightclub with friends in 2013, but after she asked to take a photo with him, he reached under her skirt and grabbed her bottom.
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A woman said that, at an industry ball in 2014, he put his hand up her dress and groped her.
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A junior worker has alleged that in 2012 he dropped his trousers in front of her and was naked beneath.
Queries about the incredible listscandals were sent before Christmas 2024 but apart from automated messages saying the requests for information had been received, there has been no response whatsoever, even though they had directly followed the alarming business about Mr Wallace’s alleged behaviour.
Channel 5 was also examining accusations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ by the presenter while making the programme ‘Gregg Wallace’s Big Weekends’ in 2019.
More alleged ‘inappropriate behaviour’ came to light afterwards, and BBC News has reported about the corporation: “It’s the last thing it needs, so soon after other high profile scandals including the disgraced BBC News presenter Huw Edwards. The BBC has questions to answer about the allegations over what it knew about Wallace’s behaviour on and off set, and – if it was alerted to these types of allegations – what it did about them. BBC News has been made aware of two occasions when complaints were made. One, by the radio host Aasmah Mir, related to Celebrity MasterChef in 2017.”
Apart from the suicide note saying the BBC had “destroyed me”, there has also been the One Show and MotD presenter Jermaine Jenas episode where, once again, there have been allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’, with reports saying, for example, that one female member of staff received unsolicited communications via text from him.
We have been treated to the Huw Edwards and Jimmy Savile scandals (which the former executive mentioned), with the full extent of what Savile did only emerging relatively recently.
The terrible crimes committed by paedophile Savile have been outlined in a Netflix documentary series, called ‘A British Horror Story’.
All of these incidents have prompted front page news about the BBC in UK papers.
In saying sorry following the Giovanni Pernice/Amanda Abbington business, the enormous broadcaster said: “We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made. We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do”.
It also said in the apology statement that the BBC expects “…very high standards…”, so critics are entitled to ask why they apparently do not exist in the Media Office (MO), especially after the latest affair.
Mr Jenas, too, faced claims of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ and was sacked from the BBC over allegedly sending the ‘unsolicited’ texts to junior members of staff. Reports have claimed that one female worker received unsolicited communications via text from him which were supposedly ‘flirty’. Others then came forward according to The Sun. However, the source added there was “no suggestion of illegality” on Mr Jenas’s part.
We have also had Russell Brand. He was granted bail after appearing in court charged with sexual offences including rape (as with Mr Blades).
He is charged with the rape of a woman in 1999 in the Bournemouth area, who alleges that after meeting him at a theatrical performance and chatting to him later in her hotel room, she returned from the toilet to find he’d removed some of his clothes. She claims he asked her to take photos of him, and then raped her.
The court also heard of another alleged victim, who has accused him of indecently assaulting her in 2001 by “grabbing her arm and dragging her towards a male toilet” at a TV station.
The comedian, actor and author has denied all the accusation, saying that he has “never engaged in non-consensual activity”. He is also accused of the oral rape and sexual assault of a woman he met in 2004 in London, who has accused him of grabbing her breasts before allegedly pulling her into a toilet. The final complainant is a radio worker who has raised the accusation of being sexually assaulted between 2004 and 2005 by enduring “kissing” and “grabbing” of her breasts and buttocks.
After everything that has happened, it seemed reasonable, therefore, to ask the BBC which programmes could not now be transmitted.
This is the (extremely polite) request Phil put to their MO on December 19, and he was encouraged because on the BBC’s website it is declared: “Enquiries from journalists will be responded to as quickly as possible”.
Hello.
I am Editor of a news website called The Eye.
Could you please answer the following questions:
1. In the light of the Gregg Wallace, and other affairs, what, if any, programmes are now not to be transmitted, and how many of them are there?
2. What, if any, changes have been made to your Whistleblowers’ Charter, and what are the dates of these?
3. What, if any, changes have been made to your safeguarding policies, and what are the dates of these?
Statements can be made by return to this address – it is checked constantly and is totally secure.
Thank you,
Phil Parry
To date, though, there has been NO reply apart from two automated messages saying that the requests had been received.
Perhaps these questions are too difficult to answer for the BBC when it has been named in a suicide note for ‘destroying’ someone…
The memories of Welshman Phil’s astonishing decades long award-winning career in journalism (including his years at the BBC), as he was gripped by the rare neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in the book ‘A Good Story’. Order it now.
