The Traitors: Doncaster contestant embroiled in race row after being voted off
A Doncaster woman who was the first person to be voted off this year’s series of The Traitors has become embroiled in a race row after the show was accused of “racial bias.”
Doncaster child liasion officer Judy, 60, received a record number of votes at the first Round Table and was booted off the show – with fellow black contestant Netty also leaving in the first week.
A Place in the Sun presenter Scarlette Douglas has called out the "racial bias" in reality TV, that she says left her wanting to leave the industry last year.
The I'm A Celebrity contestant pointed out the repeating pattern of Black players being voted out of The Traitors first, saying that banished Judy "couldn't win either way".
Douglas, who was second out of 2022's series of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, told Good Morning Britain that "there is a pattern we cannot ignore" in reality TV, while presenter Ranvir Singh agreed that it was often "painful" to watch the treatment of Black women on TV.
Douglas also confessed that she had become so disheartened by the repeated bias faced by women of colour that she even thought about giving up working in TV altogether, saying: "Last year I was like, 'I'm done with television, because I'm so fed up of doing everything I can possibly do and then there still being this block'."
Douglas said of Judy's exit: "Sam was on her at the beginning that she was too quiet, then she spoke up and said 'I know that you are mentioning my name and I want to let you know how I feel about that'. For Judy, she couldn't win either way, because if she was too quiet, she was suspicious, if she spoke up, she was the angry Black woman.
"At what point can we just be ourselves and not feel like whatever we do, it's going to put us in a bad light?"
She added of contestants of colour coming under scrutiny first: "We are looked at as maybe more suspicious. We're looked at as, 'hmm, are they good people, are they bad people, can we trust them, can we not?'"
Previous series have seen similar early banishments of Black and Asian players, and Douglas said she was disappointed to see the same thing happen in The Celebrity Traitors. "It still happened. Unfortunately, Niko (Omilana) was out first, and then Tameka (Empson), and it's such a shame."
The Traitors is far from the only show to reveal the apparent pattern of bias — it has also been observed in contests where the evicted stars and winners are voted for by the public.
Singh, who took part in the 2020 series of Strictly Come Dancing, pointed out that there had been three Black male winners in the ballroom — Hamza Yassin, Ore Oduba and Louis Smith — but the only Black woman to lift the Glitterball Trophy was Alesha Dixon back in 2007.
"I think there is a difference between Black men and Black women too, on TV shows," she said. "We've had three Black men win Strictly."
In Strictly's most recent series, EastEnders star Balvinder Sopal faced the dance off five times — much more than any other contestant, despite being saved by the judges right up until the semi-final.
Meanwhile, Douglas was second to be voted out of I'm A Celebrity in 2022, with campmate and Loose Women star Charlene White out first.
Douglas said that despite press claims that racism was to blame for the series evictions, she had initially spoken out to say that she thought her exit was due to her lesser fame compared to some of her co-stars.
But she added: "I actually spoke up and said I'm in there with Boy George, Mike Tindall, incredible big names, maybe I'm just not known as much. However, when we do look at other situations like what's happened on The Traitors and so many other shows, there is a pattern that we cannot ignore, and we do need to talk about it a lot more.
"I'm not here to say the whole country is racist and reality TV is racist, but we do have to talk about the fact there is unconscious bias there."
Love Island made history in 2024 when Mimii Ngulube and Josh Oyinsan became the first Black couple to win the dating show, which sees viewers vote for their favourite couple. But Singh wondered whether it had actually turned out to be the "watershed moment" it was labelled as at the time.
"Dating shows, particularly for Black women, is incredibly painful. It's quite a painful experience to watch it, because you always know what's going to happen, which is she won't get picked," Singh said.
Douglas agreed, reflecting on the many times in the dating show that Black women were dumped or not chosen as partners: "Unfortunately, we are the least desired and I've had many situations in relationships...where I've just never felt like I was attractive or somebody wants to date me and it's very hard to shake that when you then see shows like this."
She told Good Morning Britain's hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls: "No matter what I say here, I already know there's going to be a backlash. There's going to be something negative, and someone on social media is going to say that I'm using the race card. It's very sad to know that, and it's very sad to feel that I should be worried to sit here and talk about my experience in television."
Asked what needs to change, Douglas replied: "I think we need to talk about it more. We need to be OK with talking about it. Being here today is a huge moment for me because I've experienced so many things.
"Last year I was like, 'I'm done with television, because I'm so fed up of doing everything I can possibly do and then there still being this block'. Unless I sit here and have this conversation and bring it to the awareness of people in charge, nothing's going to change. It is a risk for me – what if I get cancelled? Maybe I shouldn't say how I feel, but if I don't, there's not going to be a change."