Alex Scott had a bit of fun with Lord Digby Jones’ comments about her accent as she presented coverage of the Olympics on Saturday.
The presenter seemingly referenced how the former House Of Lords member said she “spoils” the BBC’s broadcasts with her “inability to pronounce her ’g’s at the end of a word”.
He had tweeted on Friday: “Competitors are NOT taking part, Alex, in the fencin, rowin, boxin, kayakin, weightliftin & swimmin.’
After responding directly to Lord Jones on Twitter saying she was proud of her accent, Alex appeared to slip in a cheeky reference to his words live on air.
During Saturday evening’s Olympic highlights show, Alex recapped: “So far we’ve been runnin’, ridin’, shootin’, scorin’, swimmin’ and puttin’ but we’ve still got a lot of gold to still uncover.”
Many people on Twitter picked up on the subtle nod to the criticism, and applauded Alex’s response, hailing her as a “class act”.
Alex had previously tweeted in response to Lord Jones’ comments: “I’m from a working class family in East London, Poplar, Tower Hamlets & I am PROUD. Proud of the young girl who overcame obstacles, and proud of my accent! It’s me, it’s my journey, my grit.”
She continued: “A quick one to any young kids who may not have a certain kind of privilege in life. Never allow judgments on your class, accent, or appearance hold you back. Use your history to write your story.
“Keep striving, keep shining & don’t change for anyone.”
A number of high profile names also came out to support Alex on Twitter, including Stephen Fry, Sadiq Khan, Oti Mabuse and David Lammy.