Richard Madeley has faced criticism on social media after asking a woman whose drink was spiked in a nightclub if she’d “taken precautions”.
The presenter was accused of victim blaming as he and Susanna Reid interviewed Jemma Wolstenholme on Thursday’s edition of Good Morning Britain.
Jemma appeared on the ITV breakfast show to discuss having her drink spiked in a nightclub just months before her sister was spiked with a needle, amid reports of an increase of women being injected with substances on nights out.
Jemma explained that after she’d begun to feel unwell when she was spiked, her friend put in her a taxi home, to which Richard said: “But had you been taking precautions?
“Obviously you’re aware of the risk of drinks being spiked – had you been trying to protect your drink? Had you kept your hand over it? Had you kept it with you, do you remember that?”
Jemma said that it had been “second nature” to do so, explaining: “We have been told for so long that we should be careful who is near our drinks. So if I did leave it, it was left with my friend and it was ‘Watch my drink’.
“And we were sat at a table and it wasn’t particularly busy where we were sat, so it’s still a bit of a mystery as to how it happened, but you see people finding opportunities wherever they can and all it would have taken was one tiny distraction.”
It was at this point that Richard’s co-host Susanna interjected and insisted: “Honestly Jemma, it’s not your responsibility to take the precautions to stop someone who does maliciously put something in your drink, I mean how on earth anybody is expected to constantly watch a drink I don’t know.”
Richard did say he “absolutely” agreed with Susanna, but many people on social media were not happy with the questions he directed at Jemma.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.