Star of Strictly Come Dancing Angela Rippon was once “highly disrespected” by a fellow BBC star who pretended to flash her while reading the news.
In 1975, Angela became a regular presenter for BBC One’s Nine O’Clock News. It was a significant job to book, and she was the network’s first female journalist to permanently host the news.
While she must have many fond memories, Angela recalled in a 2019 interview about the time a male colleague performed an inappropriate prank.
The prank that left Angela feeling ‘disrespected’
During an appearance on Radio 4 The Reunion in 2019, Angela detailed that a “highly respected” male colleague unzipped his trousers and pretended to expose his genitals, all while she was live on air reading the news.
Admitting that it left her feeling “disrespected”, Angela was alone in the studio when the prank happened. No one else witnessed it due to the cameraman and floor manager working in a control room behind her.
“One of my male colleagues came into the studio while I was reading the Nine O’Clock News live in front of 10 million people. I assumed he was coming in with a script,” she said. “Out of the corner of my eye I realised that he was unzipping his flies and as he was doing that, there was something white in his hand being wiggled around.”
Following her news reading, they went into a film. Shortly after, she was able to see what had actually happened. “What he had actually done was he unzipped his flies and taken out the bottom end of his shirt. Obviously I was supposed to think that he was wiggling his penis at me,” she recalled.
Angela has never named the male colleague
Still to this day, Angela has never exposed who the male colleague is.
“I was angry because I felt that this was so disrespectful,” she said. Angela said she has “never named him” and never will.
“He was one of the BBC’s highly respected reporters at the time. I didn’t ever report him because at the time we [women] were very much in the minority,” she added.
“I think he probably would have got a slap on the wrist [rather than the sack],” she said. “Within no time at all, it would have gone around the newsroom that Rippon can’t take a joke.
“I always feel I got my revenge, if you like, because I didn’t react.”
Read more: Strictly fans all saying the same thing about Angela Rippon after show launch
Strictly will be back this Saturday (September 23) on BBC One from 6.15pm.
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