Chris Hughes 'spoken to' by BBC over Barbie remark to female cricketer

It’s been a major couple of weeks for women’s sport.

From football in the FIFA Women’s World Cup to cricket in The Hundred, it’s a big summer for supporting the female sports stars on the world stage.

And not only is it a summer of sport, but it’s certainly the summer of Barbie.

Since even before the new film with Margot Robbie came out, we’ve been living in a world of pink with references to the doll being made everywhere we go.

But a former Love Island star has had to be ‘spoken to’ after making a remark about Barbie to a female cricketer.

Chris Hughes has been working with the BBC to present coverage of The Hundred.

BBC

On Wednesday, he was doing an interview for BBC Two with Australian all-rounder Maitlan Brown.

The 26-year-old’s team, Southern Braves, had just won over Trent Rockets before the pitch-side chat in front of the cameras.

Like many of us have done since it hit cinemas on 21 July, Maitlan revealed she had been to see the Barbie movie with her teammates.

She said: “It was really good team bonding and the group is gelling really well together.

“That is the key to success I think in tournaments like this, how well and how quickly you can gel as a group.”

Chris, who appeared on the 2017 series of the ITV dating show, responded: “You’re a little Barbie yourself innit, with your blue eyes.”

The blonde haired sports player laughed and the reality star added: “She’s blushing now.”

Instagram/@chrishughesofficial

With social media users questioning why Chris would say something like this during the interview at The Hundred, they wrote they ‘couldn’t pick my jaw off the floor for 10 minutes’. With others saying it was ‘cringe worthy’, ‘hideous’ and ‘grim’.

In response to this incident, a BBC spokesperson said: “We have spoken to Chris and explained that his comment was not appropriate.”

Many cricket fans have called for the TV star to apologise for the ‘little Barbie’ remark, saying it’s an ‘absolute state’ and calling him a ‘clown’.

One social media user wrote: “Had to rewind to check I’d heard it right. Took a while to go back a few decades but yep, there it was.”

Maitlan is known for her impressive fast bowl and signed for Southern Brave for £18,750 in the first-ever women’s The Hundred draft.

Meanwhile, she plays for the New South Wales Breakers in the Women's National Cricket League, and for the Sydney Sixers in the Women's Big Bash League.

While Chris is covering the cricket, he has also worked on ITV Racing since 2019.