I was groped on live darts show reveals TV host Helen
PRESENTER Helen Skelton yesterday told how a darts player groped her on live TV while she was pregnant.
She revealed she was touched during an interview at the 2015 BDO World Darts Championship.
In a video of the incident Ms Skelton is seen trying to speak to Scottish player Ross Montgomery, 55, while she was working for BT Sport.
But as he is seen moving into shot, his hand appears to move down to her backside.
Mother-of-two Ms Skelton, a Countryfile presenter who also fronts the BBC’s swimming coverage, yesterday said she had felt “really awkward” but was too intimidated to complain.
She said: “Basically, this guy grabbed me on the **** when I was presenting live telly. I felt really awkward about it. I was pregnant at the time as well.
Furious
“I didn’t know what to do. It’s intimidating and you don’t want to be the person being difficult and awkward.
“That’s the culture television breeds. No one wants to be difficult. You want to bring solutions, not problems.”
Her co-presenter at the time Colin Murray was furious and Montgomery was spoken to by production staff.
Ms Skelton, who is married to rugby league star Richie Myler, revealed no further details about the incident but praised Murray for his intervention.
She said: “Colin complained for me. He said it wasn’t acceptable. He kicked off and said that needs dealing with.
“It was handled brilliantly because of that. I would never have thought about complaining.”
Last night Montgomery – nicknamed The Boss – denied groping Ms Skelton but apologised for his actions. The married father-of-three from East Kilbride, who is ranked fifth in the world by the BDO, said: “She wasn’t groped. It was nothing more than a friendly slap on the bottom.
“I was spoken to at the time. She was apologised to and she didn’t make a big deal of it. But using the word grope, that’s a bit much. My wife was in the crowd and it wasn’t a grope.”
Ms Skelton said a line had been drawn under the incident. But while she was revealing the incident to help other women to speak up about such things, she also urged some caution.
With reference to the MeToo movement, which started in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein Hollywood sex scandal, she said there needed to be “a bit of perspective”.
She explained: “We are getting too wound up about it all and losing the ability to actually change things.”
Last night her publicist declined to comment any further on the incident.
She said: “We are not saying anymore. It was a 2014 sporting event and she was not working for the BBC.
“It was dealt with at the time and we will be saying no more about it.”
Earlier this month, Ms Skelton was dropped from the BBC’s Commonwealth Games coverage.
Some had speculated that there had been concerns over her increasingly risque outfits.