Viewers in a tizz over Rylan’s dropped Ts
RYLAN CLARK is the latest TV star to be challenged on social media for his accent, or rather, his pronunciation of the letter T.
On Friday’s edition of The One Show, the 33-year-old dropped the T several times when he said the words ‘Eighties’ ‘dominated’ and ‘Saturday’.
He also failed to fully enunciate the T sound when discussing the singer Meat Loaf, whose death was announced earlier that day.
It attracted the wrath of some viewers, including Terry Barnett from Christchurch, Dorset, who tweeted at him: ‘Hah, no Ts Rylan.
Your mispronunciation of words containing a T is awful.
‘As a BBC presenter you need elocution lessons,’ he added.
Mr Clark, who was born in East London and now lives in Essex, made light of the situation and quipped: ‘Leave it out ’erry.’
But Rylan’s fans were outraged and waded into a discussion about regional accents. One told Mr Barnett: ‘Rude. It’s simply a glottal stop. A dialect pronunciation peculiar to us in Essex.’ Another added: ‘You know the majority of people don’t speak like 1940s BBC presenters any more right? No one is forcing you to watch.’
Rylan is not the first TV host to be chided over their accent. In July, sport pundit Alex Scott was criticised by Lord Digby Jones for not pronouncing her Gs. He wrote on Twitter: ‘Competitors are NOT taking part, Alex, in the fencin, rowin, boxin, kayakin, weightliftin & swimmin.’
Alex hit back, saying: ‘I’m from a working class family in East London [...] & I am PROUD.’