Victoria Coren Mitchell once made the controversial remark that Michael Portillo should donate his clothes to charity – and that she would help him.
The comments, made on an episode of Only Connect, sparked a furious backlash online, with fans urging her to chill out. She later explained it was all a light-hearted joke – but that didn’t stop some from reacting with outrage.
The argument started when Victoria tried to explain that she was embarrassed when people asked her where her clothes came from.
She clarified that she is “not particularly interested in” clothes and barely remembers where she bought them. In a column at the time, she turned to the Observer to shed light on the alleged “feud”, adding that she had only mentioned Portillo as an “excuse” to mention him.
She told the publication: “My Only Connect persona – who is very similar to me, but just different enough to stay sane – talks about Michael Portillo all the time. He’s perfect for her. Dark, enigmatic, slightly Hispanic… Knowing, quirky, with hints of a sexually adventurous past…”
In an earlier show, she had told the audience: “I’m rushing back to my dressing room hoping to find Michael Portillo sitting naked on a crate of Rioja, daring me to wrestle him off.”
At the event that sparked rumors of a “feud,” she merely mentioned his name and avoided questions about her clothing.
“Would you write to Michael Portillo and ask him what he is wearing?” she asked.
“I know that. In fact, I wrote and offered to collect everything Michael Portillo wore… ‘for charity’…”
She then received a series of angry messages from trolls trying to mock her.
Victoria was able to brush off the comments, especially since the photos they were referring to showed her having recently given birth, but she was even more annoyed that they had misunderstood the message she was trying to convey.
She asked how trolls could read something so obviously ridiculous (without even considering the possibility that I might have been joking).
“Women don’t joke, do they? Then again, you know me. I see sexism everywhere,” she groaned.
