“Now we go live to World Cup cook-offs”
Half-time is a time of decompression, especially during a World Cup match. It gives the pundits and fans time to relax, re-energise and discuss the talking points from the first half of the game they’re watching.
At least it used to be, until the moment on Tuesday that the BBC decided to turn the half-time period during its coverage of Colombia vs Japan into an impromptu version of Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook, or Ready, Steady Cook.
Now, this may be confusing to you and that’s okay, because it was confusing for everyone else and – even with the passage of time – remains as such, because it was strange as all heck.
The cook-off in question involved Dan Walker, Alex Scott and Matt Upson cooking borscht – a traditional Russian soup containing beetroot and cabbage – with the help of a Russian cook, in a segment which resembled the fever dream that we imagined it was conceived inside of.
What’s more, they then made Phil Neville – a man who considers white bread exotic – actually taste their borscht monstrosities.
To be fair to Phil, he did go only with it, but wasn’t happy about it.
Above all, the entire segment left people with a feeling of enormous confusion, with some people loving it and some simply catatonic.
https://twitter.com/v__der/status/1009058398531407873
@BBC journalists are learning to cook Borsch and this is the content I'm living for
— xmas ana 🎄 (@a_her_o) June 19, 2018
Why would the BBC think people want to watch the presenters cook? Show the football you dicks
— Cormac Watson (@cormac1292) June 19, 2018
https://twitter.com/yaboybradavies/status/1009057395379724288
https://twitter.com/JLinnen/status/1009058157161742337
BBC giving up on trying to pad out 15 minutes of analysis and making Matthew Upson cook soup instead, what more do you want?
— Nathan Cooper (@ncoops1871) June 19, 2018
https://twitter.com/v__der/status/1009058398531407873
I dunno what's worse having to watch adverts on ITV or having to watch the crappy fillers on BBC?
I like Dan Walker et al but I care who can cook better Russian food!#worldcup— Dombacca (@Dombacca) June 19, 2018
