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University Challenge captain accused of sexism after ‘blanking only woman on the team’
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The University Challenge Birmingham captain was slammed by viewers for seemingly blanking the only female member on the team.
The latest episode of the BBC2 quiz show saw Birmingham University take on Reading, however, eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice captain Michael Joel Bartelle looked to turn away from Jamie Sajit on multiple occasions to confer with his male teammates.
The University of Reading will be heading to the semi-finals following their win, however fans were delighted Birmingham were out of the competition due to Bartelle’s behaviour.
One person tweeted: ‘Massive turnoff watching Bartell repeatedly ignore and face away from Sajit on #UniversityChallenge not only this week but every week Birmingham have been on the show this season.
‘I have to fast forward through their questions! So glad they’re out.’
Another viewer wrote: ‘If only #Bartelle had noticed that they were a team of four on #UniversityChallenge instead of physically turning away from #Sajit every single question #everydaysexism.’
This isn’t the first time Bartelle, who is doing a PHD in Shakespeare studies, was accused of treating the female co-quizzer unfairly.
In December 2021, fans put him on blast for ignoring the medical student following his last appearance in December.
Fans called out Bartelle for ignoring the only female member on the team (Picture:BBC)
He quickly took to Twitter to defend his actions, and wrote: ‘Hey everyone. I do not discriminate. When conferring, I turn to any of my teammates if they offer an answer. I love them all and they are all amazing quizzers. Lots of love to all who’ve had warm comments for our team.’
He added: ‘I’m not really sure what I can say other than that I considered every single answer that was offered by all three of my teammates. They all contributed massively to our win and I’m proud of all of them.’
More: BBC
Elsewhere on the Birmingham team was Mark McParlan, from Liverpool, who is studying History and English and John Robinson, from Sevenoaks, studying for a masters in Literature and Culture.
University Challenge airs on Monday at 8.30pm on BBC Two.
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