BBC viewers tuned into this weekend's edition of Saturday Kitchen were left rather divided when singer Paloma Faith joined Matt Tebbutt for a cooking demo.
The 42-year-old appeared on the BBC show to promote her new book MILF, a project she described as "an open and honest expression of what I feel is needed in culture and society".
The book's title, Faith explained, stood for motherhood, identity, love and "insert whichever one you want for the F".
But as she began delving into the contents of the book while Tebbutt got to work preparing a polenta cake for his guests, proceedings went slightly off the rails as Faith became more and more animated while expressing her dismay with men in society.
"It's an open honest expression of what I feel is needed in culture and society because when I first got to an age where I was gonna have children there were all these questions... what's expected of women in society and all these maternal feelings," Faith began.
"There's always this expectation of us to look after everyone and I think it goes for women with and without children. I speak a lot about both in the book and this idea that we've been sold a bit of a lie."
BBC Saturday Kitchen: Matt Tebbutt and Paloma Faith on the show
BBC
She continued: "I was raised by a first-generation feminist and she was amazing and made me feel like I could achieve anything I wanted... and I had that feeling.
"Then I realised over time that when I was meeting heterosexual and heteronormative men, they were selling it back to me as, 'Well, you want everything, you can do it all'...
"And I woke up and realised I'm doing the work of five or six people and I felt like I'd been sold a bit of a lie. It'd been switched around on me. Women I feel now are being burnt out.
"We have our career, we have our children, we have this invisible mental load - we go to bed worrying about our kids or our family or our relatives because we're caregivers... and we're usually sleeping next to a whale that's snoring. It's just out of order."
Thank you so much @SaturdayKitchen @matt_tebbutt @jollyolly @jaegawise @julielincooks @amandacactus @TomKitchin pic.twitter.com/aOndh0zyJx
— Paloma Faith (@Palomafaith) June 8, 2024
Faith then went on to rant against the idea of Mother's Day "not being enough" and when Tebbutt teased whether flowers were an adequate gift from men to women, she hit back: "Shove them up where the sun don't shine."
She added: "I want you to see that I'm doing repeated actions every day to keep our home functioning and then maybe say, 'I'm gonna do them', without being asked, without being praised."
In another rant, Faith hit back against the praise fathers receive for simply "parenting their own children", admitting: "I find it irritating - why should he be praised and why is it an anomaly?"
A flustered Tebbutt struggled to speak over Faith or find a moment to update viewers on his demonstration, eventually concluding the segment by saying he'd simply made a cake.
"Thank you for you small contribution to society," Faith joked as she tucked in while Tebbutt laughed awkwardly before he was finally able to move on with the show.
Faith's segment went down like a lead balloon with many watching at home who felt some of the comments had anti-men connotations, including one fan who took to X to fume: "God, Paloma Faith is talking some nonsense on Saturday kitchen. Time to switch it off. #saturdaykitchen."
"I've been outside. Came back in to my wife watching #saturdaykitchen and heard Faith banging on about basically all men are s**t again and bring nothing to a marriage/relationship/parenting. Went back out to carry on weeding the garden," a second added.
Elsewhere, a third blasted: "Wtf. Not a book I'll be buying after that diatribe. Sanctimonious doesn't even come close. #saturdaykitchen."
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BBC Saturday Kitchen: Matt Tebbutt struggled to keep things on track
BBC
And a fourth raged: "Absolute clown she is. This is the behaviour of an insecure individual with a book to sell and thinking this is the best way to promote it. This is meant to be an informed weekly offering of cooking - not the antics of a bizarre individual #SaturdayKitchen."
While a fifth hit back at the debate arising among viewers: "According to X, if you’re a man and find a woman irritating, you’re all of the following: 1. A misogynist. 2. A gammon. 3. Insecure. As the only male who grew up with 3 older sisters and a mother with zero male figures, I can assure you I'm none of those. #SaturdayKitchen."
Despite the fury, there were still some viewers who jumped to Faith's defence, including one who argued: "Those complaining they don’t understand what #PalomaFaith is going on about are not listening and thereby demonstrating her point beautifully #saturdaykitchen."
And another applauded: "Never knew how funny Paloma Faith was! I love her! Quirky, mad and engaging and standing up for women all in five minutes! Go girl! (I’m too old to say that really but Paloma would not agree and would probably say it back!!) #saturdaykitchen #palomafaith." (sic)
