IRISH TV presenter and comedian Dara Ó Briain has called out British newspaper The Guardian for describing him and co-host Ed Byrne as “white British men”.
The Irish pair’s new show Dara and Ed’s Road to Mandalay sees them travel 3,500 miles from Malaysia to Myanmar to experience the very best south east Asia has to offer.
But after the first episode kicked off on BBC Two on Sunday night, The Guardian’s Chitra Ramaswamy handed the show a less than glowing assessment.
Her review pulled no punches, describing the idea behind it as "increasingly dull and unedifying".
But it was the irony of the reviewer's reference to "sending white British men to far-flung places in search of 'strange and quirky' aspects of other cultures" that Ó Briain took issue with.
Bravo @guardian telly review! Accuses us of cultural insensitivity, while in the same sentence subsuming Ireland back into Britain... pic.twitter.com/FhVRM2DcUR
— Dara Ó Briain (@daraobriain) May 8, 2017
After the review was published on Monday, Ó Briain took to Twitter, writing: "Bravo @guardian telly review! Accuses us of cultural insensitivity, while in the same sentence subsuming Ireland back into Britain…”
He added: "Calling me and Ed "white British men" is also irritating since the show was clearly a celebration of Malaysia's hugely diverse culture.”
The word ‘British’ was later deleted from the passage on The Guardian’s website.
Ha! Well done @guardian! Now it just implies that you're bored of Irish people and our many travel documentaries. https://t.co/D1i7Zld3GR
— Dara Ó Briain (@daraobriain) May 8, 2017
The line now criticises “the increasingly dull and unedifying formula of sending white men to far-flung places…”
Ó Briain later applauded the revised version, joking: “"Ha! Well done @guardian! Now it just implies that you're bored of Irish people and our many travel documentaries.”
Dara and Ed’s new series follows on from the success of their 2015 series, Dara and Ed’s Great Big Adventure, which saw them drive from North to South America.
