Writing in the Daily Mail<\/a>, Barker revealed that she was \u201cgobsmacked\u201d by the way her exit was handled, recalling that in 2016 the show was put out to tender to independent production companies without her name attached.<\/p>\n She said she was informed of this by a TV producer friend, with Barker claiming the tender was pitched as a \u201crefresh\u201d of the show \u201cwith more diversity and more appeal to a younger audience\u201d.<\/p>\n Barker explained that the production companies ended up wanting her to stay on, making the BBC change course.<\/p>\n She said that in 2020 rumours circulated again about her and panellists Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell being replaced, but claimed the three were only told they were being sacked in separate meetings during their penultimate block of recording sessions.<\/p>\n Barker said she \u201ccouldn\u2019t help feeling wretchedly sad\u201d at the decision, and that \u201canger set in\u201d after the BBC reportedly didn\u2019t ask them for statements and instead asked them each to immediately approve a statement which said the trio had \u201cdecided to step aside\u201d.<\/p>\n When she refused to sign the statement, wanting the BBC to \u201cown their decision and declare publicly that they wanted to refresh the show\u201d, Barker said that she was offered her job back, but she declined.<\/p>\n She called the situation \u201cconfusing and distressing\u201d and said that it led to her determination to \u201cown\u201d her retirement from the BBC earlier this year.<\/p>\n When approached by RadioTimes.com<\/a>, the BBC declined to comment.<\/p> When announcing her departure from the BBC\u2019s live sports broadcasting in June, Barker said in a statement: \u201cWhat a wonderful time I\u2019ve had working on some of the biggest sporting events around the world. I will miss it terribly but after 30 years I feel the time is right for me. I\u2019ve worked with the best of the best.\u201d<\/p>\n A BBC spokesperson said at the time of the announcement: \u201cWe would like to thank Sue for her enormous contribution as the show\u2019s longest-reigning host over the last 24 years, and Matt and Phil for their excellent team captaincy over 16 and 12 years respectively.<\/p>\n \u201cTogether they have ensured A Question of Sport remains a firm favourite with the BBC One audience.\u201d<\/p>\n Sue Barker\u2019s autobiography Calling the Shots: My Autobiography is released on 29th September and is available to pre-order now<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for more to watch, check out our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>. Visit our\u00a0Entertainment<\/a>\u00a0hub for all the latest news.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By James Hibbs Published: Monday, 05 September 2022 at 12:00 am Sue Barker, whose tenure as host of A Question of Sport came to an end after 24 years in 2021, has claimed that she was \u201csacked\u201d from the role by the BBC, and has been left \u201cslightly damaged\u201d by the experience. Writing in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":21419,"template":"","categories":[7,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/sue-barker-gobsmacked-over-bbcs-handling-of-a-question-of-sport-exit.jpg",2000,1335,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/sue-barker-gobsmacked-over-bbcs-handling-of-a-question-of-sport-exit-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/sue-barker-gobsmacked-over-bbcs-handling-of-a-question-of-sport-exit-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/sue-barker-gobsmacked-over-bbcs-handling-of-a-question-of-sport-exit-768x513.jpg",768,513,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/sue-barker-gobsmacked-over-bbcs-handling-of-a-question-of-sport-exit-1024x684.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/sue-barker-gobsmacked-over-bbcs-handling-of-a-question-of-sport-exit-1536x1025.jpg",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/sue-barker-gobsmacked-over-bbcs-handling-of-a-question-of-sport-exit.jpg",2000,1335,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By James Hibbs Published: Monday, 05 September 2022 at 12:00 am Sue Barker, whose tenure as host of A Question of Sport came to an end after 24 years in 2021, has claimed that she was \u201csacked\u201d from the role by the BBC, and has been left \u201cslightly damaged\u201d by the experience. Writing in the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/21418"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2020\/09\/19083535-low_res-a-question-of-sport-2019-1a6d09e.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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