Has the World gone mad? Well in quite a lot of cases yes. In the news last week the Organisers of Darts the PDC banned its walk on girls and this week Formula 1 has banned the grid girls. All this comes on the back of the awful stories about Harvey Weinstein and the goings on at the Presidents Club party. I personally don’t think you can put the two together as the awful stories we heard with Weinstein and at the Presidents Club were without consent. But the girls that work on these sporting events are doing so because they want to do the job. Lots of tv, radio and newspaper columns have been talking about this all week. Model Kelly Brook, who used to work as an F1 flag girl, told ITV’s Loose Women: ‘It’s a well-paid job. It’s one of the best jobs I ever had.. ‘You dress glamorously and obviously it’s about being presentable but I never felt I was taken advantage of.’ Jade Slusarczyk, a Sky Sports walk-on girl who often poses with snooker players, was accused by a feminist listener of BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show that she needed ‘education’ to understand why the job is offensive. But Ms Slusarczyk, from Blackpool, Lancashire, replied to the yoga instructor called Tilly: ‘I got A’s in school and would have become a doctor, but mum was in a car crash so I had to look after her.’ One newspaper donated their whole front page with the headline Formula Dumb. I was interested to see that one of the supporters of the ban was a female boxer Stacey Copeland she was interviewed on 5Live this week. She also wants a ban on ring girls in boxing and bringing in kids as mascots. She has the support of the Women’s Sports Trust and also many Women that work in sport including Gabby Logan, Natalie Pinkham and the Williams F1 test drive Susie Wolff who said “grid girls didn’t offend her but it was a step in the right direction.” I asked our listeners to comment on the subject, all the comments listed are from Women as other columnists have been accused of only sharing the views of Men. “Just insane, the world has gone nuts. If the girls want to do it and get paid well, what’s the problem!” “Ridiculous / it’s all getting out of hand.” “As usual, men have made a decision affecting women without asking those women if they would like it made. That’s another swathe of opportunities for women neatly axed without affecting male opportunities whatsoever. If women don’t want to be thought of as sexy, it is very easy for them to dress and act in a manner which makes that clear. If they do want to be thought of as sexy, whether for financial gain, fame or for the purposes of attracting potential partners, why should they not be free to do so? Maybe women should ask their male partners to threaten a boycott of the F1, including watching on TV, unless the girls are reinstated. This sort of thing makes me and Robbie so cross. It deprives men of a bit of fun but it deprives women of so much more.” I’ve also never seen my co-host Ayesha so angry about a subject. She thoroughly disagrees with the ban and believes Women should be making their own choices. So what’s next? UFC (Octagon girls), Boxing (Ring girls), Tour de France (Podium girls), Football (Team cheerleaders), Moto GP (Grid girls), NBA(Cheerleaders) and American Football (cheerleaders).
Which brings me nicely onto this weekends American Superbowl in Minnesota between last years Champions the New England Patriots v Philadelphia Eagles. Now this is a game that is scheduled for 1 hour yet it takes at least 3 hours to complete. Not of course forgetting the half-time show which this year is Justin Timberlake and the singing of the National Anthem which this year will be sung by Pink. So what do the Americans do while the games on well 3 things, eat, drink and watch some of the most expensive commercials in the World. The National Chicken council estimates fans will eat 1.35 billion wings over the course of the weekend. Which I’m reliably informed is enough to put 625 wings on every seat in all 32 NFL stadiums. They will also spend;
- Potato chips – $277 million
- Tortilla chips – $225 million
- Meat snacks – $99 million
- Popcorn – $89 million
- Deli salads – $80 million
- Cheese snacks – $71 million
- Deli sandwiches – $58 million
- Salty snack dips – $42 million
- Deli platters – $23 million
- Vegetable trays – $13 million
It is also estimated $1.2 billion would be spent on beer, $594 million on wine and $503 million on spirits. Between the coin toss and end of play, last year’s Super Bowl brought in an estimated $419 million from advertising for US broadcaster Fox. The staggering sum is greater than the GDP of small countries like Kiribati and Anguilla. Advertisers are paying broadcaster NBC a price tag “north of $5 million” for 30 seconds of ad time in the NFL championship game this year. That doesn’t even count the cost of production for the commercials, which often feature high-profile celebrities, or the cost of marketing the ads outside of the game. So why spend so much? Well it’s watched by over 100 million people in the US alone. The only one that comes remotely close are the Academy Awards which last year got 33 million viewers. I’ll be in bed by the time it comes on here, the perils of being a breakfast show presenter!
A great win last Weekend for Real Mallorca away at Atlético Saguntino in a very wet and windy Valencia. They are at home tomorrow against Otinyent at 12 Midday looking to consolidate their 6 point lead at the top. It looks like they’ve made some good signings in the transfer window to boost the squad in the second half of the season. It would be good to see a similar 11,500 crowd that came to the derby game against Atlético Baleares.
After last weeks column talking about Ondine and the great work they do here in Mallorca, it was a pleasure to interview Brad Robertson on the radio this week. He is one of the most passionate guys I know about preserving the beauty of Mallorca. We talked about the Balearic Governments intention to ban all single-use consumer plastics by 2020 and he said that it needs a lot more study and careful consideration before any decisions are made as the outcome if not managed properly could actually make the situation worse. We will get together again soon and update you once Brad finds out more information. Don’t forget their next beach clean in Pollensa on the 18th of February, details can be found on the Ondine Facebook page.
And finally a couple of news stories that brought a smile to my face. One in a funny way and the other that shows human kindness is still out there.
A plane had to turn back just 20 minutes into its flight due to an issue with the toilets, despite carrying 84 plumbers. The majority of the professionals on board Saturday’s Norwegian Airlines flight from Oslo to Munich work for plumbing company Rorkjop. Chief Executive Frank Olsen told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet that his employees “would have liked to fix the restrooms”, but were unable to do so. The fault had to be fixed from the outside, so there was little the plumbers could do to help.
A student burst into tears after she woke from napping on a train to find a kind- hearted passenger had left her £100 under a napkin on her lap. Ella Johannessen, 23, had been speaking to her mum earlier in the journey about how “stressed and upset” she was about her finances. She then went for a nap and burst into tears when she woke up she found the gift. Ella said receiving the extra money now meant she wouldn’t go over her overdraft limit. She shared the heartwarming story on Facebook in the hope of finding the person who left the money for her on a Virgin Trains East Coast service on Saturday. Her post has been shared more than 3,000 times, but she is still yet to find the kind passenger.
Enjoy your weekend.
I present the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show with Ayesha Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca, online at www.radioonemallorca.com and on mobile through their free App for IPhone, Android, The Tunein Radio App and now on the Spanish TDT TV service. If you can’t hear me on the radio then you’ll find me working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again i make an understudy appearance!
Feel free to email me at rprior@globobalear.com
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