After the MasterChef scandal which saw the sacking of presenters Gregg Wallace and John Torode, Torode’s Weekend Kitchen series remained on ITV.

Questioned over this decision at the Edinburgh TV Festival today, ITV Content boss Kevin Lygo said he “felt it was a bit much for us to jump on the bandwagon and just deny these shows to go out.”

“We didn’t know the details,” he added, before clarifying that Weekend Kitchen was pre-recorded. “We asked the producers if they had heard of any incidences [of bad behavior from Torode] and they said no.”

Lygo refused to say whether he would have continued airing the MasterChef season featuring Wallace and Torode once they had been sacked, a move that the BBC made. “You never know the full story of what has gone on,” he added. “I think the BBC are capable of making that judgement.”

The BBC’s decision to air MasterChef has come in for criticism but ITV’s move to keep Torode’s John and Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen on air has been less scrutinized.

Torode was sacked after an independent report initially examining allegations against Wallace upheld a complaint against him for use of racial language, which was reported to have been the ‘n word’. Torode has apologized but denied the incident took place.

Edinburgh is a “very BBC-focused event at times”

Elsewhere, Lygo took aim at the BBC during a traditionally combative Edinburgh Spotlight session while simultaneously making the case for ITV to be given more credit at big industry get-togethers like Edinburgh.

“Often we are forgotten as a proper public service broadcaster but we do everything from global warming documentaries to Got Talent,” he said. [Edinburgh is] a very BBC-focused event at times.”

Lygo cited as exemplar last night’s MacTaggart lecture from ex-BBC News chief James Harding, who focused on the BBC and keeping it free from political interference.

“I get that the MacTaggart was about the BBC but ITV News was not mentioned, [ITV news maker] ITN was not mentioned, Channel 4 News was not mentioned and Sky News was not mentioned.”

Lygo took aim at the BBC for pleading poverty and refusing to commission a full season of hit format The Assembly. The BBC aired a The Assembly one-off last year but we revealed soon after that ITV was taking it to full series.

When session host Scott Bryan told Lygo the BBC didn’t take it to series because the corporation had already signed off its budget, Lygo responded: “Oh poor BBC, they have so little money.”

He then joked that the BBC “spent it all on Gossip Girl,” an American show that the BBC acquired in 2021.

Lygo also found time to criticize Channel 4 content boss Ian Katz for claiming Channel 4’s rivals have become “timid” and fallen back on reboots.

“I suppose they do have Bake Off, Location, Location, Location and Taskmaster,” Lygo joked, referencing a number of Channel 4 shows that were not original ideas.

“I don’t know what he’s on about,” added Lygo of Katz. “All our ideas are pretty new.”

Gary Lineker

Another ex-BBC talent shifting over to ITV is Gary Lineker for new format The Box.

Lygo said the former Match of the Day host, who left the BBC under a cloud after reposting an anti-semitic image, is “an interesting person to present a show like this.”

“It’s an outdoors-set show so that suited him and it’s quite fresh to have Gary,” he added.

Pushed on the recent news that YouTube is now watched by more people in the UK than ITV, Lygo said this hadn’t come as a surprise and the metrics are different.

“Its sort of like saying Freeview has more viewers than BBC One,” he said of the stat. “YouTube is a platform. It’s not a direct competitor to a broadcaster.”

Lygo was speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival on the same day as his opposite numbers at the BBC and Sky. It has been a heated fest, with Channel 4 and Netflix trading blows over hit series Adolescence.