The BBC has pulled Ashley Cain: Into the Danger Zone season 2 after offensive historic tweets from the presenter reportedly emerged.
The new run of the BBC Three documentary was filmed earlier this year but had not yet been scheduled for transmission.
Now, the broadcaster has said it has “no plans” to air season 2 and has “no future projects” with Cain.
The former professional footballer was recently alleged by The Guardian to have referred to women as “sl*gs”, “sl*ts”, “psychos”, “b***hes” and other offensive terms in historic tweets.
Cain has yet to publicly comment on the accusations.
In a statement issued on Thursday (18 June), a BBC spokesperson said: “The posts by Ashley Cain, albeit from many years ago, are completely unacceptable.
“The BBC has clear requirements around vetting and social media checks, which are undertaken by the production company.
“In this instance, the process clearly failed and we are investigating why. We are continuing to strengthen our processes to ensure everyone working for, and on behalf of, the BBC meets our values and standards.”
It concluded: “We have no plans to broadcast the new series of Into the Danger Zone, and no future projects with Ashley Cain.”
Cain’s account has now been deactivated. Radio Times has reached out to Cain’s representatives for further comment.
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The BBC said in a statement earlier this week that it “expects the highest standards of behaviour from everyone who works with or for the BBC”.
Radio Times understands that the BBC had been unaware of the social media posts and had asked the independent production companies that engaged Cain to review their social media checks undertaken at the time.
At the time of writing, the first season of Into the Danger Zone is still available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
The documentary sees the former footballer turned reality TV star travel to the world’s most dangerous places, where he interviews young men who live on the fringes of society.
Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.
