Antiques Roadshow has been a staple of Sunday night television for over 40 years, but host Fiona Bruce has admitted that many of the items brought to be valued are ‘tat’

Fiona Bruce, the host of Antiques Roadshow, has stirred up a bit of controversy with her frank comments about the show.

She confessed that many items brought in for valuation are simply “tat”.

After 16 years of hosting the popular BBC programme, Bruce made this surprising admission about the large amount of junk that is presented but never makes it to the final broadcast.

In a 2008 interview, she disclosed: “There is a lot of tat brought on the show.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have said that, but don’t get me wrong, the tat never gets on the show.”

This revelation shocked long-time viewers, as part of the charm of the show lies in the potential for seemingly worthless items to be revealed as hidden gems.

Over the years, the show has unveiled some incredible finds, such as a 25p soap dish that was identified as a rare piece of 18th-century Delftware worth £5,000.

Another notable find was a simple pilot’s watch, which due to a repair bill addressed to TE Shaw, was discovered to have belonged to Lawrence of Arabia and valued at up to £10,000.

Despite her longstanding involvement with Antiques Roadshow, Bruce has not been exempt from criticism.

When she succeeded Michael Aspel in 2008, there was backlash from traditionalists who accused the BBC of “sexing up” the show by replacing older presenters with younger ones, reports the Express.

Some Antiques Roadshow viewers didn’t quite warm to Fiona Bruce after she took over, missing the gravitas that her predecessors brought to the show.

One dissatisfied viewer voiced their concern: “She appears to have little or no knowledge about antiques and treats it all as a great joke.”

Another was critical, saying: “It has become the Fiona Bruce Show. In the past, the antiques and the members of the public were the story – now it’s all about her.”

Despite such comments, the show’s popularity has surged since Bruce became host, with audience numbers climbing by over a million.

As criticism first emerged, the BBC robustly backed Bruce, asserting her presence hadn’t altered the programme’s format.

A spokesperson addressed the ‘tat’ comment controversy, stating: “To clarify, Antiques Roadshow uses a team of experts and, as regular viewers will know, high value isn’t necessarily an important criterion to be featured on the show.”

Reflecting on the initial backlash, Bruce said: “When you take over from someone who’s been there a long time, not everyone will be happy. So I was pleasantly surprised that more people didn’t object.”