And over the weekend, Munchetty couldn’t conceal her emotions when Breakfast business joke Ruddick dropped an awkward gag about “sending a picture of my dabber” to her and co-host Charlie Stayt.
The strained exchange came as they introduced an item about bingo halls, with Stayt saying: “Peter’s getting ready for eyes down. Is that the phrase? Eyes down?”
Ruddick responded teasingly: “What do you mean, is that a phrase? I know you’re at the bingo most weeks, Charlie. That’s where you’re spending your Breakfast salary, isn’t it?”
Naga Munchetty turned away after hearing Peter Ruddick’s suggestive joke
BBC
Ruddick went on, “Get ready... you’re getting ready with your dabber,” before adding: “I need to send you a picture of my dabber actually.”
As silence filled the room, he went on: “I’ve got… I’ve got a dabber upstairs actually.
“I was gonna… I was going to show it you later.”
The camera then panned out to show that Munchetty, bearing a serious expression, had turned completely away from Ruddick on the sofa.
She looked down and ran a hand through her hair as Stayt continued to stare at Ruddick in the silence.
Ruddick dropped a gag about his ‘dabber’
BBC
Recovering his composure, Ruddick went on with the report - although he appeared to almost burst out laughing at one point, before resuming with the segment.
He took to X after the incident to insist that the crew backstage were “in hysterics” over his jibe.
“Cue stony silence. But not on the studio floor or in my earpiece connected to the gallery,” he wrote.
“Everyone in hysterics. If you listen carefully you can hear the moment I almost cracked. I honestly thought I might have to stop.”
Munchetty is leaving BBC Breakfast in December
BBC
Munchetty announced in July that she is quitting BBC Breakfast after 17 years on the show. The decision comes after she was reportedly placed under review last summer following complaints of bullying over a three-year period.
In 2022, she allegedly used a crude word for a sex act and asked a colleague if they had done it. The exact comment hasn’t been reported, however one source claimed it was, “crass, inappropriate and wildly unprofessional,” and added: “The person felt embarrassed.”
In a separate alleged incident, Munchetty was accused of telling off an intern over the quality of her Marmite on toast.
The investigation is understood to have been “quietly closed” and the outcome was never made public, The Sun reported.