CELEBRITY WIFE SWAP: Ron Atkinson vs Tessa Sanderson
Big Ron Atkinson had a glittering 50 years in football from player to manager to commentator. But a racist remark five years ago cost him his job. Maggie, his wife of 27 years, tends to Ron’s every need. But romantic Ron showers her with gifts. Romance is something Olympic legend Tessa Sanderson yearns for. Tessa lives with former judo champ Densign White in East London. The first British black woman to bring gold home prides herself on being a black role model. What happens when Tessa and Maggie swap lives? How does Ron fare under new management?
Sunday 16 August 2009
8:00pm, Channel 4
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She was trying to get him involved in a race debate. His success can be seen by the size of his house and the love from his wife. He rightly told her that her passion is not altogether altruistic as she makes a living from helping black children in sport.
Before this prog I’d have guessed T Sanderson to be an OK person. Now I just think what a mouth on her, trying to talk over people so much like the only one with anything to say is her!
Well done Ron Atkinson, to have that woman in your house must be a nightmare – you showed a LOT more patience than I would’ve. You came across a really nice bloke who defended himself well against a ‘mouth’.
PS:
Or – in the immortal words of Nikki Grahame…
“Who is she?!!.. WHO IS SHE??!!!”
i don’t understand your comments. she demonstrated the patience of a saint with him. he was blooming hard work, how submissive do you want your women to be?
Tessa Sanderson is 53. When Ron Atkinson was 53 he was working longer hours and with a heap more responsiblity and worry than she has in her ‘job’. Who does she think she is trying to ‘teaching her Grandmother to suck eggs’.
Mr Atkinson was restrained and to the point, she was shrill and hectering. Saying she was surprised by his attitude towards her taunts and that she didn’t mean to upset him was weak and transparent. l think Miss Sanderson was trying to make a name for herself. Well, work in sport for 50 years, running some of the most successful teams, giving your life up to your job and giving pleasure and excitement to hundreds of thousands of people regularly and you might be thought of as someone not attempting to wear your background as a ‘cloak’ to get yourself through life.
Big Ron was wrong, of that I have no doubt. However how many times is he supposed to say sorry, didn’t this incident happen over five years ago.
Before this programme I admired Tessa Sanderson now my opinion has changed for the worse. Who does she think she is?
Big Ron was wrong, of that I have no doubt. However how many times is he supposed to say sorry, didn’t this incident happen over five years ago.
Before this programme I admired Tessa Sanderson now my opinion has changed for the worst Who does she think she is?
I think Tessa was lovely and patient with the bigot Ron. His plastic faced shallow empty headed wife should take some diplomacy lesons from her I think.
I found the programme very interesting. Ron came across as a genuine gentleman that had made a very unfortunate mistake some 5 years before. Tessa is a former great (Black) Olympic Champion athlete. It was obvious that this was a planned pairing by the TV producers and it would highlight/pursue an explination on the race topic. On balance, I personally thought that both Ron and Tessa equally emerged as winners.
Ron Atkinson was rightly maligned by the press for his stupid and thoughtless comments — clearly made out of exasperation for the lack of performance (in his opinion) of a well known black player. OK, so let’s move on! We don’t need to deliberately prolong the misery of this guy and his charming wife forever. Ron Atkinson is clearly not a racist and it is a disgrace that he has been treated like a leper and a criminal. Forgive and forget! I look forward to seeing and hearing Ron Atkinson’s excellent football commentaries again — and, please, let some enlightened producer hire this guy’s exceptional talents to replace, one of the many boring nonentities that seem to dominate the current viewing and listening times on many of the sports TV and Radio stations.
I definitely don’t think Big Ron’s a racist – he seems a real nice bloke. He’s got a lovely wife in Maggie – who he loves with all his heart and she seems devoted to him. Tess was a lovely woman – although a bit bossy. Densign should show her a bit more love – she’s a special lady for her work at the sporting academy. Good on you, Tess. And good to see you again, Ron. All the best, mate. Love always to you and your lovely other half Maggie. Lots of love – Scot.
I think Tessa was too loud and shrill but I liked her positive attitude and outlook. I don’t know how she put up with Ron who I thought was rude, chauvinist and defensive. How could he talk to her like that, considering she was a guest in his home and had done a good job in running and maintaining it for a week? As she’s a black woman, did he seriously think the issue of his racial slur would never come up? I don’t think Ron realises the full import of what he said because he refuses to confront the issue, at least his wife Maggie was different in this regard. I was very impressed by her and Tessa, both of which made some great suggestions. Also, people keep saying that Ron made ‘a mistake’. Can I please correct you all by informing you that there have been at least TWO occasions where Ron has been recorded making a racist remark about black people so get your facts straight please. What’s in your heart comes out of your mouth so if he says racist things- that’s because he’s a racist. Doh! While Ron’s clearly done a lot to assist black footballers, that doesn’t mean that he’s not racist. That’s like saying that someone can’t be racist just because they have black friends or a black partner which is ridiculous. I find people like Leon’s readiness to gloss over his taunts disturbing.
Following on from Vernie’s comments.
Even the slave masters couldn’t resist black women and yet they were N*ggers to them too. So are we saying they weren’t racist? Seems everyone but black people have a say on what is racist.
Ron says he helped to bring black footballers into the mainstream. I’d beg to differ and say black footballers assisted Ron Atkinson in the “success” he had.
Ron Atkinson wasn’t trying to help black footballers (cos they are thick and lazy don’t forget and he must have seen a lot of those in his time right), he just saw talent and used it to his advantage, nothing more.
What is quite significant to me though is that Ron was comfortable enough to sit in a studio with other people around and say what he said. That tells me alot about the environment and people he was with but doesn’t surprise me one bit. And only because it was blurted out live did it cause a stir, cos no doubt he said stuff before and has said stuff since.
As previously said, what is in your heart is what comes out your mouth and shows in your actions. If you are full of love, love comes out and if you are full of hate, likewise.
To some of you it might be a minor mistake to use a word that has so much history attached to it for black people, but again living in England, that is no surprise. Seems like it’s nothing to you guys for someone to refer to black people in that manner which only leads me to ask.. Do you hear the word alot then in your circles ? Cos I don’t lol wonder why
I do agree that if a person is truly repentent of their actions then that should be the end of it, IF they truly are that is. I wonder if his sorrow really is genuine or if he is more sorrowful that he was so stupid as to not check the microphone first before cursing black people out along with his mates like he usually does.
Ron Atkinson is not to blame, he is just a product of his environment. His environment employed him and had no problem with him until he forgot to turn off his microphone.
That’s all folks
Totally agree with you Mark. Now that’s what I’m talking ’bout.
Ron Atkinson came across as a horrible out of date man. I can’t believe Tessa ended up apologising for his behaviour. The problem with his comment was not that the microphone was still on – the problem was that he made the comment in the first place. He doesn’t seem to have any respect for anyone other than himself. It was hard to work out whether he disliked her more for being a woman or for being black. He kept telling her to shut up and listen but he was doing all of the talking. Rude, rude, arrogant man. For those of us who couldn’t care less about football he is a rude, rude nothing.
Tessa Sanderson gave poor Ron Atkinson such an hard time trying to get him to comment on the race issue, yet Tessa openly stated that she was a black roll model, I think that’s racist also, what is wrong with being a roll model for every one black and white, and if she isn’t a racist then why not help all underprivileged children, lets not forget racism works both ways and none of it should be tolerated in any form.
Whats wrong with her being a black role model ?