English television presenter Jan Leeming has claimed that in 2017 she pitched to the BBC an idea “the same – or similar” to All That Glitters, a jewellery contest show currently midway through its first season on BBC Two.
In a series of blog posts she has claimed to be “gutted” that the BBC has run a programme that bears resemblance to the one she allegedly pitched only four years ago.
“I tried to market the idea of a ‘jewellery challenge’ but got nowhere. I don’t have any friends in high places or any powerful contacts,” she wrote in one blog post.
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Leeming detailed how she went as far as making a promotional video and written plan for the project in 2017, before making another video in 2019. The idea was rejected both times, she claimed.
Then, after seeing All That Glitters advertised, a friend Leeming had previously told of her idea got in touch to ask if she was involved.
“I am left grinding my teeth with righteous fury but can do nothing about it,” Leeming wrote in her blog. “I’ve neither the funds to take on a big organisation nor the temperament to go through a lot of stress.
“There is no way I can prove anything – whether or not the production company producing All That Glitters has used any of my ideas.”
In later blogs the 79-year-old revealed that she does not believe the show has reached the potential of the concept and expressed her “sincere hope” that it is able to “improve with bedding in”.
“I actually feel sorry for what I see as a superb opportunity missed.”
Meanwhile, a BBC spokesperson commented: “All That Glitters is an original format developed by Twenty Twenty Productions.”
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