Adam Richman Draws ITV Backlash on World Cup Opening Day — Semra Hunter
semra hunter: ITV viewers complained on the World Cup’s opening day after Adam Richman appeared as a pundit on the broadcaster’s coverage. The reaction split along familiar lines: some wanted him removed, while others defended the choice as part of the channel’s broader tournament panel.
Adam Richman on ITV
Richman, best known as the creator and presenter of Man v Food, featured on ITV yesterday, when the World Cup officially kicked off. His presence stood out because pundit benches on and ITV usually lean on presenters plus former professional footballers or managers, making a food and travel TV figure an unusual call for a football broadcast.
That surprise fed the backlash. One X user wrote, “ITV need to ditch this Adam Richman thing ASAP. It’s cringe.” Another account added, “Why is the man vs food guy talking football on ITV.”
Fans Split on Richman
Richman also brought a built-in football angle that some viewers said justified the booking. He is a long-time Spurs fan and an investor in League Two club Grimsby Town, which gave supporters of the move a ready-made explanation for why he was on screen in the first place.
One viewer wrote, “I know Adam Richman is a Spurs fan, but I just can’t hate the guy as he keeps using the proper word ‘football’ and not ‘soccer’ like most other Americans would on ITV’s World Cup coverage.” Another said, “Can get aboard with the Adam Richman segments on itvs coverage. All round solid bloke who loves football and will surely get some good snippets of local knowledge and food clips.”
ITV’s Tournament Gamble
The split response is the point. ITV put a recognizable TV personality into a role normally filled by football insiders, and the first day produced both criticism and defense in the same feed. Richman is set to keep offering comments throughout the tournament, so the broadcaster has already committed to the choice rather than treating it as a one-off experiment.
For viewers, that means the opening-day reaction is not just noise around a novelty booking. ITV has doubled down on a pundit who draws attention before he even talks tactics, and the rest of its World Cup run will now be judged partly on whether that attention turns into value on screen.
