The UK's History Channel has suspended broadcasting of its new show The Chop: Britain's Top Woodworker after viewers pointed out that one of the contestants had neo-Nazi tattoos on his face. Viewers noticed the tattoos after a teaser was released that featured "The Woodman" (aka tattooed contestant Darren Lumsden).

The Chop: Britain's Top Woodworker copied the format of The Great British Baking Show. However, instead of baking tall towers of bread and cake, the contestants build wooden accessories to decorate a large cabin in the Epping Forest. The first episode premiered on October 15, after viewers had already spotted the dubious tattoos. Sky History is just like the USA's History Channel. with the same logo. Now, Sky History has taken down all images and promos that include "The Woodman" and stopped airing episodes. This move didn't happen as fast as it might have.

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When people first pointed out that the numbers on Lumsden's cheek, 88, were a Nazi symbol (88 references the 8th letter in the alphabet, H, and stands for Heil Hitler), Sky History initially defended Lumsden. They claimed that 88 represented the year his father died. In an official statement, Sky History said, "The production team carried out extensive background checks on all the woodworkers taking part in the show, that confirmed Darren has no affiliations or links to racist groups, views or comments. Sky History is intolerant of racism and all forms of hatred and any use of symbols or numbers is entirely incidental and not meant to cause harm or offence." See a newer tweet from Sky History below:

While we investigate the nature & meaning of Darren’s tattoos we have removed the video featuring him from our social media, & will not be broadcasting any eps of The Chop until we have concluded that investigation. Sky HISTORY stands against racism & hate speech of all kinds.

— Sky HISTORY (@HISTORYUK) October 20, 2020

Sky History's claims that 88 represented Lumsden's father's year of death were quickly debunked. Twitter user and writer Dawn Foster revealed that "very basic research throws up the fact that his father was on the electoral roll at a Bristol address from 2002-11 despite allegedly dying in 1988." Beyond the 88, Lumsden has more common Nazi symbols that Sky History evidently didn't notice. On either side of his temples are the letters 23 and 16, which stand for "white power" (with "w" being the 23rd letter of the alphabet and "p" being the 16th.) He also has the word "homegrown" tattooed on his upper lip, which is a common white supremacist and anti-immigrant phrase in the UK. However, it doesn't end there. Dr. Adam Rutherford, who wrote How To Argue With a Racist, tweeted other possible Nazi symbols on Lumsden's face. See the tweet below:

After previously defending Lumsden's character, Sky History finally acknowledged that the evidence was damning, and announced that they would take action. While they investigated, they took down the video featuring him from their social media pages and stopped airing episodes of The Chop. For a channel that's supposed to know its history, they were quite easily fooled by Lumsden's excuses for his tattoos. To make matters worse, October is Black History Month in Britain, which added to the viewer's dismay over the casualness of Sky History Channel's response.

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Source: Pajiba, Sky HISTORY, Dawn Foster, Dr. Adam Rutherford