Brazil’s version of the popular Masterchef Junior has found itself at the centre of controversy after Twitter users sent suggestive messages to one of the show’s young contestants.
Valentina Schulz is 12-years-old and loves cooking, and she loves it so much so that she’s gone on national television to try and win the Masterchef Junior title.
But after the first episode of the show aired, social media users singled Valentina out with one man writing: ‘About this Valentina: if it’s consensual, is it paedophilia?’
Another posted: ‘Let me keep quiet to not be jailed.’
The network which airs the Brazilian version, The Band, said in a statement to website IG, that it ‘condemns and deplores these unpleasant manifestations of extreme poor taste’.
‘The focus of the program is the talent of children and is not there as any incitement to such stimulus,’ the statement added
Valentina’s father revealed that although they anticipated ‘haters’ they were shielding their daughter from the disturbing comments.