Rakie Ayola appears on BBC Breakfast, and in character in The Pact
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The Pact star Rakie Ayola praised over reaction to ‘loaded’ question on BBC Breakfast

Rolled her eyes before thoroughly taking 'boring' proposition apart

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The Pact star Rakie Ayola has been praised for her reaction to ‘ridiculous’ questioning from a BBC Breakfast presenter.

Actress Rakie, who plays Christine in the BBC One drama, was interviewed on Monday’s (October 24) show.

However, at one point it was put to Cardiff-born BAFTA winner Rakie that The Pact features what some viewers might consider a “woke version of a Welsh family”.

But Rakie did not seem impressed by such terminology, rolling her eyes at the suggestion from presenter Victoria Fritz.

The Pact star Rakie Ayola in character in the BBC drama
The Pact stars Rakie Ayola as DS Christine Holland (Credit: BBC)

The Pact actress Rakie Ayola on BBC Breakfast

Rakie, 54, challenged the intellectual laziness of any categorisation using the term ‘woke’.

She responded: “If anybody wants to say that to me, what I would say first is explain what you mean by ‘woke’ and then we can have the conversation. If you can’t explain it, don’t hand me that word.”

Rakie went on to indicate the term is often used as a euphemism.

“Don’t use a word you cannot describe. Because you don’t know what you mean, or maybe you know exactly what you mean and you’re afraid to say what you mean, so let’s have that conversation… You daren’t, do you know what I mean?”

Rakie Ayola appears on BBC Breakfast
Rakie Ayola was impressive on BBC Breakfast (Credit: BBC)

‘I will introduce you to a family just like this one’

The Anthony and Black Mirror actress continued by pulling apart notions concerning Welsh families and representation in The Pact.

She continued: “Sit there and tell me what you mean by ‘woke’ and then we can talk about whether this show is ‘woke’ or not. Because then I will introduce you to a family just like this one [in The Pact].

Sit there and tell me what you mean by ‘woke’ and then we can talk about whether this show is ‘woke’ or not.

“So when you say they don’t exist when they clearly do, are you saying that they’re not allowed to exist? What do you mean by that?

“Let’s have a proper conversation. Don’t throw words around willy-nilly when you’re not afraid to say exactly what you mean.

“If you don’t know, please be quiet because you’re incredibly boring.”

‘No apology wanted or needed’

Later on, the actress took to Twitter to address the “loaded” question.

“No apology wanted or needed,” she told the host.

“Believe me, if I felt differently you’d know.”

Viewers react to Rakie Ayola response on BBC Breakfast

The online reaction to Rakie’s words saw her hailed for dismissing the proposition with such panache.

“Rakie Ayola dealt with it in a much more dignified way than it deserved,” one Twitter user reflected.

“It was wonderful to watch – dignified, respectful, strong and fair response,” tweeted another.

And a third person wrote: “This clip needs to be played to everybody who uses woke as an insult in the future, what a brilliant answer!”

Read more: The Pact series 2 episode 2 review: five things we need to know

The Pact next airs on BBC One on Monday October 31 at 9pm or binge the lot on iPlayer now.

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Robert Leigh
Freelance writer