The One Show presenter Anita Rani has hit back after photographers reportedly mistook her for Saira Khan at the TV Choice Awards earlier this week. Anita, 40, took to Twitter to write: "I've been mistaken for every flippin' Asian woman on telly. It's disrespectful and sloppy at best. It's important to get our names and identities right. I've been working on TV for over 15 years!! Will the real @itsanitarani please step forward."
The presenter, whose TV credits include Countryfile and Strictly Come Dancing, also responded to another Twitter user who said he was frequently mistaken for "every other 70+ fat" man in south London. Anita replied: "I've shrugged it off so many times like loads of people. I'm just making a point. When people whose job it is to know who people are can't get it right, it needs saying. There are only a handful of brown women on TV."
Home Sweet Home with Anita Rani:
Loose Women's Saira showed she was in agreement, as she retweeted an article about how the two women are often compared to each other. Saira, 48, is best known by fans as a panellist on the ITV show and earlier this week she made headlines after introducing her adopted daughter live on air.
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The mother-of-two was reduced to tears as she opened up about the process of adopting Amara from an orphanage in Pakistan. "All I remember is when they put her in my arms, she was mine," Saira shared with the panel and audience. "That was it. I looked into these eyes, huge eyes, and they were staring back at me like that."
© Photo: Getty ImagesAnita said she is often mistaken for "every flippin' Asian woman on telly"
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Saira, who also has ten-year-old son Zac with her husband Steve, said: "I got a phone call six days after going into Pakistan and they said, 'A baby girl's been abandoned.' At that moment I had to make a decision. I don't know what's wrong with this baby, I will never know about her medical condition, what do I do? The doctor said, 'Do you want to carry on or do you want to take the baby back?' And I said, 'This baby is mine and whatever happens to her, I am taking her back to the UK.' And I did. She was in intensive care for seven days."
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