by Lamiat Sabin

MORE than 22,500 people backed the call this weekend for a planned BBC “poverty porn” TV talent contest to be scrapped.

James Pauley from Bolton started an online petition on Friday calling for the halt of Britain’s Hardest Grafter, which pits benefit claimants and poor workers against each other for a £15,000 prize.

Mr Pauley said he was “reeling in disbelief” when he heard about the broadcaster’s “degrading” concept. The former teacher told the Star yesterday that he was “flabbergasted” at the response to the Change.org petition.

The proposed show, yet to be filmed, has been likened to Channel 4’s Benefits Street and the Hunger Games sci-fi films, in which destitute children fight to the death in televised contests.

The BBC’s programme would follow 25 young underpaid and unemployed people who would compete in doing a series of low-paid jobs for a “prize” of £15,000 — as much as the living wage salary outside London.

Mr Pauley said: “I’m hoping that when the BBC see the strength of opinion that they will change their minds.”

The BBC says that the show is a current affairs commission and not designed to mock and ridicule young people who are desperately trying to get a start in their working lives.

In a joint statement with production company Twenty Twenty, makers of such TV gold as The Hoarder Next Door and Gareth’s All-Star Choir, the broadcaster claimed: “The welfare of those taking part is of paramount importance and it is a misinterpretation of the concept of the series to suggest it is exploitative.”

When contacted by the Star, the BBC added: “When people see the final product we’re confident they’ll feel the subject was dealt with sensitively.”

But Mr Pauley retorted: “At the end of the day, it is a competition. They’re making it a competitive format. It is like The Apprentice, except at the other end of the scale.”

Participants would receive two weeks’ pay for filming at a rate above the minimum wage for a chance to win the grand prize — for which they would have to pay tax and national insurance contributions.

However, it is believed that — as there is only one winner — there will be many losers.

Poverty campaigner and food writer Jack Monroe wrote a plea on her website urging people not to apply to the programme after a recruitment poster for the show stated: “This project will give you the opportunity to prove your abilities.”

She said that “future employers will likely be watching this show” and a contestant is likely to be “painted as a scrounger, a skiver, reckless, feckless and workshy” by the production team.