Baz Ashmaw attacked for assisting refugees after DIY SOS

Broadcaster Baz Ashmawy has criticised protesters who ‘attacked’ him after he helped build homes for Ukrainian refugees in the DIY SOS Christmas special.

The Christmas episode of the construction programme involved Baz and the team building homes for Ukrainian refugees, with over 100 volunteers helping to retrofit the homes in the Kingston College area of Mitchelstown in Cork.

But the TV host revealed that the gesture of goodwill caused outrage among a minority of viewers, leading to an incident where a group of people followed him and accused him of ‘not putting the Irish first’.

‘I had people following me to Kinsale on my night off. I got out of the car, and they started attacking me and I was thinking, “the energy these people are putting into chasing me and not doing anything to help people”,’ he told the RTÉ Guide.

Baz Ashmawy. Pic: Tom Honan

‘People were upset and wanted someone to blame but you can’t blame a show like DIY SOS, because the people who helped build the houses for the Ukrainians are very often the same people who come back every week and help build houses for Irish people.’

Baz says of the programme: ‘It’s entertainment, sure, but it’s also showing the goodness of humanity.’ It is not the first time the 50 Ways To Kill Your Mammy star has addressed anti-immigrant sentiment, having previously criticised those with an ‘Irish first’ mentality.

‘The attitude of “you’re helping Ukrainians instead of Irish people”… we’ve done six DIY SOS’s this year, we’ve done them all for Irish people,’ he told RTÉ Radio in December.

Baz Ashmawy and Nancy Ashmawy. Pic: Andres Poveda

‘This is our third season doing it, they’ve all been for Irish people. You have the ability to choose to care about a lot of different things. A lot of these families that we tried to house are women and children and babies. You don’t want to help babies?’

He criticised the protesters for also targeting the show’s volunteers. ‘I have worked alongside the volunteers. They have the biggest hearts, they are the most amazing people. ‘I take umbrage with it [an ‘Irish first’ attitude]. I have six kids. I have the ability to care about all of them.

I don’t care about one of them, I care about them all. ‘Likewise, these people [volunteers] care about disability, and homelessness and all the issues that matter.’

DIY SOS is on RTÉ One/RTÉ Player at 6.30pm on Sunday.