Racing pundit John McCririck's employment tribunal has retired to consider whether the 73-year-old was sacked by Channel 4 because of his age.
McCririck claims he was dumped from his high-profile role on Channel 4 Racing by "anonymous suits and skirts" as part of a drive to hire younger faces.
The pundit, famed for his deerstalker, tic-tac gestures and gold jewellery, is taking his former employer and TV production company IMG Media Limited to the tribunal, alleging his sacking last year was motivated by age discrimination. Both firms deny discrimination in the £3 million case.
During the case at the Central London Employment Tribunal, McCririck claimed sexist remarks and rude behaviour, especially on reality TV shows such as Celebrity Big Brother and Celebrity Wife Swap, were a "pantomime" role that had been actively encouraged by Channel 4.
But the panel was told by witnesses from the station and IMG that he was dropped because he was "offensive" and "disgusting".
McCririck was ditched when Channel 4 awarded the contract for racing to IMG Media last year, and unveiled a new presenting team headed by Clare Balding.
The tribunal, which opened last Monday, has heard from the pundit himself, as well as witnesses including Channel 4's chief creative officer Jay Hunt; Jamie Aitchison, the channel's commissioning editor for sport; and Graham Fry, managing director of Sports Production Worldwide at IMG.
Its three-strong panel retired today after hearing oral submissions from counsel for both Channel 4 and McCririck, and will deliberate for the rest of the week. It is not known exactly when it will give its decision.
In closing submissions Thomas Linden QC, counsel for Channel 4, said McCririck had suggested he could switch from one "thoroughly obnoxious" persona to another, more serious one.
But he said it was not the case that bosses could say: "Look John, please be clean-shaven, please wear a grey suit, please don't go for this extravagant manner, please don't portray yourself as slightly mad, please don't be aggressive with the public, please don't call your colleagues bynicknames, please drop your reality television career because it's impinging on your work", and McCririck would have complied.
"As a matter of reality it simply isn't the case," Mr Linden said.
"We see time and time again the possibility of the claimant being a serious character and failing woefully," he added, giving an example of a Sunday Times interview where McCririck had "gone on" about Kate Winslet's breasts and wanting to have sex with Dawn French.
Mr Linden told the tribunal that a survey of viewers suggested McCririck highly unpopular with viewers, but added: "Even without data, it's a reasonable assumption, isn't it, that the claimant's profile, whether that is in his reality television programmes or in racing broadcasting, was off-putting to many.
"A lot of racing viewers are right-thinking people who find this sort of behaviour obnoxious."
Jennifer Eady QC, representing McCririck, told the panel the 73-year-old had already suffered the humiliation of having his days and hours cut but had carried on working.
"Why? Because Mr McCririck was passionate about this job," she said. "If there was one thing he loved doing it was this and he had done it for 28 years.
"It was hard to draw any conclusion other than this was his life."
She said IMG wanted a "younger, sexier, more glamorous" programme, which had influenced the decision to axe McCririck from its coverage.
"You have got to ask, have the respondents demonstrated that the decision had nothing to do whatsoever with the claimant's age?" she said.
The tribunal panel is expected to deliberate for the remainder of this week, but it is not yet known when it will give its judgment.
Speaking after today's hearing, McCririck said: "We were confident when we started bringing this back in the summer.
"I always said there would never be evidence given in writing like 'age discrimination, get rid of the oldies'. But I think the evidence has been overwhelming."
He blamed his sacking on a "change of culture" at Channel 4, which he said had become involved in a "desperate scrabble" for ratings.
McCririck said the tribunal had been "horrendous" but the support he had received had left him "choked up".
"It's an ordeal to have to go through, a daunting ordeal," he said.
