Can a company discriminate based on passport type

Indricotherium

If a UK company was running a selection process to appear on a television programme, featuring people left to survive on an island, can they discriminate between EU passport types.

While it is not a job per se, compensation is paid for time away from your own job that you would need to take if you were selected.

Could a UK company insist that only UK residents with UK passports can apply?

banie01

It could quite possibly be dependent on where the Island is?Who's sovereign territory it is.
And whether or not there is a Visa waiver for UK?
There may be Visa\Entry waiver for UK passport holders, that is not extended to EU passport holders so by restricting the applicant pool to UK passport holders they are trying to ensure that whomever they select for the show can actually travel without a Visa application or other such adminstrative hassle?

brian_t

The BBC's "Going for Gold" is the only programme that I can think of that did not discriminate between EU passport types.

Bepolite

While I can;t put my finger on any particular law, it's common practice of competitions to be limited to the country in which the competition is run. I think what you're trying to do is make the free movement of goods/services etc. mean that there has to be free access. I'm not sure a good/service has to move even though it has the freedom to.

Would a week-end on Innishark not be infinitely more enjoyable and less humiliating?

seamus

In this kind of scenario, the contestants would most likely sign performer's/performance contracts, under which specific discrimination is generally allowed.

Theatre and similar dramatic arts are exempt from discrimination laws for the obvious reason that you couldn't cast a black Henry VIII. Therefore they are allowed to exclude applicants on the basis of things which would land every other employer in hot water.

A production company could easily justify insisting on UK-only citizens as they fulfill the intention of the programme.

Bepolite