Katie was given Make-up and Prosthetics to give her brown skin to try and make her look like she is of Pakistani origin. She even dressed in a hijab. The whole point of this documentary was to help change Katie’s attitudes towards Islam and challenge her prejudices against the community.

The horrific terrorist attack that happened at Ariana Grande’s concert at the Manchester Arena, had occurred during the same time the documentary was filmed, making Katie’s experience even acute.

Once the trailer had been released, it was widely criticised for the ‘brown face’ and immediately caused a racism row on social media. A local spokesperson for the Muslim
Council of Britain stated that: “The use of brown face and blackface has a long racist history and it is not surprising that it has caused deep offence amongst some communities. Had we been consulted, we would not have advised this approach.

“We do, however, laud the apparent goals of the documentary – to better understand the reality of Islamophobia, which has become socially accepted across broader society.”

Many people expressed their anger on social media and even led to some people questioning why the documentary couldn’t show a Muslim family without involving a masked white woman.

Katie shared her views on the experience, she said: “I didn’t know what to expect or what they would think of me,” she said. “Would they think I was a racist? And what would I think of them? “But Saima opened the door and just put her arms out and I was
quite taken aback.”

She also stated that: “I would never class myself as racist but I was perhaps quite fearful of them,” she said: “I would see a Muslim out and I would be on my guard because of
what I had seen on the news.”Saima, 49, and her family invited Katie to spend a week with them to see exactly what life is like in a Muslim household.

Katie Freeman wore traditional Islamic clothing, her skin was darkened to give her a brown complex that makes her look as if she is of Pakistani origin, she was given a distinguished prosthetic nose and stained teeth.

Although many people were impressed, others criticised Katie’s appearance, finding it to be controversial and racist. The show received a strong reaction from many viewers on Twitter.