After she was dropped from Countryfile in 2009, she successfully sued the BBC for age discrimination, saying at the start of her court case that she could no longer watch the programme after being axed from it, as it was too emotionally painful. During the hearing, former BBC One Controller Jay Hunt (ten years O'Reilly's junior) was called as a witness, who O'Reilly accused of ageism, sexism and that she "hated women." In January 2011, the day after Hunt began working at Channel 4, O'Reilly's claims for age discrimination and victimisation were upheld.
