I don't even think it's virtue signalling. I'm not sure what virtue they're trying to signal. Xenophobia isn't a virtue.

All it does is devalue to competition, both in terms of competitive quality, and in terms of moral integrity. It can't be good for ratings, since at least some people turn off as a consequence (me being one of them), while I can't imagine many people will watch when they wouldn't have otherwise done so, just because they stuck it to Putin.

It's annoying, too. I want to watch it, there's a (pretend) Brit in the semis. But I feel like to watch it would be to turn a blind eye to systematic xenophobia.