# PBS personality Jeff Smith - What happened?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-personality-jeff-smith-what-happened/10974>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 24, 2000, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-personality-jeff-smith-what-happened/10974 "2000-04-24T15:40:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BMD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d2c977/32.png) [@BMD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMD)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-personality-jeff-smith-what-happened/10974/1 "2000-04-24T15:40:00Z")

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Hello,

My grandmother and I used to watch Jeff Smith’s PBS program, “The Frugal Gourmet”… that is until he was accused of abusing (maybe molesting) a child. Shortly after that his program was pulled off PBS. What happened to Mr. Smith? Was he convicted? Did he do it? What exactly did he do?

I’ve been curious about this for awhile… as I recall him being acused, but nothing in the news after that. If you know, please post here or e-mail me so I can let my granny know too.

Thanks in advance…

BMD

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-personality-jeff-smith-what-happened/10974/2 "2000-04-25T05:21:00Z")

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Smith was never charged with any crime as the statute of limitations had run out on any such allegation.  
While Smith denied the allegations, he did settle out of court with his accusers for around $5 million according to published reports.