Gary Lineker reveals BBC bosses insisted on STRAPPING his private parts to avoid embarrassment during Match of the Day pants stunt after Leicester City won the Premier League in 2016
- Lineker had pledged to present Match of the Day in his pants if Leicester won
- Claudio Ranieri led the Foxes to a famous Premier League triumph in 2016
- Lineker fulfilled his side of the bargain by opening the show in his underwear
- But BBC bosses were concerned viewers might see a little too much
- So they strapped up his private parts with tape to ensure no embarrassment
Gary Lineker says the BBC had tape applied to the inside of his underwear when he famously presented Match of the Day in his pants – as they didn’t want to see any offside balls.
Lineker honoured a pledge to do the stunt when his beloved Leicester City won the Premier League three years ago – but Beeb bosses feared viewers might get extended highlights and insisted he have his privates strapped.
Leicester-born Lineker, 58, said: ‘Despite the relatively generous coverage afforded by those boxers, the show’s wardrobe people applied tape to the inside of the garment to keep it all together and thereby remove all risk of the kind of exposure the BBC prefers to avoid, even after the watershed, and definitely in its sports shows.
Gary Lineker famously presented Match of the Day in Leicester City boxer shorts at the beginning of the 2016-17 season after the Foxes won the Premier League
Lineker had been dared as Leicester closed in on winning their extraordinary title
‘Fussy of them to go to the trouble, you might think. But, on the contrary, I would say it was a sensible precaution.
‘I’ll confess: at the sight of Alan Shearer’s bald pate gleaming at me softly, late in the night, across a hot studio, I can sometimes become a little aroused. But what man wouldn’t?’
In his new book with his podcast pal Danny Baker – Behind Closed Doors: Life, Laughs and Football – the former England ace also revealed he was flooded with offers from companies to wear their pants for the dare.
Leicester fans pay homage to Lineker’s pants dare as they celebrate winning the title
Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri lifts the Premier League trophy after their 2016 title win
Lineker talks about presenting Match of the Day in his pants in his new book
He said: ‘Not even presenting Match of the Day in your underpants will give you the rush you got from scoring – which I’m in a unique position to affirm, of course, having done both.
‘Ahead of that landmark moment for sports broadcasting (the first Match of the Day of the 2016–17 season), a number of underwear brands got in touch and offered to dress me for the occasion – much as the major fashion houses approach the big stars before the Oscars, I guess.
‘Very kind of them, I’m sure, but it probably wouldn’t have been in keeping with BBC guidelines on advertising for me to have completed this self-inflicted stunt in sponsored keks.
‘As it was, I appeared in a pair of my own white boxers, with a Leicester City badge embroidered on the right leg as a token of my affiliation.’