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Gary Lineker says pledge to appear in his pants 'depends if the studio is cosy' Gary Lineker says pledge to appear in his pants 'depends if the studio is cosy'
(about 1 hour later)
Gary Lineker has said fulfilling his pledge to present the first episode of this season’s Match of the Day in his underwear depends on how cosy the studio is. Not since Celia Johnson laid eyes on Trevor Howard has the nation been so captivated by a brief encounter. But the anticipation will finally come to an end on Saturday night when Gary Lineker, in front of a likely audience of more than 4 million people, presents Match of the Day in his underpants.
The former England captain promised in December that he would strip off for the opening episode of the 2016-17 season if Leicester held on to their winning streak and won the Premier League title. At least, we think he will. As of Friday morning, the BBC presenter and former England striker was still being a little coy about his imminent striptease on the first weekend of the Premier League season.
At the time, the Foxes had just beaten the champions Chelsea at the King Power stadium but were still priced at odds of 5000:1 to win the title. “YES! If Leicester win the @premierleague I’ll do the first MOTD of next season in just my undies,” he tweeted. “We’ll have to wait and see what happens,” Lineker told the Guardian, when asked to confirm his partly clothed punditry. “It depends on how cold the studio is. If they get it nice and cosy, it might just work.”
Leicester went on to win the season by 10 points and, asked by the Guardian whether he would stick to his word, Lineker said: “Well is that tomorrow? That’s come round quickly! It depends on how cold the studio is. If they get it nice and cosy it might just work. Related: Will Gary Lineker really present Match of the Day in his pants?
“I generally have a brand of brief on every day. I’ve given it a lot of thought and again you will have to wait and see but apparently there’s been a lot of betting on the outcome. Actually I need to start preparing for it.” Lineker also refused to specify which brand of underpant he would be wearing, saying “I generally have a brand of brief on every day,” although the BBC’s commercial rules would probably necessitate any logo being covered in double-sided sticky tape. “I’ve given it a lot of thought, and again you will have to wait and see, but apparently there’s been a lot of betting on the outcome,” he said.
With the show nearing, fans have been split with eagerness and dread over seeing more of Lineker than they had previously anticipated. On Thursday the BBC released a teaser image showing a pair of Y-fronts hanging underneath Lineker’s peg, in-between suits for pundits Alan Shearer and Ian Wright. One detail Lineker was willing to divulge was that, if the strip goes ahead, it will certainly not be for the duration of Match of the Day’s 90 minutes. When asked how he would hope to extract tactical analysis from Alan Shearer while largely in the buff, Lineker’s velvet voice turned steely. “Doing the entirety of the show in my pants would become a bit farcical,” he said.
Walkers Crisps, for whom Lineker is the public face, tweeted: “Forgotten that tweet, Gary? We haven’t. #WeSupportYouGary.” This moment has been in the offing since December, when Lineker tweeted that he would present the venerable highlights show in “just my undies” if his beloved Leicester City won the league. At that point, the Foxes sat on top of the table, but remained rank outsiders. Five months later and Claudio Ranieri’s men had won the title by 10 points.
Leicester’s manager, Claudio Ranieri, added: “I want to watch!” And former footballer Mark Bright also tweeted to Lineker: “Just wanted to wish you all the best for Saturday night’s show @BBCMOTD best turn the aircon off, might be chilly.”
Lineker himself suggested he would be going ahead with the pledge, posting a photo of himself working out in the gym with the caption “Prep #MOTD #pants #gym #thatprotein”.
He told the Guardian: “Doing the entirety of the show in my pants would become a bit farcical” and the concept of showing off his body was terrifying.
Gulp! https://t.co/zzbaVj2NyaGulp! https://t.co/zzbaVj2Nya
If that's what does it for you Claudio. https://t.co/7TzX9IwVLJIf that's what does it for you Claudio. https://t.co/7TzX9IwVLJ
Meanwhile Highcross, a shopping centre in Leicester, unveiled a flag in the shape of underpants emblazoned with “Go for it Gary!”. Jo Tallack, the centre’s general manager, said: “Foxes fans across the country will be supporting Gary this weekend. At Highcross, we wanted to show him that he’s not alone so we’ve created our own pair of underpants to fly above the centre in support of Gary and LCFC.” “I think Leicester’s win was a one-off, which makes their achievement all the more special,” Lineker said. “Last season was nothing short of a sporting miracle and it’s not going to happen again. That said, I think there’s something of the unknown about the Premier League now.
The buildup has spanned a period of months. In May David Cameron even said during a session of prime minister’s questions that Lineker should keep his promise. Lineker previously told BBC Today programme host John Humphrys that he didn’t think there was any way out of the dare, such as by wearing his underwear and his trousers. “I looked at my wording very carefully. I have given myself very little room for manoeuvring. I said only my underpants,” he said. “Look at the other European leagues and there are one or two likely challengers for the title. In our league this season, there are quite comfortably five or six. Plus we’ve had an influx of the world’s big-name managers and are starting to attract big players too. It’s astonishingly difficult to predict a winner.”
In a separate BBC interview, he also told fellow MOTD presenter Dan Walker the whole thing had been bonkers, adding: “Do I regret the tweet? No, not really. I don’t because it’s been quite fun.” When asked to complete the phrase “the Premier League is the _____ league in the world,” Lineker replied: “Richest”.
The former Everton and Spurs forward’s potential trouser-free appearance comes in the week that his fellow BBC presenter Helen Skelton was chastised for her choice of clothing during Olympics coverage. Critics in both traditional and social media claimed her skirt was too short, despite the fact that it was longer than the shorts being worn by her colleague, Mark Foster. While Lineker professed to be ignorant of the specific furore, he said controversy was becoming all too easy to generate.
“There is Twitter outrage at everything,” he said. “Be it a pair of trousers or a short skirt, somebody, somewhere, will not like it. It’s best completely ignored. It will just be some silly keyboard warrior taking umbrage, often just to troll. I’ve got about 5 million followers on Twitter and if I tweet anything there will be faux outrage. What you learn is that you can’t please everyone all the time. But, for the press, this outrage is sometimes quite useful.”
Anyway, back to the matter in hand. Lineker has always been renowned as a remorselessly dedicated athlete, and has posted Instagram images of himself in the gym ahead of this weekend’s date with under-fate. Was not even a small part of him looking forward to baring his bod for the nation? “You are joking aren’t you?” he said. “No, it’s terrifying!”
Gary Lineker will be presenting Match of the Day on BBC1 on Saturday at 10.30pm