06 December 2023 , 13:03
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Gary Lineker has opened up about the time he was presenting the BBC's live coverage of an FA Cup match while sex noises were being played in the studio.
The incident occurred during a broadcast of a third-round replay between Wolves and Liverpool at Molineux, with Lineker in the studio alongside pundits Danny Murphy and Paul Ince. Alan Shearer was on commentary duty and Lineker was attempting to speak with the Newcastle legend ahead of kick-off when the noises began to play.
Both Lineker and Shearer struggled to keep a straight face as the presenter quipped: "I don't know who is making that noise but Alan Shearer is on the commentary gantry." He also joked: "It is toasty in this studio, it is noisy as well I am not sure if someone is sending something on somebody's phone."
It later emerged that prankster Daniel Jarvis was behind the stunt, having snuck into the studio ahead of time to hide a phone that would play the sounds whenever they rang it. And Lineker has now revisited the incident on his Rest is Football podcast with Shearer and Micah Richards after Jarvis pulled the same prank at the Euro 2024 draw earlier this month.
"I suddenly heard it, the porn sounds and I thought has someone left the phone on," Lineker recalled. "Then I'm thinking is it over the main tannoy in the ground? But it was too loud. I then realised it's in the room and this is a prank as it started again after we cut back to the studio.
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"You know it's there and you allude to it, but you've got to carry on. I then started doing innuendos, every analysis bit at half-time, I did 'Liverpool are really good pushing out from the back' and various things. It was a giggle."
UEFA are understood to be investigating the incident that occurred at the Euro 2024 draw, which prompted the organisation's deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti to briefly interrupt proceedings.
Prankster Daniel Jarvis was behind the stunt (YouTube/bmwjarvo)Jarvis was given a suspended jail sentence in October 2022 after being found guilty of aggravated trespass, having run onto the pitch during the fourth Test between England and India at the Oval the previous year and clattered into Jonny Bairstow.
He was handed an eight-week jail term suspended for two years, but that has not stopped him from continuing to target sporting events. He ran onto the pitch at the recent Cricket World Cup, interrupting a game between hosts India and eventual winners Australia.
Jarvis has also interrupted a rugby match between Wales and New Zealand at the Principality Stadium and an NFL game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins at Tottenham Hotspur's stadium.