Oh dear. This wasn’t how it was meant to go. After Gary Lineker was forced to ‘step back’ from presenting BBC’s Match of the Day over a tweet comparing the language used by the government with regards to its new Illegal Migration Bill to that ‘used by Germany in the 30s’, other presenters – from Alan Shearer and Ian Wright to Alex Scott – joined in solidarity. Alastair Campbell – who presents the Rest Is Politics podcast produced by… you guessed it… Gary Lineker’s own company Goalhanger – has been out defending Lineker and recording ’emergency’ podcasts for the company Lineker owns.
Only it seems not everyone has got the solidarity memo. Namely the viewers. The viewing figures for last night’s toned down Match of the Day – which lacked titles, commentary and the usual music – are in. Rather than a fall, there was actually an increase in the number watching. For the episode on Saturday, 2.58 million viewers tuned in – up nearly half a million on the figures the Saturday before, which came to 2.09 million. This means that this weekend’s episode is one of the most watched this season, and the highest since 5th November 2022.
So a change in the figures, just not in the direction Lineker and co. were likely expecting…
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