Former Leicester City striker tweeted he would appear in his underwear if the team won the Premier League. Five months later they did

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Gary Lineker has fulfilled his promise to present BBC’s Match of the Day in his underwear, following months of speculation. Kind of.

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The former Leicester City striker had vowed to present the BBC football programme in his undies if the club won the Premier League title, which they did against the odds in May.

Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) YES! If Leicester win the @premierleague I'll do the first MOTD of next season in just my undies.

In the event he presented the first part of the programme in what appeared to be a large pair of white shorts with a Leicester City logo on the front, and nothing else.

The 55-year-old wore the shorts for about the first 30 minutes of the show then appeared back on screen fully dressed. He said: “It is a one-off and a sporting miracle that has landed me in my underwear.”

On Thursday the BBC hinted that Lineker would go through with it. The programme chiefs released two photos, one showing a pair of white Y-fronts hanging on a peg marked “Lineker” and the other showed the pants hanging next to pegs with shirts and blazers belonging to his co-presenters Alan Shearer and Ian Wright.

Lineker was still being coy about it on Friday. “We’ll have to wait and see what happens,” he told the Guardian, when asked to confirm whether he would do it. “It depends on how cold the studio is. If they get it nice and cosy, it might just work.”

On Saturday morning, however, he tweeted: “Bloody hell! It’s P-Day” followed by a series of tongue-in-cheek responses to other tweeters including John Prescott, the politician, and Paddy McGuinness, the comedian.

Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) I fear not. https://t.co/HFgwIncJoZ

At the time of his original tweet in December last year, Leicester sat on top of the table, but remained rank outsiders. Five months later the team won the title by 10 points.

Fifteen minutes before the show started on BBC One, Lineker tweeted “this is strangely terrifying”. There was huge social media interest over what he was wearing and the reaction was positive, although fellow Match of the Day presenter Dan Walker joked: “4000 sit ups a day for 20 seconds on telly. Well played Gary Lineker. Were they pants or shorts though?”

Former Tony Blair spin doctor Alastair Campbell commented.

Alastair Campbell (@campbellclaret) Playing it totally straight - brilliant @GaryLineker too stuff. But those 200 sit ups a day should have been 500. #absgate #MOTD

During the show, Lineker also introduced Leicester’s first game of the season as champions. They lost, 2-1 to relegation favourites Hull City.