ADRIAN Chiles has been dropped from ITV’s football coverage after admitting he is undergoing a series of operations to become a badger.

The presenter, who has made no secret of his fascination with the woodland lifestyle, told bosses that he could not continue living a lie.

He said: “I pretended I was just interested but I knew, deep down, that I was a badger in a man’s body, begging for release.

“Over the next six months I’m having fur implanted over my whole body, having my forelegs shortened and a tail put on, and I’m living as a badger to prepare myself for transition for moving into a sett by the end of the year.

“I offered to continue commentating from the badger perspective – ‘Lots of men running around, not much carrion, basically of little interest’ – but they said they’d be fine without.”