Rylan Clark made a lively return to BBC Radio 2 this Saturday, cheekily telling bosses to 'sack him' if they didn't agree with one of his ideas. The 37-year-old former Big Brother favourite had been off air for a fortnight while filming the forthcoming series of Channel 4's Dating Naked UK.
Resuming his broadcasting duties on Rylan On Saturday, he joyfully declared "I'm back!" and thanked Owain Wyn Evans for standing in during his absence. He was soon up to his trademark antics with traffic correspondent Sally Boazman and celebrity guest Professor Green.
Rylexa segment sparks 'sack me' plea
Rylan cheekily suggested he "didn't care" about the BBC's regulations while the rapper, real name Stephen Paul Manderson, participated in his Rylexa segment, modelled on Amazon's voice assistant Alexa. Launching the game, Rylan declared: "I've been creating a new artificial intelligence machine called Rylexa, I'm looking for people to buy shares in it. If you want, we can talk after the show."
Being mindful of the broadcaster's impartiality rules, which exist because UK audiences finance the BBC through the TV licence fee, Professor Green replied: "Sure. There are other AI platforms that you can invest in, isn't that what you've got to say on the BBC?" Rylan mischievously shouted: "But they're not Rylexa! Who cares? Sack me!" The Read All About It performer then begged the BBC: "No! Don't sack him, I'll stop listening!"
Traffic bulletin blunder
The mayhem didn't end there, as Rylan also joked around with co-star Sally, who warned him: "You're back and you're already causing trouble", before additional chaos unfolded as the presenter highlighted his colleague uttering something that resembled an inappropriate term.
During her traffic bulletin, Sally expressed her gratitude to a caller who had phoned in to alert her about a road incident, stating: "Thank you Anker for your call," as Rylan mischievously interrupted: "Who?" before Sally giggled and repeated the caller's name. He went on: "Oh, alright. I wondered what you said then! My God, I thought, what a way to go out," as Sally played along with the jest by responding: "Yeah, it's been lovely working here."
She continued: "I'm sure that was [her name], sometimes the phone messages get a bit blurred," before Rylan joked: "You don't want to blur that one, I'm telling you now!"
Previous apology for Texas star
This follows Rylan and his co-presenter Vernon Kay having to previously apologise on behalf of Texas vocalist Sharleen Spiteri, who used profanity during her set at BBC Radio 2 In The Park in September. The Scottish performer, 58, seemingly believed any expletives would be censored by the BBC when she yelled: "F*** this!" during a lunchtime show, which was being broadcast live on both Radio 2 and BBC iPlayer.
