Davina McCall was forced to apologise after a swearing incident during Comic Relief's Red Nose Day broadcast on Friday night. The three-hour live show, hosted by McCall, Katherine Ryan, Nick Mohammed, Joel Dommett, and Catherine Tate, aired on BBC One and was also live-streamed on YouTube for the first time.
During a Rubik's Cube challenge, Nick Mohammed appeared to say 'Oh F***,' prompting McCall to quickly apologise. 'We just want to apologise if anyone heard any bad language,' she said. Earlier, Katherine Ryan had made a dig at Prince Andrew, joking that as the 'late host' she could be more liberal, adding: 'What, we’re not post-watershed? Let’s just say you’ve had a lucky escape if you used to be a prince.'
Despite the gaffes, the night was a fundraising success. Hosts confirmed that £30,004,040 had been raised, with more than £21.4 million coming from Red Nose Day alone. Former England footballer Jill Scott announced the figure, and McCall thanked viewers, saying: 'Thank you so much to all of you, you are brilliant.'
Major contributions included over £2 million from Amazon and £1,584,903 from TK Maxx and Homesense. Greg James raised £4.225,939 after cycling 1,000 miles from Weymouth to Edinburgh. McCall also became emotional during an appeal about mothers helping mothers, saying: 'Community help workers are needed now more than ever.'
