Liverpool-Wolves Soccer Broadcast Sabotaged by Inappropriate Noises Prank

The BBC’s pre-match coverage faced an onslaught of loud, R-rated noises throughout the broadcast.

The BBC’s studio coverage of a Liverpool vs. Wolves FA Cup match was taken over by a prankster, who found a way to play loud, extremely distracting sex noises from a phone as Gary Lineker, Paul Ince and Danny Murphy attempted to break down the match.

The prank lasted throughout pre-match coverage, with Lineker acknowledging the noises a few times and at one point jokingly asking Murphy to “stop making those noises.” He later theorized that the noises were being sent to the phone of someone on set.

Instead, it appears that the sabotage was a bit more involved than that. After coverage ended and the match itself began, Lineker tweeted a photo of the purported phone involved in the prank, which he said was found “taped to the back of the set.”

“As sabotage goes it was quite amusing,” Lineker admitted.

Well, we found this taped to the back of the set. As sabotage goes it was quite amusing. 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ikUhBJ38Je

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) January 17, 2023

“We apologise to any viewers offended during the live coverage of the football this evening. We are investigating how this happened,” a BBC spokesperson said in a brief statement on Tuesday.

Later in the day, Lineker discussed the prank on BBC Two in a conversation with Kirsty Wark, saying he didn’t believe an apology was necessary.

“We’ve certainly got nothing to [be sorry] for,” he said. “If you told me this morning that tonight I’d be on Newsnight talking about a porn scandal, I would have been terrified.”

Serial prankster Daniel Jarvis has taken credit for the prank, posting a brief video that showed him at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, where it took place.