Moaning sound on live TV: BBC apologises after football coverage gets disrupted

Before the Wolverhampton vs Liverpool game on January 17 at Molineux Stadium, the noise cut off Gary Lineker’s broadcast. Later, the former England striker shared a photo of a cellphone on Twitter, claiming it was “taped to the back of the set” inside the stadium. “As sabotage goes it was quite amusing,” Lineker wrote.

Lineker, Paul Ince and Danny Murphy continued their broadcast and made an effort to minimise the disruption. Speaking to audience members, Lineker said, “I don’t know whether you heard it at home.”

“We apologise to any viewers offended during the live coverage of the football this evening,” the BBC issued a statement. According to a spokesperson, the BBC is looking into the situation.

Lineker clarified that, at first, he believed a video had been delivered to one of the experts’ phones. Then he realised the incident was a prank because it was “too loud,” as he put it. He said that it was “quite difficult” to continue with the pre-match build-up since he couldn’t hear what people were saying in their ears when he was asked how loud the sound effect was in the studio.

According to a video uploaded to YouTube, the stunt appears to have been the work of YouTube prankster Daniel Jarvis. Five years earlier, he performed a similar act on the BBC, which was also recorded and uploaded to his YouTube channel. How the YouTube prankster placed the phone in the BBC studio is still a mystery.

Earlier, Jarvis clashed with England cricketer Jonny Bairstow after entering the Oval pitch in south London during a Test match. He was found guilty of aggravated trespass and given a suspended sentence in October.

In Brazil, the practical joke Gemido do zap is known as “the big WhatsApp moan,” so Jarvis’ idea wasn’t entirely unique, an Associated Press reporter in Sao Paulo noted in a tweet.