Rowing Redgrave and BBC’s Inverdale sink TV bromance
WHEN BBC bosses paired Olympic legend Sir Steve Redgrave with top presenter John Inverdale, they would have been hoping for some brotherly, on-screen chemistry.
Instead, viewers have seen a series of explosive spats. The latest sparks flew yesterday when the stoney-faced pair competed for a word with Mahé Drysdale after he had won gold for New Zealand in the single sculls. Sir Steve had pulled over Drysdale to ask him about his success, when Inverdale jumped in to start quizzing the Kiwi. An exasperated Sir Steve said: ‘Sorry John, sorry to cut in here, let him go and do New Zealand TV... the Kiwis should get him first.’
Bemused, Drysdale was whisked off to speak to New Zealand media.
The first sparks flew on Thursday when Inverdale compared Sir Steve to the mute Bond villain Oddjob. The five-time gold medallist retorted: ‘We’ll have to call you Jaws because I can never get a word in edgeways.’
Ten minutes later, he was seen rolling his eyes as Inverdale spoke. On Friday the pair were back on camera, with Redgrave holding an umbrella over both of them. Inverdale teased: ‘Is he so strong that he could hold an umbrella for 20 minutes with just his left hand?’Sir Steve said: ‘I think he probably could… hang on everybody, just take the water off the umbrella here!’ With that, he shook the sodden brolly over Inverdale’s head.
Inverdale is no stranger to controversy. In 2013 he said Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli was ‘never going to be a looker’. In July he likened tennis player Nick Kyrgios to a character in The Jungle Book.