Richard Madeley ruined a surprise for a young Leeds United fan by making an early announcement on Good Morning Britain, forcing Susanna Reid to explain what was going on.
Dylan, eight, came on the morning show with his dad after a video of Leeds football players trying to ‘ignore’ him went viral.
‘Words can’t explain how sad we are that the boy in the video wearing the Leeds uniform is not shown more affection from the squad,’ the club said afterwards.
Dylan and his father, on the other hand, cleared up any confusion by stating that this isn’t exactly what happened.
Dad John said: ‘What you have got to remember is the video is just a tiny snapshot of what happened.’
He went on to say that Dylan wasn’t ‘blanked’ and many of the players ‘smiled and waved’, with some even fist-bumping him.
Richard replied: ‘The angle at which they were standing just didn’t show the smiles. It looks to us from this one vantage point as if they’re completely blanking Dylan, but you’re saying that actually they were giving him a smile.’
‘That’s not the case,’ John continued. ‘And if there were a couple of players in the zone, they were in the zone because of this match.’
As the segment came to a close, the Good Morning Britain hosts had a surprise in store for Dylan, although it went pear-shaped when Richard announced it a little too early.
Richard told them: ‘Leeds are offering Dylan, I’m sure you know this, travel to and from Leeds, what they call the mascot experience, which includes meeting the players in a much more controlled environment.’
But, as Richard continued, it was clear from their stunned expressions that Dylan and his family had no idea this was going to happen.
‘We didn’t know this!’ his gobsmacked dad said.
Susanna interjected: ‘They didn’t know this!’
‘Well why did they tell me this then?’ Richard tried to excuse himself.
‘This is all news!’ Susanna added, explaining: ‘We’re announcing this to you now Dylan! So Leeds United have offered you a trip to Elland Road and you will be a mascot at a game.’
‘That’s insane,’ a stunned Dylan replied.
While Dylan was preoccupied with the surprise, viewers took to Twitter to criticise Richard.
One wrote: ‘Whoever is responsible for that car crash ruining the surprise for Dylan, whether it’s the producer or Richard needs to go………..toe curling embarrassment.’
‘His little face you could tell he had no clue,’ someone else commented.
Another wrote: ‘Richard Madeley f**ked up a surprise for a little boy. Idiot.’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1.
Source My Celebrity Life.
