Joe Lycett has taken viewers behind the scenes of his now-infamous staged walk-off from Steph’s Packed Lunch, revealing even those close to home were duped by the stunt.
Last month, Joe made headlines when he appeared to storm off the set of the Channel 4 daytime show, after being asked a question about his use of non-recyclable plastic.
After leaving viewers confused, the Great British Sewing Bee host clarified the scene was actually a pre-rehearsed stunt, planned to draw attention to the fact white PET plastic bottles are not recyclable.
In Thursday’s edition of his consumer affairs show Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back, Joe shared behind-the-scenes footage of his walk-off, before sharing his side of the story back in the studio.
“I was worried no one would notice,” he recalled. “If a tree falls on The Steph Show and no one is there to tweet about it, does Simon Rimmer still get to make a cheesecake?”
“However, within seconds of them cutting to commercials, this started happening,” Joe continued, displaying tweets about the incident on screen. “Within an hour I was in the Express, and by the end of the day we were all over the papers… by the following morning, coverage had even reached the Danish press and Lad Bible.”
Joe admitted: “At this point I had friends and family calling to see if I was OK, and I was genuinely starting to think, ‘has this gone a bit too far?’. It was actually getting quite scary how many people were believing it.
“So it was time to tell the truth, and I posted a statement on Instagram admitting that I had planned the whole thing. The explanation made even bigger waves than the original stunt, I started trending on Twitter, and it got on the front page of BBC News. Up yours, Covid!”
Earlier this week, Joe revealed his stunt had ultimately proved to be a success, as the yoghurt drink Yop! had announced plans to ditch their non-recyclance white PET bottles in 2022.
“The world – or at least the world of chilled yoghurt drinks – has been changed for the better,” he joked.
The Steph Show airs live every weekday on Channel 4, while Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back continues on Thursday on the same broadcaster.