By Chris Wright
Adrian Chiles has found himself nervously thumbing his wallet today after several ITV4 viewers contacted the station to demand the presenter honour his pledge to send £5 to anybody who managed to watch the whole of Fulham’s dismal FA Cup replay trudger against Sheffield United on Monday night.
After the game finished 0-0 after normal time and was still goalless at half-time in extra time, Chiles – taking a momentary break from his utterly tiresome “O Roy Keane u so big n scary” shtick – muttered on camera that any viewers who hadn’t fallen asleep or turned over could “write in and he would send them a fiver”.
Sheffield United went on to win the turgid tie 1-0 with a late goal and, at full-time, several foolhardy fans began to Tweet ITV to ask for their £5 remuneration from Chiles:
“Hi @ITV Adrian Chiles said if anyone was watching they’d get £5 sent out to them. How do I go about claiming this? Cheers”
“Adrian Chiles promises everyone still watching @itv4 £5. There are four of us watching here… ;)”
“Adrian Chiles owes me £5 for sticking with this game as promised then… I’ll also claim £4.38 for having to listen to Clarke Carlisle #zzzz”
Another viewer who, for reasons unbeknownst, went the distance and watched the whole affair, Mr Peter Hyam, even went as far as emailing ITV directly, writing:
“I’m currently watching Fulham v Sheffield United on ITV4. It’s an awful game. Possibly the worst I’ve ever seen. But I’m still persisting.
“At half time in extra time Adrian Chiles said ‘if you’re still watching, write in and we’ll send you a fiver each’. This is obviously a stupid thing for any presenter to say – and I doubt it was on the cue cards.
“However, I’d like my fiver please. If not then I shall formally complain about your dreadful presenter lying to the one viewer.
“I’d prefer it in cash or cheque … Alternatively a signed photo of Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield would do.”
Alas, we don’t think Chiles should be overly concerned about keeping up his end of the bargain – looks like it’s going to cost him about £20!
(Via Guardian)