Joe Lycett has admitted he staged his walk-off on Steph’s Packed Lunch.
The comedian left viewers of the Channel 4 daytime show confused on Thursday when he abruptly left the studio after a comment from host Steph McGovern.
She had called out a white plastic bottle in a photo of Joe’s garden, as he’d previously claimed to have stopped buying products with such containers.
However, Joe – who fronts a Channel 4 consumer series called Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back – has said that it was all planned to draw attention to the fact white PET plastic bottles are not recyclable.
In a statement posted on Twitter, he said: “Some of you might’ve seen or read that I had a ‘tantrum’ on Steph’s Packed Lunch yesterday and ‘stormed off’ the show. This is absolutely true. What you might not know is: I planned the whole thing.”
Explaining the reason behind the stunt, he continued: “Clear PET plastic bottles are widely recycled and contribute to the circular economy. If you put a clear PET plastic bottle in the recycling, there’s a good chance it will become another clear PET plastic bottle. Coloured and in particular white PET plastic bottles are much harder to recycle.
“I explained this on Thursday’s show, but later a picture with a bottle (made with white PET plastic) appeared on screen. Steph pointed out my apparent hypocrisy and I KICKED OFF (by ‘KICKED OFF’ I mean ‘took my mic off and left the studio’.) All of it was planned, all of it rehearsed. Today I seeded pictures of me drinking from one of these bottles which Greg James agreed to retweet. The tabloids loved it – Mummy’s all over the press!
“The bottle in question? Yop. I risked my reputation as a jolly affable and very-much-available chat show guest to say this as loud as I can: Yop, it’s time to stop using PET plastic.
“What you sayin’ Yop?”
HuffPost UK has contacted the makers of Yop milkshakes for comment and is awaiting a response.
Some viewers had predicted Joe’s walk-out was a stunt on Twitter, and were proved correct by his admission.
A Channel 4 spokesperson declined to comment on the moment.
Steph’s Packed Lunch airs weekdays at 12.30pm on Channel 4.