JOE Lycett broke his silence after furiously storming off a live TV show – but insisted it was “all a joke”.
The 32-year-old comedian walked out of Steph’s Packed Lunch after being quizzed over having a plastic bottle saying: “I didn’t realise I was on Newsnight.”
Now Joe has revealed the “tantrum” was in fact a stunt to get people to stop using PET plastic bottles.
Sharing a photo of him lounging in his garden, the star wrote: “STATEMENT: 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.
“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 white PET plastic. What you sayin’ Yop?”
The “drama” began yesterday when Steph’s team flashed up a picture of Joe in his garden during a segment about homewares.
Steph said: “You’re well into this, aren’t you Joe? You’ve pimped up your garden and made it look more Love Island. Shall we have a look?”
As a shot of him in a deck chair appeared on screen, he joked: “I don’t have a fire pit so I just got a candle.”
Steph then asked Joe, who earlier said he’d ditched single-use plastic: “Isn’t that one of the bottles you said you’d stopped using in that picture?”
After an awkward pause, Joe replied: “I didn’t realise I was on Newsnight, Steph.”
The no-nonsense host, 39, appeared to take the awkwardness in her stride, replying: “All right Joe.”
The stand-up then removed his microphone and walked off as the show cut to an advert break.
Steph, reading an autocue, said: “Joe Lycett is sticking around, he’ll be telling us what he thinks of the idea of hitting the gym when you’ve missed out on a good night’s sleep.”
However, as she was speaking it was apparent was doing exactly the opposite of staying on the show.
Steph later explained: “Joe Lycett was going to stick with us but he’s had to leave.”
While many assumed the walk-out was some kind of elaborate stunt, no one has yet admitted to it and Joe hasn’t commented on it.
One fan joked: “Joe Lycett doing his Piers Morgan impression” while another tweeted: “Ouch that was awkward.”
Others didn’t seem to understand what they’d just seen, asking: “Did Joe Lycett just walk off annoyed??”
Steph rose to fame as the business correspondent on BBC Breakfast before leaving in October 2019 to join Channel 4.
Her new show began, initially from her home, in March last year before relaunching as Steph’s Packed Lunch in September.
