Vernon Kay warns Paddy McGuinness 'don't look at me' as emotions heighten

Vernon Kay has told Paddy McGuinness "don't look at me" as he fights back tears on BBC Children In Need. Vernon was part of the BBC charity marathon show's presenting team on Friday (November 15) when he interviewed ITV Take Me Out legend Paddy.

During the show, Vernon - who hails from Bolton, in Lancashire, where Paddy also grew up - fought back tears following the comedian's bike ride for charity. The 51-year-old cycled a staggering 300 miles from Wrexham AFC to Glasgow on a Raleigh Chopper.

Vernon was unable to control his emotions as he turned to Paddy and said: “Don’t look at me. Don’t look at me.” Fighting back tears, he continued: “We have spoken everyday and it started off the first two days Monday and Tuesday and we were giving it ‘come on’ and then Tuesday night you slowly started to fall off because you were exhausted but you were really getting some heartfelt messages and that’s when it really started to sink in.”

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Paddy, getting choked up himself, said: "Absolutely and once I went..” Vernon said “Don’t look at me.” The BBC Radio 2 presenter turned away and continued: “I think physically you can kind of deal with that, the pain you get over that but the emotional side of it, especially when you are interacting with people who are telling you about how they are involved with Children In Need.”

The former Top Gear and Question of Sport host, 51, has raised more than £7.5m on his five-day journey on a customised 1970s children's bike called Patch. "What a sight, what a feeling!" he said, as he finished his journey at BBC Scotland's HQ in Glasgow just before 10:30 GMT on Friday.

McGuinness set off from Wrexham on Monday and was met by crowds as he finished his ride on Friday. "Honestly I can’t believe it. I came out of East Kilbride, I was looking at Glasgow and it was lit up in sunshine," he said.

"Then coming in here and the streets were lined. I had Sir Tom Hunter beside me and I came around the corner there... Thank you so much everybody."