Radio 2 listeners raise over £2m for Children In Need and it’s not done yet!

BBC Radio 2 has done its part for Children In Need by raising £2,005,827 so far with listeners taking part in the fundraising, events and competitions.

One of the highlights which has raised around half of the total amount was The Great Ka-RY-oke Challenge where Rylan Clark-Neal sang karaoke non-stop for 24 hours.

He sang over 200 songs between 9.15am on Tuesday until 9.15 on Wednesday. Special guests helped him out, including Craig David, Nicole Scherzinger, Michelle Visage, Rick Astley, Bjorn Again, AJ Pritchard and Saffron Barker, Beverley Knight, Dani Dyer, S Club and Emma Willis.

Fellow Radio 2 presenters such as Jeremy Vine, Vanessa Feltz, Dermot O’Leary, Trevor Nelson and DJ Spoony also joined in to help raise the total to £1,086,261 for BBC Children in Need.

When he heard the amount the Ka-RY-oke Challenge had gone over the £1m mark, Rylan tweeted: “Woke up to this. No words. (Also no voice). I’m so happy. Thank you so, so much to everyone who’s donated and been a part of it all. (Literally) speechless #KaRYoke.”

Woke up to this. No words. (Also no voice) I’m so happy. Thank you so so much to everyone who’s donated and been a part of it all. (Literally) Speechless #KaRYoke @BBCRadio2 @BBCCiN ❤️ pic.twitter.com/ETn1WfJFKl

— Rylan Clark-Neal (@Rylan) November 14, 2019

Speaking to Dani Dyer about his challenge, backstage at Children In Need, Rylan told her: “How amazing the amount of money raised, the amount of people who gave uptheir time to come down and spur me on. To raise nearly £1.1m is unbelievable and not bad for an X-Factor reject!”

Other events on Radio 2 raising funds for the appeal included children from ten BBC Children In Need funded projects each choosing an hour of music on the station and sharing information with listeners about how they can provide support.

Zoe Ball hosted a special Gala performance of Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s multi award-winning musical, Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theatre in London which raised over £100,000.

Radio 2 breakfast host Zoe also ran a text-to-win competition on her show last week called Rockin’ In The USA. It gave listeners a chance to fly to America to see performances by Lionel Richie (in Las Vegas), Celine Dion (in Houston, Texas), The Eagles (in San Franscisco), Taylor Swift (in Los Angeles) and Elton John (in New York). The competition raised £661,900.

The final total raised by the station is bound to increase as money is still coming in and the events haven’t finished yet.

Tomorrow (Sunday 17 November), Michael Ball’s Radio 2 show will be live from the Savoy Theatre in London’s West End, where he’ll be joined on stage by guests including Rick Astley, Bonnie Langford, the cast of his current West End show, Les Misérables, James Blunt, Alfie Boe and many more.

After the show there’ll be intimate lunch at the Savoy Hotel with some of Radio 2’s presenters and some of the guests from Michael’s show hosting their own table. All profits from the ticket sales will go to the charity.

Helen Thomas, Head of Content Commissioning, Radio 2, says: “A huge thank you once again to the ever generous Radio 2 listeners for their continued support – helping us to raise such a large amount for Children In Need in 2019.”

Simon Antrobus, Chief Executive of BBC Children in Need, says: “I want to say a heartfelt thank you to Rylan, Michael, Zoe and the whole Radio 2 family who have been simply brilliant. Every year we are amazed by the remarkable efforts of the incredible team at Radio 2 and their hugely supportive listeners who year on year go above and beyond to make an impact on the lives of children and young people across the UK.”