Vernon Kay back on Radio 2 after ULTRA Ultramarathon to hear new total

Vernon Kay returned to his day job on Radio 2 this morning after taking a short break to recover from his ULTRA Ultramarathon.

The mid-morning host received a hero’s welcome with confetti, a celebratory cake and a special artwork gift from artist Lucy Claire Dunbar featuring Vernon and Pudsey Bear.  Lucy posted her illustration on her social media account and received thousands of likes and messages.

It was revealed that the latest amount raised for Children in Need by Vernon was £6,059,488. Before he started his show, he had a chat on-air with Zoe Ball, who said: “Up and up. And in fact, I sort of gave up on doing Insta stories because every time I put up the amount, it had gone up again. Bravo!”

Vernon responded: “I just want to say before I start the show, before we crack on, before we get back to normality, last week was an experience that I will never, ever, ever forget and it was a huge team effort.

“And at the beginning of the journey, Chloe (who’s in the fishbowl) will remember that I said that there’s a famous quote from an American Football head coach (I’m a big NFL fan) called Bill Belichick, and his mantra is “Do your Job”.

“If you do your job then every cog in the machine will work perfectly and everything will be fine. Every single person on this journey to 6 million pounds has done their job absolutely perfectly. And I mean everyone- at Radio 2, all the DJs, all the production staff that came on the journey, everyone that drove the socials, everyone who was mobile with the microphones, all the team […] getting back in touch with London, every single Radio 2 DJ who embraced it, was absolutely awesome.

But, my biggest thank you goes to every single person who donated. Every single Radio 2 listener who embraced this as much as I did and followed us on the journey.

“I’ve had so many heartfelt messages; I’ve had so many personal stories come my way. It means the world to us all, not just me… I ran, yes, but the team effort, the team effort from everyone has been outstanding. And we managed to raise 6 million pounds for Children in Need!”

Helen Thomas, Head of Radio 2 says: “It’s fantastic to welcome Vernon back to his day job on mid mornings on Radio 2 after his incredible feat in aid of BBC Children in Need.

“Thanks also go to the generous Radio 2 listeners, who not only came out in their thousands to cheer Vernon on during his Ultra ULTRA Marathon, but who have now raised over £6m for the charity.”