Jamie Laing breaks his silence on Boat Race gaffe

Jamie Laing has broken his silence after he awkwardly announced the wrong runner-up for the 2026 Boat Race. 

The Made In Chelsea star, 37, was presenting Channel 4's Saturday coverage of the historic event when he gave his commiserations to Cambridge University Boat Club, rather than the Oxford team live on air. 

Addressing the gaffe on Monday, Jamie shared a clip to his Instagram and wrote: 'When you get handed the wrong cue card on live TV' and added a laughing emoji. 

During the moment, he had said: 'Commiserations go to the losing crew: Cambridge University Boat Club.'

After being met by a mix of silence and confusion from the crowd, he added: 'Sorry my mistake. Commiserations go to the losing crew: Oxford University Boat Club!

'That's a typo! It's like the Oscars all over again.' 

Jamie had been presenting for the broadcaster at the historic event, which Channel 4 were showing for the first time after winning rights from the BBC.

Cambridge University won the men's race, after Oxford's women claimed their first victory since 2016.

Elsewhere, he interviewed victorious Oxford women’s cox Louis Corrigan post-race and was quick to apologise when his interviewee uttered an expletive on live television.

When responding to Jamie's question about race tactics, Corrigan said: 'Just holding them where they needed to be, just managing how much stream we can get, how much rough water we can cope with and narrowing that down just right.

'I think we did that really well and we held them at bay. What a f***ing awesome day.'

Jamie quickly responded: 'Excuse for the language, we are celebrating it's okay.'

Presenter Clare Balding later had to issue another apology over swearing, after a member of the Cambridge team was heard shouting 'Let’s f***ing go' during their post-match interview after winning the men's event. 

Cambridge were heavily fancied to win, but Oxford put up a fight in the first half of the race before falling away.

Both teams had to be warned by the umpire multiple times for drifting over as they competed for prime real estate on the river, which was battered by southwesterly winds.

In the end Cambridge completed the four-mile, 374-yard course with a time of 17:56:84, 11.02 seconds ahead of their competitors, in front of thousands of riverside spectators. They have dominated the men's event in recent history, claiming seven wins in eight years. Overall, they lead 90-81. 

Noam Mouelle, who has won his fourth Boat Race with Cambridge, said: 'Feeling amazing. It was a super hard race. Everyone was blowing halfway through the race but everyone had done the job early so no problem. We just had to make no mistakes. Great race.

'It'll take a bit of time to realise it. The goal was to get the job done.' 

Victorious cox Sammy Houdaigui said: 'That was a fantastic race. All credit to Oxford and their eight rowers. We knew we had the right athletes in the boat. I love these guys. Hats off to Oxford.'