Greg James recovers from Comic Relief challenge with a soak in a bath

by · Mail Online

Greg James raised an incredible £4million for Comic Relief after completing his mammoth 1,000km bike challenge on Friday.

The Radio 1 Breakfast DJ, 40, cycled for eight days on a tandem bicycle, and was surprised by family and friends along the way, including Prince William.

And just a day after his achievement, Greg recovered in the best way possible, appearing live on BBC Breakfast the following morning - from his bathtub.

Greeting the presenters live from his bubble bath, Greg's head popped out from a mountain of bubbles as he admitted he was 'genuinely blown away'. 

Discussing how he is feeling after the challenge, he said: 'I am trying to steady myself today, I feel all over the place in a good way.'

Greg's father Alan sadly could not be at Murrayfield Stadium to see his son cross the finish line after suffering a stroke during a planned heart operation earlier this month. 

Greg James recovered from his incredible 1000km Comic Relief bike challenge with a soak in the bath live on BBC Breakfast, after raising £4million for charity on Friday
The Radio 1 Breakfast DJ, 40, cycled for eight days on a tandem bicycle, and was surprised by family and friends along the way, including Prince William

However, the Radio 1 DJ revealed he will be seeing his father very soon. 

He said: 'It’s nice to be home and I’ll pop and see my dad in a bit. He was listening and watching and very excited I had done it.' 

It comes after the final figure from Greg's mammoth 1000km bike challenge was revealed during Friday's Comic Relief show. 

Speaking to host Davina McCall as the annual charity telethon returned to BBC 1, Greg said his fundraising 'snowballed' with Coldplay contributing a huge donation.

A host of celebrities joined in on the fun with a series of sketches and challenges for Take Yourself Funny for Money. 

But it was Greg who had the audience chanting his name after the total raised by his challenge was confirmed live on air as a whopping £4,225,939.

He told Davina: 'I feel very happy to be here. I feel very confused because I woke up on the Scottish borders, cycled to Edinburgh and now I'm in Salford.' 

Greg continued: 'I was shouted at in my ear, they said turn off the road into the car park and Prince William was standing there. 

'It was top secret, he was there, I said, have you got your own bike? And he said, "no I'm getting on yours." I've never held on more tightly. 

'Can you imagine what would've happened to me if he'd fallen off? It would've been the end, maybe of Comic Relief. It sort of just snowballed. Coldplay donated a hundred grand.

Seeing the faces of people at the top of a hill when you don't have anything left I your legs and you get to the top and see a whole primary school and there's farmers waiting. 

Greeting presenters Naga Munchetty and Ben Thompson live from his bubble bath, Greg's head popped out from a mountain of bubbles as he admitted he was 'genuinely blown away' 

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Greg James raises an incredible £4million for Comic Relief as final figure is revealed after huge donation from Coldplay for his 1000km bike challenge

'This thing has really captured people's imagination. It was a hard thing we did, but a fun thing.'  

As the audience chanted, Greg added: 'Wow, I'm uncomfortable with this, please stop, I'm uncomfortable with this.

'I said when I finished today, I said, please, I've had too much praise for this now. It was a daft idea to raise money and awareness of these amazing charities that Comic Relief supports, and can I just say one thing?

'When you treat people like you're treating a minor celebrity that's riding a tandem past you, there's too much coming my way, put it somewhere else!' 

Money raised by Red Nose Day goes towards organisations helping to tackle homelessness, poverty and mental health along with other causes in the UK and throughout the world. 

Earlier in the day Greg screamed with joy as he learned he had raised £2.8million for his challenge - just miles from the finish line in Edinburgh

He set off from Galashiels in the Scottish Borders on Friday morning for his final day of cycling and started the day with a total amount raised of £2.5million. 

Just over an hour later, Greg took a break from cycling for a pit stop in North Middleton, Midlothian - just 16 miles from his final destination of Edinburgh.  

During the pit stop, Greg spoke to radio host Matt Edmonson, who revealed the total money he had raised had jumped up to £2,823,694. 

'2.8 million!! YESSS!' Greg screamed, before adding: 'Wow. We're really moving! It is stupid now. But that's fun. Silly things are fun aren't they? 

'Let's keep doing this silly thing and let's get it up to three. Do it for Arthur. Do it for Arthur and his big seat.' 

At the beginning of the clip, Greg said: 'I've asked for a silly total yo hand over to Comic Relief at the end of today. What are we on right now? Let's go.'

'Okay so when we last had a total it was £2.5million, which is crazy,' Matt said. 

Matt then added: 'We've only been on air for an hour and eight minutes. So let's find out what the new total is...'

Greg screamed with joy with joy at the total reveal of £2.8million before preparing to finish the route.