Romesh Ranganathan on BBC Radio 2: comedian received “shameless” gift during first radio show

New BBC Radio 2 host Romesh Ranganathan has concluded his first show since taking over the slot from “The Traitors” host Claudia Winkelman earlier today and even received a gift for his debut; a giraffe costume.

Ranganathan, 46, who is running on Sunday, remarked to his first guest, fellow comedian Rob Beckett, that the gift was a “shameless” attempt to promote Beckett's upcoming stand-up tour called "Giraffe." Beckett wore an inflatable giraffe costume to the BRIT Awards last month to promote the tour.

Beckett, 38, told Ranganathan: "I got you a present to celebrate your new show and it's just nice to give you a gift." Ranganathan replied, "It's a giant giraffe adult costume. This is absolutely shameless; you knew you’d get a plug for your tour."

The two comedians star in Sky's comedy series ”Rob & Romesh Vs” and co-hosted the Bafta TV awards last year.

Opening his first show, he confessed to being "very" nervous and acknowledged that listeners would miss Winkleman.

"Welcome to my brand new show," he said. "This is me, Romesh Ranganathan. I'm very, very nervous because I'm excited. Saturday mornings with me and you, and I want to get to know you. You might be thinking, 'Am I going to miss Claudia?' Yes, we all will miss Claudia, but I'm here to get to know you and hope you realize that 'he's different, but he's still good.' So I want you to know a bit about me."

Ranganathan was joined by traffic and travel reporter Sally Boazman, known as Sally Traffic, and gifted her custom-made trainers. The shoes were decorated with a painting of her favourite motorway stop, Tebay Services in Penrith, and her favourite route, the M40.

Romesh Ranganathan’s BBC Radio 2 show airs from 10am until 1pm every Saturday, with catch-up episodes available - including today’s debut - on BBC Sounds.