Alan Brazil was pictured at Cheltenham Festival after the talkSPORT presenter allegedly ‘went AWOL’ and missed his breakfast show.
Brazil was supposedly meant to lead listeners through all the talk ahead of the final day of action of the festival, but was absent from the show.
His absence came a day after the presenter was spotted in a bar at Prestbury Park.
Chris Evans was forced to step in and initially fill the silence after Brazil was nowhere to be seen, with Shebahn Aherne later control of the airwaves.
Ray Parlour and Dean Saunders were also on hand with Aherne to cover for the truant chatterbox. They joked that he was still in bed.
Alan Brazil surprised talkSPORT listeners by failing to turn up for his talkSPORT breakfast show – but he was spotted in a bar at Cheltenham yesterday!
Trainer Dylan Cunha later shared a photo of Brazil at the festival, alongside ex-Arsenal midfielder Parlour.
‘Great meeting @RealRomfordPele @Arsenal & @alanbrazil @talkSPORT two people I listen to everyday while driving,’ Cunha posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Some fans on social media suggested Brazil’s absence from the breakfast show and Chris Evans availability pointed to him ‘going AWOL’ as being a planned PR stunt.
‘Why is everyone pure raging about Alan Brazil not turning up for talksport today.
‘It’s a long standing, running joke – and the fact that Chris Evans was roped in from Virgin Radio to cover almost certainly confirmed it was a pre-planned PR stunt.
‘Come on guys, calm down.’
Another wrote ‘The “Alan Brazil sacking off work to go to the races” thing has very obviously been a running joke for years now and peopl are taking it far too seriously.
‘Let him take his annual leave hours.’
Trainer Dylan Cunha shared a photo with Brazil, right and Parlour, centre left, in the afternoon
Fans speculated on social media that Brazil’s absence had been a planned PR stunt
Earlier in the day, Jamie O’Hara, the former Tottenham player who works on talkSPORT’s Sports Bar show, quipped that it was a ‘shambles from the big man’.
‘Waking up to a Alan Brazil no show is exactly the start of the day I needed, I’ll see if I can find him at Cheltenham later on today, shambles from the big man,’ he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Parlour claimed Brazil texted him at 4.30am saying he needed a lie-in.
Evans had been preparing to take the mic for his regular breakfast show on Virgin Radio but was snatched up by talkSPORT bosses to fill in at the start of the show.
He said: ‘Well has he made it? Ermm, no is the answer, not thus far at least.
‘I’m really sorry about this talkSPORT massive but it’s Chris Evans here from Virgin Radio.
‘So if you have seen Alan Brazil in the last 24 hours, where have you seen him, where was the sighting, what time was it as well?
‘If you don’t know what you’re looking for, Alan Brazil is robust by nature and robust by character.
Brazil usually presents his breakfast show from 6am but was nowhere to be seen on Friday morning
Sports Bar presenter Jamie O’Hara joked that it was a ‘shambles from the big man’ and vowed to hunt him down at Cheltenham
‘Also missing in action this morning, we’ve got Ray ‘Party’ Parlour, he’s nowhere to be seen, we haven’t seen Dean ‘Deano’ Saunders for a while, Ally ‘Goldenballs’ McCoist, no, he’s nowhere to be seen either.
‘So if you see any of these characters, we need to know where they are because they need to be back here on the show.’
While he has been undertaking his broadcasting duties this week, Brazil has also been enjoying the revelry at Cheltenham.
Raceday TV presenter Emma Jones found him at Cheltenham on Thursday after a two-day search – and where else would he have been besides the Guinness Village?
‘We’ve found him. I’ve been looking for you,’ she said.
‘Really? It’s my lucky day!’
Jones laughed and continued: ‘This is my first time at Cheltenham, I asked everyone what I needed to do and they said find Alan Brazil.
‘It has been my mission for two days. Mission accomplished!’
One user on X joked: ‘Death, taxes and Alan Brazil being a no show on talkSPORT Gold Cup day.’
Another user posted a picture with Brazil seemingly at Cheltenham, although it is not clear from when.
One wrote: ‘Alan Brazil not turned in, genuinely thought he was making the full week.’