Gabby Logan admits sleepless nights after death blunder live at Olympics alongside David Beckham

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Callum Vurley

By Callum Vurley


Published: 02/04/2025

- 21:47

The BBC presenter admitted to feeling devastated after making an almighty error live on air

BBC presenter Gabby Logan has revealed a toe-curling on-air blunder during the 2012 London Olympics when she and David Beckham mistakenly announced that boxer Luke Campbell's mother and sister had died in a car accident.

The embarrassing gaffe occurred during the final day of the Games, when Logan was hosting the BBC's Olympic highlights show with Beckham as a guest.


The 51-year-old recounted the nightmare moment during an appearance on Chris Hoy's Sporting Misadventures podcast.

Logan explained that while watching footage of boxing with Beckham, she told him: "It's really tragic, this boxer, his mum and sister died this year in a car accident."

Gabby Logan

Gabby Logan opened up on the error after David Beckham brought it up live on air

YouTube

The pair were not planning to discuss boxing during the broadcast but Beckham unexpectedly brought up the supposed tragedy on air.

"We were going to move on and not talk about boxing at all, because we had no boxing guest - but David decided to bring that news to the public," Logan told Hoy.

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The show continued as normal after the comments were made.

Later in the show, Logan was unexpectedly called back to the studio by her producer.

"I honestly thought they'd got a cake or something for us as it was the final day of the Olympics," she recalled.

Instead, she received shocking news through her earpiece: "Luke Campbell's mum and sister didn't die in a car accident."

Faced with this revelation, Logan made a live correction to viewers.

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"I decided the best way to finish was to say 'Ladies and gentlemen, some erroneous information made it to air tonight and Luke Campbell's mother and sister are alive and well, goodnight'," she said.

The confusion stemmed from a mix-up between Campbell and another Team GB boxer, Welsh fighter Fred Evans, whose mother Tracy and sister Scarlett had died in a car accident in 2006.

Logan explained the error occurred due to the hectic environment of the Olympic broadcast centre.

"We had this amazing office with banks and banks of monitors and we were live-streaming all sports at once," she said.

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Gabby Logan

Gabby Logan is set to replace Gary Lineker as one of three hosts on Match of the Day

BBC

A stats researcher behind Logan was watching a different monitor and commenting on Evans' tragic backstory, but Logan thought he was referring to Campbell.

After the broadcast, Logan was mortified by the error and struggled to process what had happened.

"David Beckham was walking down the corridor, saying 'Did anybody die, who died?'," she recalled.

The presenter called Campbell's mother the next morning to apologise personally.

"She was just so brilliant about it all," Logan said.

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The incident left Logan unable to sleep that night, fearing she had "ruined 18 days of the Olympics."

Former boxers quickly reacted to the blunder, with Amir Khan tweeting: "Gabby Logan just killed off the Campbell family LOL."

Despite the embarrassing incident, Logan's career has continued to flourish. She is set to take over from Gary Lineker as one of three new Match of the Day hosts next season, alongside Kelly Cates and Mark Chapman.

Campbell, who won gold at the London Olympics, turned professional in 2013 and went on to win 20 of his 24 professional fights.

Since retiring from boxing in 2021, Campbell has moved into politics and is currently standing as Reform UK's candidate for mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire.