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BBC Radio 2’s Vernon Kay fought back tears after opening up about a difficult time and admitted that the pain of his latest challenge was worth it for the amount of money they raised for Children in Need.

Children in Need is the BBC’s annual fundraising extravaganza and part of their fundraising efforts sometimes sees celebrities taking on gruelling physical challenges.

In 2023, Vernon Kay completed an ultra marathon, running 116 miles from Leicester to his home town of Bolton over four days. It comes after Vernon revealed a BBC legend brutally snubbed him over a stint on an ITV show.

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Appearing on BBC Radio 2at the end of his mammoth journey he told host Zoe Ball: “I'm absolutely exhausted, absolutely spent, physically, mentally. Is there anyone here who can replace a knee?”

Speaking about his work for Children in Need in 2026, Vernon talked about talking to fellow fundraisers Patrick McGuinness and Sara Cox and how all three became emotional discussing what they’d done.

In 2025 Patrick completed a 300-mile cycling challenge for Children in Need whilst Sara Cox ran, jogged, and walked 135 miles over five days last year.

He told listeners: “I was with Patrick McGuinness and Sara Cox last night, yesterday afternoon, we were talking about Children In Need.

“Very emotional for all three of us I’ll be honest with you, every time each time one of us talked about what we’d done for children in need you could see us all welling up.

“But it’s not because of what we did but because of what you did, so once again thank you for that. The pain was worth it.”

This isn’t the first time Vernon has talked about important moments from his past as he recently looked back 29 years and shared a moment which he says changed his life.

The Bolton-born broadcaster said in a social media video discussing his modelling career and how it was getting scouted as a youngster that changed his life. His modelling work helped spark a career in broadcasting.

Following a stint as a magazine model Vernon, now 51, moved into presenting and went onto host shows such as T4, All Star Family Fortunes, and shows on BBC Radio 1 and Radio X.

Writing in a post on Instagram alongside a photo of himself, he said: “Dec96 Got scouted by @selectmodellondon @jameslnoel and it’s the day that changed my life! [heart emoji].

“Taking a look back at my modelling days….kind of a pivotal moment for me [crying laughing emojis]. This is the one picture people always throw at me but I don’t think it’s THAT bad. #BlueSteel.”