Rylan Clark-Neal raises more than £928k with karaoke marathon

ylan Clark-Neal has raised more than £928,000 for \'Children In Need\'.

The BBC Radio 2 host sang non-stop karaoke for 24 hours as part of his \'Ka-RY-oke challenge\', and after completing the challenge on Wednesday (13.11.19) morning he admitted it "didn\'t feel real".

Speaking on Radio 2\'s \'The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show\', he said: "I am in such a state this morning. It doesn\'t feel real. None of it feels real."

The \'It Takes Two\' host belted out 231 songs and was assisted by celebrity guests including Rick Astley, Nicole Scherzinger and Craig David.

The challenge was broadcast live on BBC Radio 2 and the BBC Red Button.

Rylan, 31, thanked those who donated for the "unbelievable" total.

He said: "That\'s unbelievable, thank you so much."

Rylan duetted with Dermot O\'Leary on \'You Don\'t Bring Me Flowers\', rapped with Trevor Nelson and DJ Spoony on a version of \'Rapper\'s Delight\' and danced with \'Strictly\' contestants Saffron Barker and AJ Pritchard.

He admitted that he was inspired by a recent visit to a \'Children In Need\'-funded youth club in Essex.

Rylan said: "It was amazing and, do you know what, I didn\'t actually think about this when I signed up to do this.

"I didn\'t really think that I would need that, but actually visiting the project and meeting all the kids and volunteers and speaking to them and understanding how much this money impacts their lives, when I am sort of dying at four o\'clock in the morning trying to garble together a song I know what I\'m doing it for now."

His final song was Tina Turner\'s \'The Best\' alongside M People star Heather Small.

He sank to the floor in relief as Zoe played him the bells of St Margaret\'s Church in his hometown of Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, which were ringing in his honour.