Burrow answers celebrity questions in posthumous podcast

Rugby league legend Rob Burrow answers questions from sporting icons in a new podcast, which was recorded before his death from motor neurone disease (MND) in June, aged 41.

Award-winning audio series 'Rob Burrows Seven, Meets...' is returning for a second series with the late Leeds Rhinos player interviewing a new host of sporting icons.

However, in the first episode, available now on BBC Sounds, it is Burrow's turn to answer questions put to him by celebrities who featured in series one. He tells equestrian Zara Tindall about the best pranks he has ever played, including hiding prawns in a team-mate's car.

Burrow also regales Tindall's husband, former England rugby union international Mike, about times when his eye-gaze machine has "gone rogue" and started speaking in explicit language.

Plus, he reveals to former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand why Jamie Peacock was his toughest team-mate.

During a 17-year playing career with Leeds Rhinos from 2001-17, Burrow won eight Super League Grand Finals, three World Club Challenges and two Challenge Cups. He was diagnosed with MND in 2019 and went on to become a major fundraiser, earning a CBE this year and inspiring many with his stoicism and positivity.

The remaining episodes in series two will be released on Thursday, 26 September.

Burrow tells Olympian Tindall he has "never really played a prank on Lindsey", but had pranked a few team-mates. He reveals he once "hid prawns all over the inside" of a team-mate’s car, as well as spraying their hubcaps pink.

"I still don’t think he’s forgiven me, truth be told," he jokes.

He goes on to say the biggest prank he has ever played was probably the time he "nicked a team-mate’s car keys," and "put paper cuttings in the air vent of his car".

When Burrow’s team-mate got into his car after training and switched on the fan, cuttings came "blasting out", filling the vehicle.

After losing his voice following his MND diagnosis, Burrow communicated via a device called an eye-gaze. The machine tracked the movement of his eyes as he looked at words and then spoke them for him.

However, the Yorkshireman told former Bath player Mike Tindall that there had been times when the machine had “gone rogue”, with embarrassing consequences.

“It usually happens on live TV,” says Burrow, explaining that, “the lads in my WhatsApp group will often send me rude jokes” and the eye-gaze sometimes “speaks them out”.

“I have to be careful what buttons I press, especially when the kids are around,” he says.

Ferdinand joined the podcast to ask who was the toughest team-mate Burrow had played with, as well as the toughest opponent he had faced.

“My hardest team-mate was Jamie Peacock,” says Burrow. “He would never take a backwards step. He was mentally tough and incredibly hard-working.”

It was announced last week that former Great Britain captain Peacock will be inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame next month.

The 46-year-old former forward made 57 appearances for England and Great Britain and won nine Grand Finals with Bradford Bulls and Leeds Rhinos.

As for his toughest opponent, Burrow names former Salford Red Devils prop Adrian Morley, who represented Leeds, Bradford, Warrington, Great Britain and the Sydney Roosters over a 20-year career between 1995-2015. The Salford-born player won the 2005 Super League title with Bradford and four Challenge Cups - one with Leeds and three with Warrington.

Burrow describes Morley as “bulldozing” his way through Super League and the National Rugby League in Australia, “forging a reputation as one of the most uncompromising, hardest team players to ever grace the game”.

His 11 suspensions in the NRL “tell you all you need to know about Mozza’s approach to the game”, says Burrow.

Following his MND diagnosis, many were inspired by Burrow’s positivity in the face of adversity. He tells former England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson that this mindset came from his parents.

“My dad would always tell me that I was the world’s greatest player and how proud he was of me,” says Burrow.

At 5ft 5in and just over 10st, Burrow was among the smallest men in Super League, but made a virtue of his pace. He says rugby taught him resilience.

“In my early career, I was told I would never make it as I was too small to play rugby," says Burrow.

"That made me more determined. I always say it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog."