Who will be the Last Pundit Standing?

BBC News

2 days ago

Twelve content creators have been battling it out to become the BBC's next football expert, now we are down to the final two.The chosen dozen for the Last Pundit Standing are some of of the UK's most passionate football fanatics and were selected in collaboration with TikTok from more than 400 applicants.Over the past six episodes, they have been whittled down and challenged by some of the biggest names in the game through a series of tasks staged at iconic football locations.The winner will be announced on Monday, with the final episode airing on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport's YouTube channel and TikTok accounts from 06:00 BST.The stakes are high, with a contract as a BBC Sport football contributor up for grabs.But who will become the Last Pundit Standing? BBC Sport meets the two finalists.
Nahyan Chowdhury @nahyan.chowdhury
By his own admission, Nahyan Chowdhury is one of the least experienced content creators on the show.The 25-year-old from Liverpool - who works full-time as a chemist - had made videos from boxing and MMA events for fun, but only started posting regularly in 2024.It was after a video of his at a Champions League game went viral and he was offered the opportunity to interview Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson that he realised his passion for sports media."During school I loved sport and science. I always thought I'd be a pharmacist, it was never media," he said."I studied chemistry and now I work in a lab 9-5. It's been a whirlwind six months, from interviewing Trent and Robbo to somehow doing this show."Nahyan admitted he initially felt out of place among the other contestants, but he made an instant impact in episode one.The road to the final began with a warm-up task at Goodison Park, where the creators had to take part in a crossbar challenge during the interval of an Everton Premier League game.Nahyan was last to have a go and was the only contestant to successfully hit the woodwork."The first episode I did feel out of place, being around these creators with thousands and millions of followers," he said. "I thought I didn't deserve to be here, then I hit the crossbar."It gave me a bit of respect from the other creators. I may be the new kid on the block, but they had to take me seriously."
In each episode, there is a big challenge, where three points are on offer to the winner, who is crowned pundit of the week. There are also bonus points up for grabs for standout performers.After five episodes, the four creators with the most points on the leaderboard progressed to the semi-finals, with the remaining contestants eliminated.Nahyan won two of the five challenges before the semi-finals. He was awarded pundit of the week by Arsenal legend Martin Keown and referee Rebecca Welch for the Match of the Day presenting challenge and the rules and regulation content creation challenge respectively."My favourite moment from the show would 100% have to be hitting the crossbar at Goodison Park," Nahyan said. "It was a fairytale story of me being the underdog, everyone else had missed and I was last."My favourite challenge was the 5 Live 606 radio show with Chris Sutton and Robbie Savage. We had to take random callers and having banter with Savage and Sutton was great."
Toby Addison @blindtobes
"I always describe myself in three ways. I am a content creator, I am a disability advocate and a blind footballer."At the age of two, Toby Addison was diagnosed with early onset rod cone dystrophy and retinitis pigmentosa, which meant his eyesight would slowly deteriorate.Doctors predicted he would go blind in his late teens, and at the age of 16 he lost his sight. He had to stop playing football and didn't kick a ball for eight years. Now he plays blind football for England and in 2024 made his senior debut in San Diego."When I was 16 I started using a cane and screen readers and adapted my life to live without vision," the 23-year-old from Chichester said. "I now don't pay any attention to it, I don't have any useable vision. I can see light and tell it's daytime, but I wouldn't be able to see anyone standing in front of me."I was introduced to blind football when I was 21 and from then I never looked back. That fed its way into my content and it reignited my love for playing football."In January 2022, Toby went to watch a comedy show and a clip of him went viral. There were a number of comments doubting Toby's condition and he decided to make a video of his own responding to the comments.More than a thousand videos later, Toby is still creating content and teams up with his partner Natalie, who edits the videos and "is the one who makes it tick behind the scenes".Toby has a combined social media following of more than 420,000 and backed himself in the application process for the Last Pundit Standing."It's going to sound arrogant, but I believed I would be selected," he said. "I stand out in a certain way. I am a blind lad who plays blind football. You don't see that very often. I thought 'go on, I fancy it'."It felt amazing to be selected from such a large pool of applicants. It's about believing in yourself and I don't think you would find many from that 400 that would back themselves more than me."
Like Nahyan, Toby was crowned pundit of the week twice.Savage picked him as the winner for the 606 challenge, where the contestants had to take calls from listeners and host the show with Savage and Sutton.Toby also won the semi-final challenge, where creators had to interview former Everton, Watford and Burnley manager Sean Dyche."In the two weeks I won back-to-back you have seen the serious side of me that likes to listen and find out more about people like with Sean Dyche, then in the 606 you saw the more entertaining, Jack the Lad side to my personality," Toby said."I think that is really important in being a pundit and why I made it through to the final."
'You won't hear the end of us'
Monday's seventh and final episode will see the winner crowned by Alex Scott at Wembley on FA Cup final day."It's been life changing and a huge learning experience," Nahyan said."I come from an immigrant family so football wasn't really part of my life from my parents. I knew from the moment I got on the show that this could change my life."I said to my mum if I am on one episode I am a winner already. As soon as I got to the semis I was like 'do you know what, it's go time'.""You have two really good stories going into the final," Toby added. "Nahyan is the kid that no one knows. He has not been too active on social media before or with too much of a following. For him it is such a massive opportunity, to even get this far will do wonders for his career."On the flipside I am more experienced in the world of social media, have had some amazing opportunities. If I did win I will be so proud, but I am proud of getting to the final."Regardless of who wins, you won't hear the end of us."