Paddy McGuinness warned ‘move on’ by The One Show host after tax avoidance joke falls flat

PADDY McGuinness was issued a warning to “move on” after he appeared to make a joke about tax avoidance on The One Show that did not land.

The popular TV presenter, 49, was appearing on the evening BBC magazine show last night when he made the clumsy gag.

During his appearance on the show, hosts Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas were discussing the move to becoming a virtually cashless society.

However, they found that a number of smaller stores were actually crying out for cash payments.

Alex said: “A lot of smaller shops beside me only took cards, now they’re asking for cash because they’re losing out on money every time people use cards, especially under £5 and £10.”

The star then further admitted: “I’ve never got cash on me…”

This prompted former footballing ace Jermaine Jenas to ask Paddy: “When was the last time you paid with cash?”

Paddy responded by stating: “Well, weirdly, I mean we are heading towards a cashless society but I kind of just presume everything’s chip and pin.”

The Top Gear frontman then went onto say: “But there’s a little dry cleaners near me that still does cash only, which catches you out.

“All my mates are in the building game, they’re gutted,” he said before appearing to motion cash with his hand as a nod to tax avoidance schemes.

He then tapped his nose gently to jokingly infer his pals’ cash payments were done on the sly.

Paddy added: “They used to like doing the odd… one of them, you know what I mean?”

Somewhat unsure of how to respond, Alex quietly told the former Take Me Out star to “say no more,” before Jermaine awkwardly said: “I think we should move on, I reckon.”

It appeared that Paddy could not get paying tax out of his mind during his short appearance on the show as he made another reference to it when he was joined on the sofa by newly reunited band Busted.

When discussing the reason behind their reunion, Paddy told them: “When you said about, what made you get back together again and why get the band back together.

“All I was thinking in my head was, ‘tax man’. That is my reason.

“The tax man and a mortgage.”

This time the joke appeared to land more as Busted were left laughing at his comments.

The One Show airs at 7pm on BBC One.