A refugee who lived with Gary Lineker in 2020 has spoken out about what it was like staying in the former footballer and BBC presenter's home. Law student Rasheed Baluch has praised the TV pundit and says the UK should be 'proud of him'.
Rasheed's words come after Gary Lineker publicly condemned the government’s asylum crackdown on Twitter. The BBC suspended him over the post, where he likened the Tory policy to that used in 1930s Germany.
A little over a week later, Lineker has since put the migrants row behind him and he returned to TV on Saturday. Rasheed, 35, was given free bed and board at Lineker’s £4million Surrey home three years ago.
Sharing his story for the first time, Rasheed said: “He has been given the right of freedom, right of thought and expression. So if the institutions react so negatively against the statement of Gary, it is undemocratic and unfair.
“Gary has come forward to defend humanity. It should be a point of pride for the British public.” Rasheed fled Balochistan, Pakistan fearing for his life.
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The human rights activist says his wife is still there. He said Lineker helped him with his travel costs, was keen to hear his story – and was a “fantastic cook who served mindblowing meals”.
Exclusively speaking to The Mirror, Rasheed continued: “He is friendly and open-minded. He loved to listen to me when I shared my story about the situation in my country and the plight of my people. Gary was comfortable with my company and conversation. That’s why he listened to me attentively.
“Although Gary is a star, he leads a simple life. He is never proud of his status. He is a very sympathetic, caring and human loving man. He gave me an Oyster card which contained £100 top-up for my transport to university.”
He said Gary was a great cook and made him fish, chicken and red meat-based dishes. In return, Rasheed made the star a biryani which “Gary’s sons liked very much.”
Lineker – dad to George, Harry, Angus and Tobias – once used Twitter to share a letter to him written by Rasheed, in which the refugee said: “I can never forget your hospitality, love and company that you and your lovely respectful children gave to me.”
The star described Rasheed’s stay – arranged by Refugees at Home (RaH) – as a “hugely positive experience”, thanking him “for giving such a different perspective on life” to him and his sons. After living with Gary for 20 days, Rasheed stayed with RaH co-founder Sara Nathan for a month before finding his own digs.
The organisation has helped 4,357 people with a total of 326,498 placement nights. Sara said: “We take great joy in matching refugees and asylum seekers with hosts, especially when it works as well as sending Rasheed to Gary did.
“Hosting demonstrates the welcome and warmth people in the UK can offer those fleeing war and persecution. “It enables people to demonstrate their shared humanity.”
In 2021 Lineker hosted a second refugee – a young Turk now at university – for a month. The TV host, the BBC’s highest-paid star on £1.35million a year, was reinstated to MOTD as an independent review of the Beeb’s social media guidance was announced. On today’s FA Cup show, he declared: “Great to be here.”
Pundit Alan Shearer told him: “I wanted to say how upset we were that audiences missed out on last weekend. It’s good to be talking football again.” Lineker replied: “Absolutely echo those sentiments.”
