i will lay odds the spin doctors have been number crunching the whole time calculating wether they will take a bigger hit by avoiding neil or if they let boris get grilled.
given how the others got gutted by neil i reckon the safest thing is to hide boris in a round of photo ops as he doesnt perform well off the cuff and even at times cocks up set piece events.
he can get away with a bit of buffoonary out and about, in a studio with neil badgering him it wont be pretty.