Jermaine Jenas loves popping up on TV once you would least anticipate him to.
The former England and Tottenham footballer is now extra generally seen on non-football tv after embarking on a wide-ranging profession in entrance of digicam.
As effectively as his appearances on exhibits similar to Match of the Day, he has turn into one of many common presenters of BBC’s The One Show. In early 2024, he begins a brand new position as Formula E’s lead presenter for his or her new protection on TNT Sports.
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But shocking folks is one thing he likes to do. It was on April 1, 2022 when he turned heads by strolling out to current the draw for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
“That Jermaine Jenas is apparently hosting THE ACTUAL World Cup draw is the biggest April’s fools of the day,” one viewer on Twitter mentioned. Another added: “Jermaine Jenas must have one hell of an agent.” And there have been many extra.
But Jenas enjoys that.
“It’s probably the most pressurised thing I have ever done,” he says, as he sits down with Daily Star Sport. “It is unquestionably a kind of moments the place everyone seems to be like ‘what the hell is Jermaine Jenas doing there?’, however I really like that.
“Anybody who is sat at home and commenting and having negative opinions, I can only encourage them to go out and challenge themselves, because there are only rewards on the other side of it.
“That went very effectively and different issues may not go so effectively, however at the least I do know the solutions to these questions and that’s what I’ve all the time carried out, so broadcasting clever, doing that, internet hosting The One Show, one other house the place folks didn’t anticipate to see me in, that is what I hold doing and Formula E is one other one so as to add to {the catalogue}.
“I am not here to preach to anybody. There are different elements of how to host television. Luckily from my point of view, my experience is quite vast now in terms of doing it in sport, doing it in the entertainment world.
“Two days in the past I used to be speaking to George Clooney and Tom Hanks and folks may go ‘what’s Jermaine doing chatting with them?’ however I do it and I take pleasure in it, I adore it.”
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(Image: BBC)
For Jenas, the TV profession totally represents the following stage of his life. If you might be to Google his identify, he now seems as a ‘tv presenter’ relatively than a ‘soccer participant’.
“It’s what my kids think about me now,” Jenas jokes. “My kids barely know that I played football. One of my goals will pop up on telly and they are like ‘is that you?!’
“It’s a bizarre factor. My complete dream as a child was to be knowledgeable footballer so it is good to have that a part of my life and that library of what I achieved then.
“It is also nice to bookmark it and say ‘this is the next stage of my life’. For everyone going into retirement, it is important to do. Enjoy the past, but don’t dwell on it and focus on the new thing that is ahead of you.
(Image: PA)
(Image: BPM)
“For me, I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but I knew how hard I would have to work to get there. I knew I’d have to put the same amount of skill and effort into what I did to become a professional footballer into this world.”
While his broadcasting profession finally began in soccer, with appearances on Match of the Day amongst others, he was quickly supplied alternatives exterior of sport.
He took half in a Channel 4 present known as Time Crashers, wherein celebrities replicated residing life in several eras, and would later current a BBC Three documentary on knife crime.
He has different exhibits within the works, in addition to his new gig with Formula E, which can see him journey the globe for all 17 races within the 2024 season.
(Image: JULIEN DELFOSSE/DPPI/REX/Shutterstock)
“I never wanted to be pigeon-holed into one thing,” Jenas says. “I didn’t want to label myself as just a football presenter, or a football pundit. I knew that I had intrigue, I liked asking questions, I got on with people and I knew that it had the ability to take me elsewhere.
“But then it was all the time going to return all the way down to having the character, the need and the wish to go and do it, which is what I’ve carried out.
“When I was given the opportunity to present Formula E, it ticked a lot of boxes. From a sporting element, where it’s at and leading the way, there are so many things that made me say yes, even coming from a footballing background, knowing people will say ‘what is he doing presenting Formula E’.
“But that’s a part of the problem for me and I sit up for it.”
Formula E begins its tenth season in Mexico on January thirteenth reside on TNT Sports.