When bosses at talkSPORT received a call from the agent of BBC rising star Jermaine Jenas offering his services as a presenter on their station ten days ago, they couldn’t believe their luck.
Jenas was, after all, being nurtured by the Corporation as a possible replacement for Gary Lineker when he quits Match of the Day in the near future.
So excited were they at the prospect of one of broadcasting’s hottest properties gracing their airwaves that no time was wasted and a furious tinkering of schedules began behind the scenes to find a suitable slot in which to shoehorn the former England footballer-turned presenter.
But by any measure the timing of the presenter’s first broadcast was . . . unfortunate.
Jermaine Jenas appearing on The One Show with Alex Jones
Late on Thursday afternoon, minutes before he was due on air –alongside ex-England teammate Jermaine Pennant – the broadcaster learned (via another news outlet in the News UK stable) of a rumour that Jenas had been sacked from his £190,000-a-year role at the BBC for sending unsolicited text messages to junior members of staff.
‘The bosses at the network only heard rumours of an issue at the BBC with about half an hour to go before he went on air,’ said a talkSPORT insider.
And rather than hang his head in shame, or contact the broadcaster with an explanation, Jenas seemed intent on riding out the storm and taking to the airwaves as planned.
‘Jermaine didn’t say a word, he clearly thought he could keep it a secret,’ says a source. ‘It certainly takes some balls to do that. He really seemed to have thought he could style this one out somehow – that it would go away if he kept his head down and carried on as normal.’
And so it was that shortly after he began broadcasting at 4pm, the Mail revealed that the rumours were true and Jenas had indeed been sacked by the BBC where he presented The One Show.
In scenes that were worthy of a TV drama themselves, Jenas, 41, drew on the same levels of determination that had propelled him to the top of his sport – as a midfielder for Newcastle, Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest – and put on a bravura performance of patience, calm and skill.
As the screen on his mobile phone lit up and vibrated furiously in front of him – no doubt with friends, family and journalists trying to contact him – Jenas tried to effect the air of a composed broadcaster.
It was to no avail.
As one source put it to me: ‘He looked like he was going to be sick.’
‘Jermaine’s phone barely stopped vibrating,’ the source added. ‘It was relentless, he tried to stay calm as it shook on the desk in front of him. He kept talking and despite the distractions he sounded incredibly professional. God only knows how he kept going without losing it completely, but you could see in his eyes it was worrying him. But if the star was truly rattled, he has yet to show it.’
Afterwards he did a short interview with talkSPORT’s news presenter where he refused to discuss any of the details of his sacking.
He said: ‘Look, I can’t really talk about it. I, as you can probably see, I am not happy about it.
‘But currently, as it stands, I’m going to have to let the lawyers deal with it.
‘You know, there’s two sides to every story, as we know. So that’s all I can say right now.’
TalkSPORT have confirmed that he will no longer appear on the show in the ‘immediate future’ and he has been dropped by his agent at London-based firm M&C Saatchi where boss Richard Thompson has been lauded across the television industry for how he transformed him from a sportsman to presenter.
It has been quite the fall from grace for Jenas, the married father of three, who was born in Nottingham and grew up on a council estate and had beaten off many of his footballing comrades to be transformed into a television presenter.
His metamorphosis began in 2014 on BT Sport when he started out as a football pundit. Showing early promise he graduated to hosting Match of the Day spin-off MOTDx but what turned him into a household name was his role as an anchor on Auntie’s flagship evening magazine programme, The One Show.
After impressing bosses with a couple of appearances as a guest, he landed the role as a co-presenter on the wholesome show in 2021.
Personable, engaged and relaxed, he was an easy fit for a show that beams its way into millions of homes each evening, and made sure to maintain his sporting experience by working as a pundit on the European Championships in June.
Jermaine Jenas with wife Ellie on the red carpet in 2018
In fact he appeared to fit in so well at the BBC, it is little surprise he began to set his sights on the career of another England footballer who took to broadcasting like the proverbial duck to water: Gary Lineker.
Even Lineker himself was so sure Jenas would make the perfect successor that he joked he was keeping his chair warm for the younger man.
Away from the cameras, however, the transformation from the football pitch to the primetime couch was not as seamless as it appeared.
Sometime earlier this month a female member of The One Show staff complained that Jenas had sent her explicit text messages and images she didn’t want.
And within hours of the Corporation announcing on Thursday that he was no longer part of their presenting line-up, I’m told other women came forward to share their experiences of him.
As one BBC employee put it: ‘It turns out, his female colleagues weren’t quite as fond of him as he was of them.’
In fact, one insider said he thinks that he ‘sees himself as a bit of a ladies’ man around the place’ despite being married to former model Ellie Penfold for 13 years. For now, she is said to be standing by him but those who know him are quick to point out that could change.
He has confessed to Ellie, who describes herself as a ‘mummy’ and ‘wife’ on her Instagram feed and has modelled for model Katie Price’s clothing range.
The couple have three children together – two daughters, Geneva and Olivia, plus baby son Jacob – and they live together in a six-bedroom mock tudor mansion on the North London and Hertfordshire borders which the star bought for £2.8million in 2006. It boasts a gym and indoor swimming pool. He also has another daughter named Sancha, 16, from a previous relationship who lives with her mother in America.
Despite having a family, he would nevertheless have been viewed as a ‘catch’ by many, and appearing on primetime television magnified the level of fame he had attained on the pitch.
As one BBC employee noted: ‘Perhaps it’s because of his footballing background but he is quite used to getting a bit of attention. He’s a good-looking guy at the top of his game, he’s rich, successful, famous – if a woman shows a bit of an interest he’s not shy about flirting back pretty hard. He thinks he is quite the charmer.’
In fact, in an interview 16 months ago, Jenas revealed that he and Ellie argued about the amount of socialising attached to his One Show role. He also admitted that the pair had to work through their differences and that they enjoyed separate holidays. In the short term Jenas’s One Show presenting shifts look likely to be taken by another co-host, Roman Kemp. But the fallout will continue for the BBC. Coming so soon after the Huw Edwards scandal – when the broadcaster failed to reveal that their highest-paid news presenter and onetime News at Ten anchor had been arrested on child porn charges when they became aware of it last November – this latest sacking is a humiliation for the Beeb.
Not only that but Jenas seems to have no intention of going quietly and intends to fight.
In fact he feels he is being made a scapegoat for BBC failings over Edwards and the scandal that still surrounds Strictly Come Dancing, which sacked one of its professional dancers, Graziano Di Prima, for kicking his partner Zara McDermott in rehearsals.
Jenas thinks he has done nothing wrong. In fact, he claims he has been ‘wronged’ and has vowed to clear his name.
He has instructed lawyers who are looking at taking action against the BBC.
A friend of Jenas tells me: ‘He keeps doubling down and saying that it’s not fair, he doesn’t accept the situation, and he will fight to clear his name. ‘He firmly believes things would have been different if the BBC hadn’t just faced a big scandal, but he insists also that he hasn’t done much wrong.
‘He keeps saying there are two sides to the story, but that he’s been advised not to tell anybody the details by his lawyers so that they can prepare a case to send to the BBC.’
The BBC meanwhile is standing firm. Director-General Tim Davie is ‘deeply unhappy’ with the former footballer and other chiefs are said to be ‘disgusted and disappointed’ in his behaviour.
They remain ‘absolutely sure’ that they were right to sack him and after much consultation with their own employment lawyers, they were safe to sack him given the evidence they have seen.
‘Good luck to Jermaine and his legal team,’ they said.
‘If he wants a payout he will come up against some very tough lawyers. As far as the upper echelons of the BBC are concerned, they gave him some amazing opportunities and he only has himself to blame.’