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Zoe Ball ‘asks the BBC to pay her LESS because she is uncomfortable with the £ 1 million pay increase that brought her salary to £ 1.36 million a year’
- BBC Radio Two breakfast show host saw pay rise from £ 300k to £ 1.36 million
- His rise came after Ms. Ball took over the show from host Chris Evans.
- She will ask the BBC to pay her less because she feels ‘uncomfortable’, says The Sun
BBC star Zoe Ball has asked the BBC to pay her less because she feels ‘uncomfortable’ with a £ 1 million pay raise, according to reports.
The Radio Two Breakfast Show host saw her salary rise to £ 1.36 million a year in 2019, the year she took over from Chris Evans.
It became the BBC’s main source of income when Match of the Day host Gary Lineker recently accepted a 23 percent pay cut when he signed a new five-year contract with the broadcaster.
But now Ball, who hosts Strictly It Takes Two, is also ready for a pay cut, at his request, according to The Sun.
BBC star Zoe Ball has asked the BBC to pay her less because she is ‘uncomfortable’ with a £ 1 million pay increase, according to reports. The Radio 2 Breakfast Show host saw her salary rise to £ 1.36 million a year in 2019, the year she took over the hot seat from Chris Evans.
The 49-year-old intends to slip back below the former England striker turned football show host, who is expected to earn around £ 1.3 million a year after his pay cut, the newspaper says. .
A BBC source told the Sun: ‘Zoe was given a very large pay raise when she took the job because the gender pay row at the BBC was furious and she was replacing a man with a large salary at a job. high profile.
“She has always been grateful for the salary she earns, and works very hard, wakes up at 4 am every day and works long hours.
“But in the current climate, and during a pandemic, she has become increasingly uncomfortable about how much she makes, so she has called for it to be reduced.”
According to the BBC’s Highest Earning Report, which publishes the earnings of all BBC live talents earning more than £ 150,000 a year, Ball was taking home around £ 370,000 before his big pay raise.
The big increase came after Ball, the ex-wife of superstar DJ Fatboy Slim, took over BBC Radio Two’s Breakfast Show from Chris Evans, who went to Virgin Radio.
Ball, 49, intends to slip back below former England striker turned football show host Gary Lineker (pictured left), who will make around £ 1.3 million a year after his cut salary, says the newspaper. Ms Ball’s raise came after she took over Chris Evans’ BBC Radio Two breakfast show (pictured right)
However, the surge drew criticism when it was revealed that it had attracted the fewest listeners to the show in a decade.
The figures, released last October, showed audience numbers dropped by almost a million to 7.9 million, compared to the 8.82 million weekly listeners Evans had in the same period last year.
In the same figures, Radio 4’s Today also posted its worst figures in a decade, while BBC chief Tim Davie defended Ms Ball’s figures saying it was a ‘strong’ market.
He also described her as “an announcer at the top of her game.”
Meanwhile, the reported wage cut claims for Ms Ball come as she is set to begin negotiations with the BBC “in the next few weeks.”
He is expected to sign a new agreement that will begin in January.
MailOnline has contacted the BBC and Ball representatives for comment.