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Jermaine Jenas has been sacked by the BBC following complaints of ‘inappropriate behaviour’.
The One Show presenter, 41, who had been tipped to one day replace Gary Lineker as host of MOTD, has been dropped from presenting the flagship football programme after an investigation into alleged complaints about his behaviour.
It is understood his contract was terminated after alleged issues involving digital communications such as texts were raised with the corporation a few weeks ago.
Jenas, who was paid nearly £200,000 according to the BBC’s most recent annual reports, has hosted a number of primetime programmes for the corporation including The One Show and the 2024 Euros.
The father-of-four has not presented The One Show – where he was made a permanent co-host in 2021, since July – and took a two-week break from hosting duties during the Olympics. Most recently he was on commentary duty for the return to the Premier League.
“We can confirm that Jermaine Jenas is no longer part of our presenting line up,” a BBC spokesperson said.
The ex-Spurs and Newcastle footballer, who recently won a women’s football ally of the year award, was paid between £190,000-£194,999 by the BBC, according the corporation’s annual report.
In September, the former midfielder was chastised and forced to apologise on X/Twitter, after branding a referee a “complete s***house” during an Arsenal match.
While in bizarre scenes on Thursday afternoon, Jenas, who also appears to have been removed from his agency MC Saatchi’s books, began to present a new show on TalkSport as the story broke, having only previously worked as a guest on the station.
His departure comes at a difficult time for the BBC which is still reeling for the Huw Edwards scandal and the ongoing accusations of abuse on the set of the Strictly Come Dancing.
In the case of Edwards, the 62-year-old news anchor, previously the BBC’s highest-paid journalist, pleaded guilty in July to three charges of making indecent photographs of children, after he was sent 41 illegal images by a convicted paedophile, with seven being of the most serious type.
After his guilty plea, the BBC said it had been made aware in confidence in November that he had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences and released on bail while police investigations continued.
Meanwhile, the BBC has yet to publish findings from an internal investigation into workplace bullying on the set of Strictly.
The flagship light entertainment programme is embroiled in a behind-the-scenes bullying scandal in its 20-year history.
Sherlock actor Amanda Abbington, who lifted the lid on the alleged abuse with her own set of allegations against dancer Giovanni Pernice, claimed there are “50 hours” of rehearsal footage that left BBC producers “horrified”. Pernice has denied all claims.
Meanwhile, another professional, Graziano Di Prima, was sacked from the show earlier this month after it was alleged that footage existed of him physically and verbally abusing Zara McDermott in training during last year’s series.
BBC director general Tim Davie made a statement apologising for the alleged mistreatment of contestants on the show, saying that the corporation “will never tolerate unacceptable behaviour”.
In response to the fallout, the BBC also introduced new welfare policies to protect the participants, including the use of chaperones during rehearsals.
The BBC had been hoping for a period of stability in the wake of both sagas, however scrutiny on the corporation will now intensify in the wake of Jenas’ departure.
Jenas moved into television punditry early, when he was unable to recover from a knee injury, and has consistently worked across a number of media outlets, as well as the BBC, including TNT Sports.
During his playing career, Jenas started his career at Nottingham Forest where he made 29 appearances before moving to Newcastle in 2002.
On Tyneside, he played 110 times, scoring nine goals before switching the north east for north east London and joining Tottenham.
At Spurs, he made 155 appearances, from 2005 until 2013, but injuries affected his career, and he was forced to retire in 2014.