CHRIS EVANS announced this morning Zoe Ball will be taking over the role as BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show host when he steps down in December this year.
Announcing the news, Chris said: “Every job is a great job on Wednesday because we have great job Wednesday every Wednesday, that’s what we do.
“Today is a great job Wednesday special as we reveal the brand new host of this show. Ladies and gentleman, you’re brand new host of the Radio 2 breakfast show as of January 2019 is Zoe Ball.”
“Hello Chris,” Zoe said. “This is bonkers can I just say.”
“How are you feeling?” Chris asked.
“I am a crazy mix of elation, wanting to burst into tears, thinking about running away, everything,” Zoe replied.
“But mainly I am thrilled. I’ve not been able to sleep because guess what I’ve been singing to myself all night?
“How do you like your eggs in the morning? I like mine with a kiss.”
“Well, good for you. Tell us when and how,” probed Chris.
Zoe explained: “Well, if you go back to the mic drop moment where you were saying you were going, the whole nation went, ‘What?’
“So, from that moment on, I think everyone was like, ‘Well, what’s going to happen?’
“To be totally honest with you, I didn’t think you were ever going to go.”
Zoe added: “I definitely didn’t expect to get a call but to get a call was an amazing thing.
“Then of course you think, ‘I can’t do it, can I do it?’ The best person I spoke to during that time was my son Woody who is nearly 18.
“He wasn’t even alive when I was at Radio 1 doing the breakfast show and he said ‘Mum, come on. Don’t even think about it. It’s about the coolest thing you can do. Be the first girl on Radio 2 breakfast, this is amazing.”
In a statement released by the It Takes Two host, she said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be following in the giant footsteps of Chris Evans as the host of the Radio 2 Breakfast Show.
“To be the first woman to present this very special show is both an honour and privilege.
“Believe me, I’m not underestimating the enormity of the task ahead, to follow not one but two of my broadcasting idols, into such a well-loved show is somewhat daunting but I hope, in the same way that Chris made this show his own after taking over from the wonderful Sir Terry Wogan, that with a top team alongside me, I can bring the fabulous Radio 2 audience a show they want to wake up to.”
Zoe Ball first joined BBC Radio in October 1997 as the co-host the Radio 1 Breakfast Show with co-presenter Kevin Greening.
From October 1998 to March 2000, Zoe hosted the programme solo and was the first female to do so.
Zoe has been a regular voice on Radio 2 since 2006 and from June 2009 to January 2012, Zoe presented the Saturday early morning breakfast show, returning permanently to Radio 2 in March 2017 as the host of the Saturday afternoon show.
