After almost 30 years at the BBC, Scott Mills is currently gearing up for his first show as the official host of the iconic Radio 2 breakfast show.
However, in a recent interview, Scott admitted that his time at the broadcaster was almost cut short before it even got going.
The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant joined BBC Radio in 1998, when he was appointed host of the “early breakfast show”, which in those days aired between four and seven in the morning.
During a recent interview with Dermot O’Leary for Radio 2, the This Morning host played a clip from Scott’s show in 2001, which he presented after coming straight from a Brit Awards party.
“That’s called ‘how to really nearly lose your job at the BBC’,” Scott then claimed, after taking off his headphones so he wouldn’t have to hear the clip himself.
“It was terrible,” he recalled. “I had got carried away so much at the Brit Awards, because I had never been there before, and time just fast-forwarded.
“Somebody went, ‘what time are you on air?’, and I said, ‘four’. And they went, ‘well it’s two now’. It was horrendous!”
Describing himself as “young”, “naive” and “stupid”, Scott revealed his bosses at Radio 1 were “furious” with him when he came off air – “and quite rightly so!”.
After five years at the helm, Zoe Ball announced in November 2024 that she was stepping down as host of the Radio 2 breakfast show, and presented her final episode the following month.
Scott will take over at the helm later this month, having previously filled in for Zoe while she took a break from her work commitments last year for personal reasons.
He said: “Zoe and I have been such good friends now for over 25 years and have spent much of that time as part of the same radio family here at Radio 2 and also on Radio 1.
“She’s done an incredible job on this show over the past six years, and I am beyond excited to be handed the baton.”
Zoe also enthused: “Scott and I go way back to our Radio 1 days, when he was doing early mornings before me.
“He’s been a close friend for years, and I’m beyond thrilled it’s him taking over the breakfast show.”
