Jermaine Jenas has been sacked by the BBC for inappropriate behaviour, the Mail can reveal.
The One Show presenter was this week sacked by corporate bosses. He also appears to have been removed from the MC Saatchi agency’s website.
BBC sources say he will no longer present his evening show with immediate effect.
One of them told the Mail: “It was all a huge shock but his colleagues have already heard the news and he won’t be returning.”
“His colleagues are stunned, they didn’t see it coming at all. At first they weren’t told. They couldn’t believe it when they found out.”
Jermaine Jenas, pictured in Qatar in December, has been sacked by the BBC, the Mail reveals
The One Show presenter, pictured with his wife Ellie Penfold at Wimbledon this year, has been accused of inappropriate behaviour.
BBC sources say the 41-year-old will no longer present his late-night show – pictured with co-presenter Alex Jones
Jenas also previously presented the spin-off Match of the Day and was a regular studio commentator for the BBC’s Euro 2019 coverage.
He has also been mentioned as a replacement for Gary Lineker on Match of the Day amid rumours he will leave in the near future.
Former footballer Jenas, 41, joined The One Show in 2020, where he began co-presenting with Alex Jones.
A year later he became one of its permanent hosts.
As well as playing for England, he also played for Tottenham Hotspur for eight years between 2005 and 2013 after signing for Newcastle United.
Off the court, Jenas is married to his wife Ellie, whom he married in 2011.
They have two daughters, Geneva and Olivia, and baby Jacob, together, while Jenas has an older daughter from a previous relationship who lives in the US with her mother.
The saga is the latest to hit the BBC following the Strictly scandal and Huw Edwards’ guilty plea to paedophilia.
BBC bosses are currently deciding how to announce the verdict of their investigation into Amanda Abbington’s allegations that Giovanni Pernice harassed her during rehearsals last year.
The former Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle star, who won 21 caps for England, lives in a £1million home in Hertfordshire.
The former footballer made his first-team debut for Nottingham Forest at the age of 17 and earned a costly move to Newcastle United in 2002, where he was named PFA Young Player of the Year in his first full season.
However, his career was marred by injury and he was forced to retire with a knee injury in 2014, when he was just 31 years old.
But Jenas has managed to build a successful television career out of his time as a player, working not only for the BBC, both on television and radio, but also with TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport), where he worked on the channel’s football coverage as a commentator and on Formula E as a presenter.
In 2020, he left football to take up a role on the presenting team of The One Show.
Speaking to The Sun in 2021, Jenas admitted he would one day love to host the iconic football show, which fellow former Spurs star Lineker has presented since 1999.
He said: In an interview with The Sun in October 2021, Jermaine said: ‘Match Of The Day is the biggest job in television, and if I ever got the chance, of course I would say yes.
“When Gary decides to retire, I’m sure the BBC will take a look and decide who is best suited to the job.”
Lineker had already described Jenas as his “natural successor”.