Scott Mills defends BBC pay after 'working my whole life' as he takes over Radio 2 breakfast show
Scott Mills has defended his BBC salary as he takes over from Zoe Ball as host of the Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Monday.
Mills, whose salary for the role has not yet been revealed by the Corporation, will take over from Ball, who hosted the programme for six years until December 20.
Ball’s BBC salary was revealed to be around £950,000 a year. This was second only to the BBC’s highest earning star in 2023-24, Gary Lineker, who netted £1,350,000.
But in an interview with The Sun, Mills defended his likely salary increase as he moves from his previous weekday slot of 2pm to 4pm, saying: “I’ve worked for this my whole life”.
He told the paper: “I’ve been doing this since I was 16 and I’ll tell you how much I got paid then — £20 a show. And it was a five-hour show in the middle of the night, 1 until 6am.
“Obviously there’s always curiosity around salaries because they get published every year. But I don’t think you can say that I haven’t played the long game.”
He said listeners had been quick to congratulate him on the promotion, saying he hoped they would feel the same when his salary is likely revealed in the BBC’s annual report.
“I hope people won’t think, ‘Well, he hasn’t worked very hard for that,’ because I’ve worked for this my whole life,” the 51-year-old said.
The star also revealed that he was not feeling anxious about the flagship job, citing his experience on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing as helping to build his confidence.
“I would say that Strictly was the turning point of my life. If you can do that, this is easy in comparison,” he said.
Trevor Nelson will take over Mills’ previous slot, while Nelson’s former late-night Monday to Thursday slot will be filled by DJ Spoony’s The Good Groove show.
Mills will be joined by newsreader Tina Daheley and Ellie Brennan will be the traffic and travel reporter.
He has been entertaining radio listeners across the country for decades, from his early days on commercial radio to hosting some of the BBC’s biggest shows.
The Eastleigh-born DJ started his career at age 16 at Power FM, a local commercial station in Hampshire, before moving to GWR FM in Bristol, Piccadilly Key 103 in Manchester and later Heart 106.2.
He joined BBC Radio 1 in 1998 as host of the early breakfast show and went on to present a variety of programmes across the station before launching his popular eponymous show in 2004, which aired between 1pm and 4pm, and later fronting The Official Chart Show from 2018.
