LONDON – Jonathan Ross (49), the BBC’s highest-paid TV star, has quit the station after 13 years. The controversial chat show host, whose reported £18 million three-year contract was due to expire in the summer, insists his decision was not about pay.
His decision comes just over a year since the notorious Sachsgate scandal, over which Ross was suspended for three months, and followed reports that his BBC future was looking increasingly uncertain.
Graham Norton, who has just signed a new deal with the BBC, had been rumoured to be a replacement for Ross’s Friday night show.
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, the star's Saturday morning Radio 2 show and his film review programme have made him one of the corporation's biggest stars, but his high profile has also landed him in hot water.
Yesterday the broadcaster said of his departure: “I think it’s probably not a bad time for me to move on and probably not a bad time for them [the BBC] either.” He said he had made the decision not to renegotiate his current contract, which expires at the end of June, in the last fortnight.
Ross said he was “grateful to the BBC for such a marvellous experience” and that he would “miss” making all his BBC shows.
He said in a statement: “I would like to make it perfectly clear that no negotiations ever took place and that my decision is not financially motivated.
“I signed my current contract with the BBC having turned down more lucrative offers from other channels because it was where I wanted to be and – as I have said before – would happily have stayed there for any fee they cared to offer, but there were other considerations.”
Ross had offered to take a 50 per cent pay cut when his contract expired, which would have slashed his salary by £3 million.
Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision, said she could understand his decision “following a difficult year”. She said: “Jonathan Ross has told us that he’s decided not to pursue the renewal of his contract with the BBC. – (PA)