Jermaine Jenas was BBC’s new golden boy on the fast-track to TV superstardom who had even been tipped to be the next Match of The Day host.
But today the former Premier League star’s glittering television career dramatically imploded, after he was sacked from his £190,000 job for inappropriate behaviour.
Jenas, 41, had been a permanent presenter on the BBC’s One Show for three years, entertaining millions of Brits each week.
He joined the show back in 2020 as a stand-in for Matt Baker alongside former Boyzone heartthrob, Ronan Keating.
But the retired football ace proved so popular that in May 2021 he was bagged a prized slot presenting full-time alongside Alex Jones Monday to Wednesday.
Off the screen, Jenas is married to wife Ellie who he tied the knot with in 2011. They live in a £1million house in Hertfordshire and together they have two daughters, Geneva and Olivia, plus baby son Jacob.
Jenas also has an older daughter Sancha, 16, from a previous relationship who lives in the United States with her mother.
Just 16 months before he was axed by the BBC, Jenas told he and his wife Ellie argued about the amount of time he spent socialising after filming for The One Show.
He also admitted that the pair had to work through their differences and that the couple enjoyed separate holidays.
Jenas said: ‘I would say up until about five years ago it was quite stressful for us both.
‘There was a lot of competing going on in our relationship and a lot of ‘you get to do this’ or ‘you don’t do this.
‘It was a lot to do with the kids and the fact that I had this new career starting and I was out and about and meeting new people and going to shows… it was all glitzy but for my wife it was like nappies, milk… I am a very hands-on dad and I’m always trying to help but still she wasn’t getting that fulfilment in her own life.
‘I had to address it and over the last five years I always say to her once or twice or year just go away for three days or something.
‘In the summer and coming up now she will usual go to Ibiza with her mates and have a good blowout and that’s for her not to have to wake up or think about the kids, and I’ve just come back from Scotland playing three days of golf and she will say the same to me, go and play golf, relax, enjoy yourself.’
Jenas made his first team debut for Nottingham Forest aged 17 and earned a big-money move to Newcastle United in 2002 where he was named PFA Young Player of the Year award in his first full season.
However his career was blighted by injury and was forced to retire with a knee injury in 2014 aged just 31.
He has managed to build a successful TV career off the back of his playing days, working not only for the BBC, both on TV and radio, but also with TNT Sports (previously called BT Sport) where he’s worked on the channel’s football coverage as a pundit and Formula E as host.
The former Spurs midfielder gushed about his wife on social media as recently as May this year, writing a birthday message alongside a picture of Ellie on an exotic holiday: ‘Happy birthday Mrs J, I love you more than you could ever imagine. You deserve the world.’
Jenas said the secret to protecting their marriage was learning to communicate ‘before the crisis hit’ and now the couple resist ‘game playing’ in favour of a peaceful household.
He added: ‘There was a lot of waiting before, we would wait and wait and neither of us knew what was wrong and then that escalated into the biggest argument ever.
‘We decided to start having a conversation whenever we felt anything. She would say, ‘Jermaine, I feel like I’m not seeing you enough’ or ‘I feel like I’m doing too much around the house, I’m not getting my life back enough’ and just getting there before the crisis hit.
‘We are 15 years deep into our relationship and there isn’t anything we won’t talk about whatever the frustration may be, we will have that conversation but that has only happened in time. It actually came from being sick of arguing.
‘When you’re in those types of arguments where you’re like, I don’t know why we’re arguing but I’m actually bored of it, and this is a really easy fix. This is my problem and can you help, more of that mentality rather than the game-playing and the mind games.
‘Plus, my social life has settled down so much. There was a point where I might finish work and meet some mates in London and get in at like 11pm and she would do the school run and then I’d do it again two days later and all of a sudden in her mind she is thinking I’m just going out and taking the mick. My life is a bit simpler as well, which helped.’
Jenas has also recently spoken candidly about his heartache over his eldest daughter being raise din America as he continues to co-parent with his ex-partner.
The host told it’s ‘tough’ for both him and his teenage daughter, Sancha, who’s been living in the States since she was seven after her mum emigrated.
He explained that while Sancha no longer lives with him full-time, she visits during the holidays and his young family adore when they’re reunited with their sister.
However, Jermaine said he’s had trouble ensuring that Sancha retains her British accent after, to his annoyance, she came home as a youngster asking for a ‘popsicle’ and ‘soda.’
Jermaine said: ‘It was a tough one for me and a tough one for my daughter, but I didn’t want to get in the way of my ex moving on with her life.
‘We came to the decision to co-parent in the best way we possibly could, but she comes over every summer and I have her for a good 8-9 weeks and she comes over at Christmas as well.
‘She’s the big sister and the fun one who knows how to do TikTok’s and when it comes to Jacob my baby, she’s basically a babysitter.
‘She picks him up and walks around the house with him on her hip, it is crazy for me because she was a baby and I watched her crawl around the same house that I’m in now and she’s picking up my son and I’m like, that’s your brother, I can’t get my head around it… it’s all gone so fast.’
Despite the distance between them, Jermaine’s daughter is following in his footsteps after the former Spurs and Newcastle ace revealed she’s playing soccer, American football and is a keen athlete.
Jenas was axed from his top BBC job — where he earned a reported annual salary of between £190,000 and £194,999 — this week and has been removed form broadcaster’s office channels.
He has long been considered as one of the rising stars at the cooperation and has previously been touted by Gary Lineker himself as a future Match of the Day host.
Speaking to The Sun in 2021, Jenas admitted he would love to one day front the iconic football show, which fellow ex-Spurs star Lineker has hosted since 1999.
He said: In an interview with The Sun in October 2021, Jermaine said: ‘Match Of The Day is the biggest job on television, and if I ever got the opportunity of course I’d say yes.
‘When Gary decides to call it a day, I’m sure the BBC will have a look around and decide who’s the best fit for the job.’
Lineker has previously heralded Jenas as his ‘natural successor’.
The saga is the latest to hit the BBC following the Strictly scandal and Huw Edwards pleading guilty to paedophilia.
BBC bosses are currently deciding how to announce the verdict of their investigation into Amanda Abbington’s claims that Giovanni Pernice bullied her during rehearsals last year.
A BBC spokeswoman said: ‘We can confirm that he is no longer part of our presenting line up.’
has contacted Jenas’s reps for comment.