Scott Mills to kick off his Radio 2 Breakfast Show
He has promised change at Radio 2 as he takes over from Zoe Ball.
Scott Mills is kicking off his BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show as he takes over permanently after the exit of Zoe Ball.
The Eastleigh-born DJ is taking on one of the BBC’s flagship radio shows, which airs from 6.30am to 9.30am, and under Ball has been the biggest British breakfast programme on radio.
Ball left in December and Mark Goodier and Gaby Roslin have sat in to present the programme temporarily.
Before taking the helm on Monday, Mills admitted he was a “a little bit excited, and nervous”, and said it was going to be “all change at Radio 2 HQ”.
Mills added in a Radio 2 teaser released last week that newsreader Tina Daheley and traffic and travel reporter Ellie Brennan would join him on the show, along with famous guests, and said they had “booked a choir to do the jingles”.
He was sent best wishes in an Instagram video by US singer Katy Perry, who said she hoped to meet him in October – when she performs at London’s O2 arena – and in the comments section by presenters Angellica Bell and Davina McCall.
Mills has been entertaining radio listeners across the country for decades, beginning his career aged 16 at a local commercial station in Hampshire.
Mills presented a variety of programmes on Radio 1 before launching his popular eponymous show in 2004, which aired between 1pm and 4pm, and later fronting The Official Chart Show from 2018.
Chris Stark joined as a co-presenter on the Scott Mills show in 2012 and the pair became popular thanks to a number of humorous segments including Innuendo Bingo.
During his time on Radio 1, he picked up the Audio and Radio Industry Awards (Arias) best music entertainment show prize in 2021 and was nominated again in 2022.
Mills has also co-hosted Saturday morning shows on BBC Radio 5 Live with Stark, and has presented the Eurovision Song Contest, commentating alongside Rylan Clark, as well as sitting in for Ball.
He moved to BBC Radio 2 in 2022 to take over the weekday afternoon 2pm to 4pm slot from veteran presenter Steve Wright, who died last year.
Last year, Mills won BBC reality show Celebrity Race Across The World with his husband Sam Vaughan, after trekking across South America with limited funds.
Mills has also appeared on Channel 4’s Gogglebox with Eurovision star Sam Ryder and had a stint on Strictly Come Dancing with professional partner Joanne Clifton.
In 2022, he completed a 24-hour treadmill challenge, raising more than £1 million for BBC Children In Need.
Mills is one of the BBC’s biggest paid stars, with a salary of £315,000 to £319,999 in 2023/24, according to the corporation’s annual report published in July.
This was up from £300,000 to £304,999 in the previous period.
Ball was the BBC’s highest-paid female presenter in 2023/24 with a salary between £950,000 and £954,999, ranking her second on the list of top-earning talent behind Gary Lineker.
She took over from Chris Evans in January 2019.
According to audience research body Rajar, an average of 6.28 million people tuned in to her show each week between July and September last year.
This was the biggest audience for any breakfast programme in the UK, above Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden’s Heart Radio show, Today on Radio 4 and Greg James on Radio 1.
Later on Monday, Trevor Nelson is picking up Mills’s previous weekday 2pm to 4pm slot.
