Scott Mills defends whopping six-figure salary after taking over Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 show-Laura Harman-Entertainment – Metro

Scott Mills has defended his large BBC salary (Picture: BBC/PA Wire)

Scott Mills has defended his huge salary by explaining that he has been working very hard his ‘whole life’.

The BBC confirmed in January that Scott Mills will begin hosting the Radio 2 Breakfast Show at the end of the month, following Zoe Ball’s final show at the end of 2024.

Zoe emotionally signed off her last show on December 20 after hosting the programme for six years, thanking everyone who had worked on the show since 2019, whom she said she was going to miss ‘mighty amounts.’

In a recent interview, Scott, 51, defended the large salary he is set to earn as he takes over this gig, and explained that he’s been working in radio since he was 16.

‘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,’ he told The Sun.

‘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.’

The presenter is earning a six-figure sum (Picture: Scott Mills / Instagram)

The BBC published their highest earners, and it was recently revealed that Zoe was earning £950,000 per year.

Between 2023 and 2024, the BBC reported that Scott was earning between £315,000 – £319,999, which will increase as he takes over Zoe’s role.

The presenter added that he doesn’t think that he’s undeserving of the salary.

‘It’s not like some hotshot’s turned up and is earning all this cash. No one likes discussing money.

‘But here’s the thing, what you don’t get is people going, “Oh, I bet you’re getting paid loads”.

‘What you get is people that have listened to you through school, college, uni, work, marriage, divorce, marriage again, kids.

‘So they’re actually just full of congratulations. And I think the same will be true about the dreaded ‘S’ word — the salary. I don’t think anyone will be like, “Well, he doesn’t deserve that”.

‘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 DJ takes over from Zoe on Monday (Picture: James Manning/PA Wire)

The Eastleigh-born DJ started his career at age 16 in local radio before eventually joining BBC Radio 1 in 1998 as host of the early breakfast show.

He went on to present a variety of programmes across the station before launching his popular and most well-known show in 2004. He also later fronted The Official Chart Show from 2018.

After 24 years at the station, Mills 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.

Scott’s first day taking over for Zoe is officially set for Monday, January 27.

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