Zoe Ball has announced she is stepping down as host of the Radio 2 breakfast show to be replaced by Scott Mills.
The 53-year-old said she is planning to “start a new chapter” in her career, which has seen her become the first female host of Radio 1 and Radio 2’s breakfast shows and appear as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing.
Blackpool-born Ball, who is the daughter of TV presenter Johnny Ball, began her career on BBC children’s TV show Playdays, before joining CBBC’s SMart in 1994, presenting alongside Mark Speight and Jay Burridge.
She had her first taste of music broadcasting in 1996, becoming a regular presenter on the corporation’s flagship charts show Top Of The Pops, alternating with fellow hosts Jayne Middlemiss and Jo Whiley, until 1998.
Ball also co-hosted the BBC’s Saturday morning children’s magazine Live & Kicking alongside Jamie Theakston for three years from 1996.
In 1997 she became co-host of the Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Kevin Greening, and eventually became the sole host before leaving in 2000 to be replaced by Sara Cox.
While working at Radio 1, Ball began dating musician Norman Cook, known as Fatboy Slim, and the pair married at Babington House in Somerset in 1999.
They separated in 2003 after Ball revealed she had an affair with DJ Dan Peppe, but they reconciled and continued as a couple until 2016 when they announced their separation before divorcing in 2020.
Cook and Ball have two children together, son Woody Fred Cook, born in 2000, and daughter Nelly who was born in 2010.
Following the split, Ball dated cameraman Billy Yates, who took his own life at his London home in 2017 while the pair were in a relationship, and fashion model and carpenter Michael Reed between 2017 and 2023.
Ball co-hosted the Brit Awards in 2002 alongside Frank Skinner, and returned to radio in the same year when she joined Xfm and presented the weekday drivetime show until December 2003. She went on to present a Friday evening music show until the end of 2004 when she left the station.
The 2000s also saw Ball present TV shows such as ITV’s Extinct with Sir Trevor McDonald, BBC amateur dancing show Strictly Dance Fever, and ITV’s Soapstar Superstar, which saw soap actors compete in a similar style to Pop Idol.
Ball appeared as a contestant on Strictly’s third series in 2005, and came third with professional dancer Ian Waite, behind former hurdler Colin Jackson in second and series winner Darren Gough – the ex-England cricketer.
In 2006 she returned to BBC radio to provide relief presenting duties on Radio 2 and to front specialist documentaries.
She also co-presented the replacement for Jonathan Ross’s Saturday morning show in the wake of his suspension due to Sachsgate in 2008.
Ball began presenting Radio 2’s Saturday breakfast show in 2009, but left in 2012, being replaced by Anneka Rice.
The 2010s saw her co-present the Children In Need fundraising show alongside Sir Terry Wogan, Fearne Cotton, Nick Grimshaw and Tess Daly, and in 2011 she took over as the presenter of Strictly Come Dancing sister show It Takes Two, where she remained for 10 years.
During her time presenting the spin-off show, she also hosted the main Strictly programme in 2014 when Claudia Winkleman took leave after her daughter suffered serious burn injuries.
In 2017, Ball returned to Radio 2 to present the Saturday afternoon slot until December 2018, before being announced as the new presenter of the breakfast show in October that year.
She remained in the role until Tuesday’s announcement, though took a break from hosting the show over summer 2024, returning in September.
She was the BBC’s highest paid on-air 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, according to the corporation’s annual report published in July.
Since 2020 she has appeared with her son on Celebrity Gogglebox and was also Llama on The Masked Dancer in 2021, becoming the sixth celebrity to be unmasked.
In April this year, Ball announced the death of her mother Julia Peckham, writing in an Instagram post: “We are bereft without you but will hold so tight to each other.”
