Mamma Mia! BBC’s £1million star Zoe Ball, 52, lands big new payday for Abba show on ITV
As the highest-paid woman at the BBC, Zoe Ball already earns almost £1 million per year. But now the former Strictly star is waltzing her way to another payday after agreeing to host a new show – on ITV.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal staff at the BBC are ‘indignant’ that she is allowed to work for another broadcaster despite being a full-time employee as host of the Radio 2 breakfast show on weekday mornings.
Ms Ball, 52, will be presenting the rival channel’s show Mamma Mia! I Have A Dream, which will be screened on Saturday nights later this year. The deal will increase her annual income by about £200,000.
In 2021, Ms Ball voluntarily took a £380,000 pay cut to remain as host of the Radio 2 breakfast show for an additional two years. A BBC spokesperson said the star felt it was inappropriate to earn so much in the middle of a pandemic.
However, the deal for her job on the UK’s most popular radio programme – which reaches 7.1 million listeners a week – was still worth a hefty £980,000.
In 2021, Zoe Ball voluntarily took a £380,000 pay cut to remain as host of the Radio 2 breakfast show for an additional two years. A BBC spokesperson said the star felt it was inappropriate to earn so much in the middle of a pandemic
Ms Ball, pictured, is the highest paid woman on the BBC and fellow employees are not impressed by her big-money deal with rivals ITV
One BBC employee said of the new show: ‘It is really surprising that Zoe is doing this. She is very much someone who can see how earning loads of money funded by the licence fee payer looks. It doesn’t seem right to us that the BBC allow this to happen,’ the employee added.
‘There is a certain amount of anger about it not being banned.’
Ms Ball follows Gary Lineker – the BBC’s highest earning star – by having jobs outside the company. As well as hosting Match Of The Day, he has previously anchored football coverage on BT Sport and also hosted ITV gameshow Sitting On A Fortune.
Ms Ball hosted the Strictly Come Dancing spin-off show It Takes Two alongside Rylan Clark-Neal. However, she left the role in 2021 and was replaced by one of the show’s professional dancers, Janette Manrara.
Mamma Mia! I Have A Dream will see hopeful performers compete to land the lead roles of Sophie and Sky in a new West End production of the musical – based on the Abba-themed movie.
The process will end with two winners in a finale broadcast in London’s West End.
Ms Ball follows Gary Lineker – the BBC’s highest earning star – by having jobs outside the company. As well as hosting Match Of The Day, he has previously anchored football coverage on BT Sport and also hosted ITV gameshow Sitting On A Fortune
The programme will be of a similar format to previous BBC shows Any Dream Will Do and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, both based on musicals by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
They saw amateur performers competing for places in the big-stage, revival productions.