WHY NAGA WILL NEVER BE CAUGHT NAPPING
Her tough work ethic means that super-fit presenter Naga Munchetty is “bouncing” on just four hours’ sleep a night…
Most breakfast television presenters say exhaustion is a drawback of the job – constantly waking at around 3am takes its toll on the body and makes any social life nigh on impossible.
But BBC Breakfast’s Naga Munchetty is made of sterner stuff. “Not once have I woken up going, ‘Ugh, I just can’t do it today,’” she says. “I am so grateful that I do a job that I absolutely adore. I’m bouncing every day.”
Certainly those who have been on the receiving end of one of Naga’s grillings on the sofa will lay testament to her enviable energy levels.
Even the Prime Minister Boris Johnson was momentarily lost for words when Naga asked him, “How are you relatable?”
“The most difficult psychological question ever,” he spluttered in response.
Naga credits her parents with helping instil a work ethic in her from a young age. Immigrants who moved to Britain in 1971, they took jobs as hospital nurses.
“They worked for the NHS. Worked and worked and worked,” she recalls.
After university Naga began
BBC Breakfast
Strictly her media career on The Observer’s business desk.
Most other journalists there were white and middle class; she admits she felt out of her depth. “The only thing I could rely on was my work ethic, inherited from my parents. If you were to say to me, ‘What do you absolutely know you are good at?’, it’s working hard. And doing my best.”
Naga divides her time between a flat in Manchester, close to the BBC studios and the Hertfordshire home she shares with her husband, broadcast consultant James Haggar. Away from BBC Breakfast, where she has worked since 2014, she lives life to the full, thriving on challenges and notching up some impressive sporting achievements.
An avid golfer with a handicap of nine, she won Celebrity Mastermind in 2013 with the specialist subject of The Ryder Cup 1979-Present. She’s run the London Marathon, completed a 100km charity bike ride and competed in the 2016 series of Strictly.
Despite her 3.45am alarm call, she still makes time for the odd night out. “I’m not usually in bed before 11.30pm,” she once revealed. “I have a very fulfilling social life.”