I HUNG UP ON ONE SHOW BOSS

Alex Jones tells Jiffy she thought call was a joke

THE One Show’s Alex Jones has said she hung up on the programme’s deputy editor when he rang to offer her an audition for the coveted job.

Living in Wales at the time and working on S4C on shows like Jonathan, Alex was well established as a presenter in Wales but thought it was a prank call.

She tells all to former co-star Jonathan Davies in a brand new series called Jonathan Meets... where the rugby legend meets Welsh stars who’ve made it to the top of their game.

Alex, who is expecting her first baby with husband Charlie Thomson, said: “I got this phone call out of the blue from somebody called Gareth and he said ‘Hiya Alex, I’m ringing from the BBC in London and we were wondering whether you could come up and see us about The One Show?’

“I thought, there’s somebody winding me up here so I put the phone down!”

Luckily though, he called back and assured her it wasn’t a prank, leading her to land the role in 2010, in the BBC’s flagship daily show.

Alex, from Ammanford, takes Jonathan to some of her favourite cafés, shops and restaurants in Chiswick, where she now lives, and also tells Jiffy how she sat her final exams for a degree in Theatre, Film and Television, while tak- ing part in a TV show in Magaluf, presented by Davina McCall.

“We did the exams and it was really bizarre, because I was in a gymnasium, as you would be in Wales, on my own, just a little desk, with Davina McCall timing me!” she said.

Her parents were a little more apprehensive and Alex described it as “not my parents’ proudest moment”.

For the next few years Alex was a familiar face on children’s television programmes on S4C, but credits her first employer for giving her a chance.

“I wasn’t very good at it at the beginning, but beneath the exterior of quite ditzy and very laid-back, I’m quite conscientious really, always have been. So I’d watch everything back and think how can I improve that?”

Her goal has always been clear: “Those 10 years plotting really, up until The One Show, I had a real focus in mind. I wanted to be on network television”.

Recently married, Alex is looking forward to the new challenge of motherhood and the impending work/life balance issues.

“Ultimately, family is first, so this to me is the biggest challenge and the most important one.”

She also reveals that she may even move back to Wales one day.

Jonathan Meets… Alex Jones is on BBC One Wales on Friday at 8.30pm.