Angela Scanlon: I lied to get my big job at BBC!
TV presenter admits telling producers she had ‘loads’ of studio experience in Ireland
ANGELA Scanlon has admitted she lied to producers to ultimately bag a top job presenting on primetime BBC programme The One Show.
The 40-year-old Co. Meath native covered for Alex Jones when the regular host was on maternity leave with her first child in early 2017.
However, before landing the job, Ms Scanlon told a producer she had experience working on studio shows back in Ireland. She admitted on Spencer Matthews’s Big Fish podcast: ‘He [the producer] said, “Have you ever done studio?” and I said, “Yeah I’ve done loads of it in Ireland”.’ Ms Scanlon continued: ‘Then I went off to do Robot Wars and I got a call to say, “They want you to fill in on The One Show”. I was on a train practising how to read autocue and I had no idea what I was doing.’
The former Strictly star, who has replaced Corkman Graham Norton as Virgin Radio’s weekend presenter, revealed she generally enjoyed her time on The One Show.
However, she said it was sometimes ‘quite lonely’ because she was pretending to be more experienced than she was. Ms Scanlon, who has since hosted her own RTÉ chat show, Ask Me Anything, said: ‘I was too afraid to say, “Guys, I don’t know what open and switch means – you’re going to have to literally break this down for me”. I should have openly said, “These are my limitations, I’m going to need help – I think I can do it, I’m pretty sure I can, but I might need you to give me a hand”, whereas I just shut up shop and had to pretend that I knew exactly what I was doing, which was quite lonely.’
She said she ‘had fooled myself into believing that if I reached these things that I’d be great, everything would be fantastic’.
Ms Scanlon previously said taking part in Strictly Come Dancing last year was like ‘therapy’ for her.
The mother-of-two – who has spoken of her battles with anxiety and an eating disorder – took part in the BBC dancing show in 2023 and was partnered with professional Carlos Gu. She recently told how she felt ‘bulletproof ’ while performing on the show and had to find the joy and freedom to ‘embarrass herself’ with some of the dances.
She told The Times: ‘It acted like therapy. You can lie down on the couch and talk, but things don’t change until you actually teach yourself and your body that you can survive.
‘So going out there every week, thinking, “Oh my God, I’m so mortally embarrassed in this moment”, and then standing in front of the judges and having everyone and their granny have an opinion about your footwork, and still being like, “Oh, I’m actually grand”, is quite galvanising. It makes you feel bulletproof.
‘It was brilliant in so many ways because I couldn’t hide. Before, I’d never allowed myself to be amateur at anything.’
She also said the strict routine of the show was good for her mental health as a coping strategy. Her latest gig is hosting Virgin Radio’s breakfast show on both weekend days from 7am to 10am, taking over from Norton, and sharing a station with another homegrown star, Ryan Tubridy.
She wrote online last month: ‘I know how many of you have dreamt about waking up to my husky dulcet tones, well dreams come true gang! I’ll be getting up with you every weekend on Virgin Radio and I am inappropriately excited. Stick the kettle on!’
‘I’d no idea what I was doing’ ‘It acted like therapy’