Sally forth into ‘best job on TV’
SALLY Nugent has told of her nerveracking ordeal standing in as a breakfast TV host – as she went for the job.
The presenter, who co-hosts BBC Breakfast with Dan Walker, knew weeks before it was announced that her pal Louise Minchin was leaving last June after 20 years.
But Sally, who has worked on the show for a decade, said acting as her substitute was terrifying until she got the job in October.
She revealed: “Louise told me she was leaving before it was announced, because she’s my friend.
“Then she said, ‘Well, you’re going to obviously have to go for the job’. And I was like, ‘What?’.
“I’ve been filling in for so many years and love it, really love it. So at that moment, the penny dropped, and I thought, ‘Yeah, I’m going to have to try and get this job. One of the best jobs in telly’.”
But Sally, 50, also had to appear on screen, effectively trying out for the role, until her make-or-break interview.
She said: “There was a panel interview and a BBC board, it is a bit like doing an A level, it’s like an exam.The scrutiny was really intense. “They test you because the programme is so big now.”
Sally and Dan’s partnership has been a success, but there is a downside for Dan, 44 – he can’t abide coffee and hates Sally’s strong and “smelly” 6am brew. But he adds: “I’ve never felt like I’m fighting with Sally for space.
“It never feels like, ‘Back off – this is me’.” Sally says Dan’s most annoying habit is completing the game Wordle during a 30-second mid-show show break.
She adds: “I’m lucky because he is very generous on television and not many people in television are.”
Dan competed on Strictly Come Dancing last year and Sally will soon be donning the sequins.
She is taking part in a charity version of The Burrow Strictly Ball – with Dan as a judge.
It is in aid of former rugby league star and motor neurone disease sufferer Rob Burrow’s MND centre.
● BBC Breakfast can be seen from 6am on BBC One. Sally and Dan are hosts from Monday to Wednesday