Chris Moyles says Nick Grimshaw takeover of his Radio 1 show was ‘handled badly’

Moyles said the way his exit from the station was dealt with made him ‘cross’

Chris Moyles has revealed that the way his 2012 exit from the Radio 1 breakfast show was handled left him feeling “a bit cross”.

Moyles led the extremely popular BBC radio broadcast for almost nine years – longer than any other presenter before or since – totalling 15 years at the station.

He was succeeded by Nick Grimshaw who gave way to Greg James in 2018.

Speaking to MP Matt Hancock on I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here on Monday night’s episode (14 November), Moyles said his departure was handled “so badly”.

“I knew that Radio 1 is a conveyor belt and you might be there for a year or you might be there for 15 years, but you’re going to fall off the end at some point,” he said.

Hancock asked: “Politics is like that. Did you know the end was coming? Did you leave happy or did you leave cross?”

To which the DJ replied: “I left happy, I was a bit cross after I left and I was cross… they handled it so badly, so badly. So I went in with my agent and the controller and we sit down and he goes, ‘Look, this isn’t very easy, I think it’s time we wrapped the show up. We’re going to announce in the news at half 10 that Nick Grimshaw’s taking over.’

Chris Moyles (left) and Nick Grimshaw (ITV/Getty Images)

“My agent went, ‘That’s out of order,’ and it all got a bit steamy. And I’m like, ‘Both of you calm down, stop.’ I said to the boss, ‘You can’t do that.’”

Though not named, the head of Radio 1 at the time was Ben Cooper. The Independent has contacted Radio 1 for comment.

Moyles went on to say that he tried to negotiate making the announcement himself, but it was taken out of his hands and announced at 10.30am the next morning, just after Moyles’s show had finished, that Grimshaw was taking over.

“I was just like, ‘Ok, alright,’” Moyles said. “But they gave us three months to say goodbye, which was great. So I said, ‘You know, thanks for everything, cheers.’”

The presenter explained that he then took a year off after his Radio 1 departure and rented a house in Los Angeles where he met his current girlfriend, artist and talent manager Tiffany Austin.

In the Bush Telegraph, Moyles added: “When it did finish, to do the musical, to do my own tour, and then meet my future girlfriend – then my life changed entirely. So, no regrets, all happy, it’s been a good journey so far.”

During his time in the jungle, Moyles has suggested that former health secretary Hancock is “not being real” with his fellow contestants.

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I’m a Celebrity returns tomorrow night to ITV.