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Angela Scanlon says ‘creepy’ guest asked her inappropriate question seconds before live interview

‘It was too much,’ presenter said

Lydia Spencer-Elliott
Wednesday 27 August 2025 10:21 BST
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Angela Scanlon opens up on feeling like 'child' in Strictly rehearsals

The One Show host Angela Scanlon has revealed a celebrity guest on the programme once asked her whether she was wearing any underwear seconds before they went live on air.

Scanlon, 41, who has regularly filled in for the programme’s main presenter Alex Jones since 2016, said she continued to fulfill her duties as host but was “ready to burst’ with the urge to expose him on air.

The presenter dubbed the unnamed man “such a creep” and said his remarks were “too much” to handle, admitting she’d had “raging internal conflict” between exposing him and remaining professional.

“It was myself and a male co-host and there was a male guest who’s very well known,” Scanlon said on Mel Giedroyc’s Where There’s A Will, There’s a Wake podcast.

Scanlon said the man sat opposite her while she prepared for the programme with producers – but she welcomed him with “open arms” regardless of their hectic pre-show schedule.

“Anyway, just before we went live, he turned around to me and he said – I was wearing jeans and a blazer, not that that should matter – but he said: ‘Are you wearing panties underneath those? And then, boom, we are live on air.”

The presenter reflected: “I’m a woman who stands up for herself, but I’d have been unprofessional if I had in that situation.”

Matt Baker and Angela Scanlon presenting 'The One Show'
Matt Baker and Angela Scanlon presenting 'The One Show' (BBC)

Scanlon began her career as a fashion journalist and initially began her broadcast career in Ireland, before presenting Robot Wars, The Voice UK, and the BBC Three documentary series Angela Scanlon’s Close Encounters.

She previously told Spencer Matthews on his Big Fish podcast that she lied to a producer to secure her role on The One Show.

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“He said, ‘Have you ever done studio?’ and I said, ‘Yeah I've done loads of it in Ireland,’” she admitted.

“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.”

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