Fearne Cotton said she has been “sacked a million times” but admitted no money in the world will get her back on our screens anytime soon.
The 42-year-old refused to name the shows in question but said twice over the last decade she’d only learned the news of being axed after turning on the TV and witnessing someone else doing her job.
Fearne, who has since bid farewell to broadcasting in favour of her wellness brand Happy Place, first found fame on CITV and CBBC before going on to Radio 1, Celebrity Juice as well as briefly fronting The Xtra Factor and Love Island.
Speaking to The Times, she said: “I’ve been sacked a million times.
“I’ve been sacked and not told I’ve been sacked. You just turn the telly on and someone else is doing your job.”
She continued: “It’s all a big game. You’ve got the Monopoly board out and you’re moving around [trying to] dodge the danger.”
Fearne previously hosted the BBC Design Show for one series in 2019 before it was relaunched as Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr fronting the programme in 2021, replacing her as the show’s main host.
She also fronted X Factor spin-off the Xtra Factor for one series in 2007, later being replaced by pal Holly Willoughby, as well as co-hosting 2006’s celebrity Love Island with Patrick Kielty.
Fearne, who is married to husband Jesse Wood and shares two children with her beau, decided to step back from the world of broadcasting.
She has been open about her mental health struggles in her early years, saying she would not sleep the night before live radio and would end up feeling ill which escalated into “anxiety and panic attacks”.
Fearne joined Radio 1 in 2005, and two years later became the first ever permanent female presenter of a BBC radio chart show. She quit hosting her show in 2015.
The broadcaster began her presenting career in 1996 at the age of 15.