Jermaine Jenas says he is considering suing the BBC after it axed him over a sexting scandal – with the broadcaster dropping him just five days after mounting an investigation into messages that he says were wrong, but not illegal.
The former Match of the Day and One Show presenter was unceremoniously dumped by the Beeb this week after he sent a string of X-rated messages to two colleagues on the evening magazine programme.
He says he is now considering legal action against the broadcaster as industry insiders expressed alarm at the pace with which bosses disposed of him in the wake of criticism directed at their handling of the Huw Edwards and Strictly scandals.
Jenas’ wife of 13 years, ex-model Ellie, hasn’t spoken to him ‘properly’ since learning of the scandal and is ‘absolutely raging’ – kicking him out of their bedroom in their £1million Hertfordshire home. He has said he doesn’t know if she’ll forgive him.
He was still wearing his wedding ring last night as he arrived home in his £90,000 luxury Audi SUV.
The ex-midfielder remains resolute that one of the women he had texted had ‘made it very clear that they had an attraction to me’ – and denied that he was a sex pest.
He has, however, taken responsibility for the messages, which have rocked his marriage and threaten to put an end to his work in broadcasting after a knee injury brought his footballing career to a close a decade ago.
The defiant star said he is ‘ashamed’ and ‘deeply sorry’ – admitting to ‘frantically’ sexting a woman for 24 hours after she gave him her number at a work event
Jermaine Jenas and his wife, ex-model Ellie Penfold, pictured in October last year. She is said to have kicked him out of her bedroom in their £1million home
Jenas has been sacked by the BBC, ending his time as a full-time presenter on the One Show (pictured here alongside Alex Jones)
Jenas’ future with TalkSport and TNT Sports is also in doubt after both broadcasters said they had no plans to bring him in for coverage in the near future (pictured leaving TalkSport on Thursday)
He was still wearing his wedding ring as he arrived home last night at the wheel of his luxury Audi
Jermaine Jenas admitted sending inappropriate texts to women at the BBC and says he has ‘let myself down’ as he revealed his marriage is on the rocks. Pictured with his wife Ellie
He has now been airbrushed out after being sacked from the BBC for allegedly sending inappropriate messages
In the wake of the rapid-fire sacking, Jenas is reported to be considering suing the BBC over its handling of the situation.
He has, however, dismissed the idea that he has been made a ‘scapegoat’ by the broadcaster, which is said to be keen to be seen taking action on troubling allegations with swiftness after the Huw Edwards and Strictly scandals.
Edwards quit the BBC months after the broadcaster was told he had been arrested on suspicion of making indecent images – an offence he admitted last month – while allegations of misconduct behind the scenes on Strictly took years to surface.
Jenas told The Sun: ‘I only have myself to blame – I have let everyone around me down and I have disappointed a lot of people. I am sorry.’
The Times reports staff were told on Thursday to remove a large image of Jenas from the front of the MediaCityUK building in Salford, while content featuring the presenter began to be purged from the broadcaster’s website.
A BBC executive told the paper: ‘We want to make sure that we are acting quickly and decisively when we have proof of wrongdoing.’
But one alarmed TV executive said: ‘The current response is a masterclass in how not to handle a situation – sprinting instead of pacing.’ Another compared the mass purge of content featuring Jenas to the actions of a ‘dictator’.
A spokesperson for the BBC has said there is no blanket policy on removing content. There is no denying, however, that the fallout from the presenter’s sexting scandal has been immediate.
His talent agency MC Saatchi has cut ties, while he is unlikely to return to radio station TalkSport for some time after it said it had ‘no plans’ to include him in future programmes.
The ex-footballer was on the sports station on Thursday when he learned the story had gone public – and gave a terse interview to the station in which he said he was ‘not happy’ but that he would ‘have to let the lawyers deal with it’.
His future with TNT Sports as a pundit and Formula E presenter also remains in doubt.
But speaking to The Sun, Jenas insisted that while what he did was immoral, he hadn’t broken the law.
He said: ‘I did nothing illegal — these were inappropriate messages between two consenting adults.
‘I am ashamed, and I am deeply sorry. I have let myself down… and I owe everyone an apology – especially the women with whom I was messaging.’
Jermaine Jenas was ‘completely over the line’ and ‘doesn’t have a leg to stand on’ over the ‘flirty texts’ that led to him sacked from the BBC, an insider has claimed
The One Show host, pictured at Wimbledon this year with wife Ellie Penfold
Jenas is pictured arriving for the 2024 Shein Women’s Football Awards at the Marriott Grosvenor Square, London
He came clean to Ellie about being fired after she believed he would be returning to The One Show.
He told The Sun about the moment he decided to fess up to Ellie, telling her ‘I’ve been sacked by the BBC’.
She asked ‘what for’ and he replied: ‘For sending text messages that weren’t appropriate to two girls’.
He denied ever sending indecent images or videos.
In a bombshell confession, the defiant star said he is ‘ashamed’ and ‘deeply sorry’ – admitting to ‘frantically’ sexting a woman for 24 hours after she gave him her number at a work event.
But he says he isn’t a ‘sex pest’ and that he has the right to defend himself. However he went on to say he lied to his wife after being informed of the allegations to ‘find a way out of this mess’.
Jermaine Jenas, 41, pictured with his wife Ellie Penfold
The former England international has told his wife of 13 years, Ellie Penfold, about the claims
The scandal-ridden broadcasting corporation fired Jenas in an excruciating video call – while he was on a family holiday in Marbella, Spain, with his wife and their three children.
Jenas, 41, slammed this as ‘grim’, having to ‘sit there and listen to what you’ve said’ as four people on the Zoom call read out his inappropriate text messages.
Jenas, who has been married to Ellie for 13 years and has four children, told The Sun that he is ‘so, so sorry’ and owes ‘everyone’ an apology because he let down himself, his friends, family and colleagues.
The married star said he ‘self-sabotages’ and has a ‘self-destructive streak’ but is getting therapy.
He confessed that he believes what he did was cheating on his wife but nothing physical happened.
The BBC sacked Jenas on Monday, five days after the initial HR process began, he revealed.
In his role at the broadcaster, he earned £190,000 – £194,999 according to official figures published last year for his work on sports coverage.
Other staff were only informed after the media reported on the story, and this ‘says everything’ you need to know about how the organisation handled it, he claimed.
The former footie player said he was in ‘shock’ and panicked about losing his family – even saying he thought his dog looked at him in a disappointed way after he fessed up.
‘We’re human beings and we all make mistakes, some bigger than others and mine is a big mistake,’ he said, admitting that his anxiety ‘spiralled’.
The Mirror reported one BBC insider close to the internal investigation claimed it spoke volumes that Jenas was dropped by his agents, M&C Saatchi Merlin.
The couple tied the knot in 2011 and live in a house in Hertfordshire (pictured above)
Jenas’ ex-model wife Ellie Penfold (pictured) is standing by the axed BBC star as ‘multiple women’ come forward to make fresh claims about his alleged ‘inappropriate behaviour’
The former footballer also appears to have been airbrushed from the website of talent agency M&C Saatchi Merlin. This is how his bio page previously appeared
‘This is not just a flirty text which might get you a b*****g, he was completely over the line and we have absolute evidence of that. He really doesn’t have a leg to stand on,’ the newspaper reported.
‘The matter was raised very recently. We looked at it, we talked about it – and we said goodbye.
‘It’s a clear abuse of power and there’s no room here for anything of that nature.’
The scandal comes just weeks after he was named Ally of the Year at the Women’s Football Awards.
It follows bosses at TalkSPORT and TNT Sports taking the allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ very seriously and have launched their own investigation.
The radio station says he will no longer appear on the show in the ‘immediate future’ after finding out about the presenter’s BBC sacking just moments before he went live on air yesterday afternoon.
The football pundit was fired by the BBC this week over ‘alleged issues relating to workplace behaviour’, which the broadcaster confirmed involved ‘digital communications such as texts, which were raised with the corporation a few weeks ago’.
Other women have since come forward as messages allegedly sent by Jenas are being investigated.
A source told The Sun that a lot of ‘Chinese whispers’ are circulating and the scandal was shrouded in secrecy, with not ‘even top talent like Alex Jones, Alan Shearer or Gary Lineker’ knowing about it.
Jenas pictured on his last episode of the One Show in July 22 of this year alongside Alex Jones
In his final appearance on the One Show in July (pictured), he interviewed former popstar Will Young (who is pictured far left)
Jermaine Jenas (left) pictured for the L’Oreal Wing Men campaign with Jamie Redknapp and Peter Crouch
TalkSPORT found out about Jermaine Jenas’ sacking just moments before he went live on air yesterday and say there are no plans for him to appear in the ‘immediate future’
Staff are said to be ‘rocked’ and ‘shocked’ by the revelation but the corporation acted ‘swiftly and decisively’ because ‘the BBC cannot be seen to be slow to take action.’
The source claimed the first complaint came after Jenas allegedly ‘flirtily messaged a female member of staff on The One Show’ and she raised misgivings formally.
Jenas’s sacking was spearheaded by new director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski.
The corporation said: ‘It followed allegations involving digital communications such as texts, which were raised with the corporation a few weeks ago.’
Sources at the BBC say Jenas will no longer host its evening show with immediate effect. He also appears to have been removed from agency MC Saatchi’s website.
One told the Mail: ‘It all came as a massive shock but his colleagues have now been told the news and he won’t be back. His colleagues are stunned, they didn’t see it coming at all. They were kept in the dark to start with. They couldn’t believe it when they found out.’
The ex-Premier League player began co-presenting a talkSPORT drive-time show moments after it was announced he had been removed from all BBC presenting line-ups.
TalkSPORT said: ‘There are no plans for Jermaine to broadcast as a presenter on talkSPORT in the immediate future.’
Jenas did not address news about his sacking during the live broadcast on Thursday evening and left the News UK building after the radio show in a car.
Jenas, who played for Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest, told talkSPORT News in a brief interview: ‘Look, I can’t really talk about it.
‘I, as you can probably see, I am not happy about it.
‘But currently, as it stands, I’m going to have to let the lawyers deal with it.
‘You know, there’s two sides to every story, as we know. So, that’s all I can say right now.’
