Jermaine Jenas repeatedly pestered a junior make-up artist for sex – and when she told him she had a boyfriend replied: ‘Just come to my dressing room early and I’ll [perform a sex act] on u… that’s not cheating.’
The latest account of Jenas’s sexualised pestering of female colleagues is the earliest yet – predating his mainstream broadcasting success with The One Show by several years – and also features the most lurid messages.
Jenas, 41, a married father-of-four, was abruptly sacked in August by the BBC – where he also worked on flagship show Match of the Day – for sending ‘inappropriate messages’ to two female colleagues, something he later admitted left him feeling ashamed.
He has since been met with similar allegations from other women.
Just last week MailOnline revealed that he bombarded a woman working at the World Cup in Qatar two years ago with unwanted messages asking ‘You want my boy now?’ before sending her a picture of his manhood, despite her making clear she was not interested in his advances.
The latest woman to accuse Jenas had just started shift working for BT Sport in 2017, where he was a rising star as a football pundit – and he soon began to send her unsolicited sexual messages.
Jermaine Jenas targeted a junior make-up artist while working at BT Sport. After she did his face to go on air, he found her Instagram and sent her this message, begging her for a ‘snog’ while he waited in his dressing room
The woman (pictured), a make up artist at BT Sport, said she repeated told the star that she wasn’t interested – and she told her line manager about the communication with him
She told how Jenas refused to take no for an answer as he bombarded her with texts detailing his sexual fantasies, asking her to come to his dressing room for sex, as well as sending her an unsolicited video showing his penis.
The woman says she told Jenas from the outset that she had no interest in him as she was in a relationship and would not be unfaithful.
The freelance make-up artist, who was then just starting out in her career, said she feared losing work if she came forward to complain but was left ‘nervous’ about working with Jenas.
And MailOnline is, by agreement, not naming the woman as she still fears she may miss out on getting work in future for her speaking out here.
She told how she met Jenas soon after starting at the channel seven years ago and was initially surprised when he suddenly followed her on Instagram.
But then the lewd direct messages began soon afterwards.
His opening one was to send her a selfie with the caption: ‘Any chance of a snog to fill some time.’
He then sent her a video of himself holding his private parts, the woman said.
She recalled ‘Soon after that message and the video I had to go in to do a touch up for him to go on-air.
‘He whispered to me ‘did you see my messages’ and I just said ‘yes’, as in ‘I’d seen them, not interested,’ and just carried on working.
Despite telling Jenas she had no interest in receiving explicit messages, the woman says the star continued to send them to her. In one he wrote, ‘Can I have my birthday kiss tonight pls (our secret). When she turned him down, Jenas wrote, ‘But you’re so sexy! I want you!!!!’
The woman (pictured) reported the behaviour to her line manager at BT Sport. Her boss was supportive. They urged her to leave the room when Jenas walked in so someone else would do his make up
‘That was it that day. Then the next day it must have been his birthday, and he texted me ‘can I have a birthday kiss tonight please, our secret’.
‘Then he sent me another one. After that I said ‘Look, I’m in a relationship…I’m not interested.’
He continued to send her messages in the days that followed, she said, to which she either replied ‘no’ to or ignored completely.
At one point Jenas sent a message in response to her firm rejection, saying: ‘But you’re so sexy! I want you!!!!’ with an angry emoji.
The texts from Jenas to the woman were increasingly explicit, with him pleading: ‘Just come to my dressing room early and I’ll [perform a sex act}… that’s not cheating x’
The texts became increasingly explicit, with Jenas urging her in one ‘Just come to my dressing room early and I’ll [perform a sex act}… that’s not cheating x.’
In two further messages he asked: ‘Would you rather lay on your back while I [perform an intimate act] …or do you prefer it [a lurid sexual description] .’
She said: ‘I replied, ‘I’m not that type, I don’t want to cheat, I’m not interested.’
‘I told my boyfriend at the time and he said, ‘You just have to tell your boss.’
The woman said she told her line manager, who was contracted to work for BT Sport.
Her response was supportive and protective – but stopped short of formally alerting the channel’s management to Jenas’s behaviour.
She recalled: ‘My boss just said ‘they’re like that, ignore him. When he comes into the room just walk out and someone else will do it [his make-up].’
‘And I was so junior in my job I didn’t question this.’
She also said that her manager seemed unsurprised by the allegations she had come forward with, saying: ‘He’s known for doing that.’
While Jenas finally stopped sending messages to the woman soon after this, she still felt disturbed by what had happened, she said.
‘I was really nervous just to go into work. It was just really awkward [being in the vicinity of Jenas].
‘He would do little things that made me feel uncomfortable. I’d notice he seemed to be looking down at my boobs for example.’
She was taken off shifts that he was working on and started to see him less at work.
Jenas, 41, pictured at the 2022 World Cup where he worked for the BBC as a pundit, was sacked by the corporation last month for sending sexually inappropriate texts to two women
The woman said that some years after she left BT Sport she saw Jenas who apologised to her for his behaviour, which he said ‘wasn’t him’. However, she said that his dismissal from the BBC echoes her experience with the star when they were working together seven years ago
‘Over time I just stayed professional, it wasn’t nice, you don’t go to work to have to deal with that. He eventually stopped and didn’t do it again.’
A few years later, while working on another job, the woman said Jenas approached her and apologised for his earlier behaviour.
‘He said ‘I’m not that person, that isn’t me.’ And then to hear that it was still going on, it makes you think ‘was that an apology because you’re now doing the One Show? You want to give a family man image?’
‘I appreciate the apology but you’re still doing it. Apparently, that’s not who you are, you’re just going through something. But you’re still doing it.’
A spokesman for Jenas said: ‘Jermaine denies that these messages were unsolicited and it is disappointing that it has taken seven years for these accusations to come to light. Jermaine has already apologised for his past actions and is currently taking time to focus on his family.’
The star has since said that he has a ‘self-destructive streak’ with his relationships and is receiving therapy.
Upon his sacking from the BBC last month, Jenas told his former female colleagues he was ‘genuinely sorry’ for sending inappropriate messages, issuing an apology after being told not to contact the two women due to ‘legal process’.
But again he insisted they were ‘between two consenting adults’ and that his behaviour was not illegal.
The woman who spoke to MailOnline said: ‘He can say it’s consensual but if someone’s telling you ‘no’ and then you’re still harassing them and they’re still saying ‘no’- that’s not ok. It’s just so disrespectful to women.’
Jenas was pictured being driven away from talkSPORT after the scandal broke last month. He later did an interview where he said he was extremely sorry to his family over the messages
Another woman (pictured) last week told MailOnline how Jenas sent her a picture of his penis while he was working as a pundit for the BBC at the Qatar World Cup
Following several weeks of texting the woman, Jenas then sent her a message saying, ‘Hang on. You want my boy now?’ followed by the photo of him holding his private parts
Last week another woman, 38, told MailOnline how two years ago she met Jenas while he was working as a BBC pundit at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
She was in capital Doha to work for an events firm organising high-end parties at one of the city’s top five-star hotels.
She said that she met him at the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha and she gave him her number so that he could contact her if he wanted to book a table or attend one of the parties at the hotel.
But the woman says he bombarded her with flirty WhatsApp messages, asking for for photos of her in a bikini and telling her ‘I wanna see it [her body] now’ and ‘you know what it’s like when you’re away’.
Their communication ended abruptly when he sent her a photo of his private parts, she said.
When he was axed by the BBC following claims by two female workers, the former Match of the Day host initially denied the claims to his wife before admitting to them.
He said in an interview after confessing to the allegations: ‘I feel ashamed. I feel I’ve let everybody down – friends, family, colleagues.’
The former midfielder also hit out at the BBC for the way the corporation handled his axing, saying: ‘The handling of the situation wasn’t great. It was quick — and hell.
‘I don’t think there was a game plan for when they were going to announce they’d fired me.
‘I think different departments were being told different things. I think it’s shocking.’
Jenas said that he had hoped to speak to the two female colleagues who had made the allegations, but had not been able to when the process got underway.
‘When it was all unfolding and I knew I was losing my job, I asked HR if I could contact the two women directly and apologise to both of them.
‘But because of the legal process, I wasn’t allowed. I didn’t get the opportunity to say sorry to them at that particular point when I really wanted to apologise.
‘I really want to apologise from the bottom of my heart in terms of what I’ve put them through.’
Jenas – whose career at the BBC was going from strength to strength – is pictured on his last episode of the One Show in July 22 alongside Alex Jones
In an interview after his sacking, Jenas apologised for what happened, lashed out at the BBC – but admitted: ‘I feel ashamed. I feel I’ve let everybody down – friends, family, colleagues.’
Addressing the women directly, he said: ‘I’m genuinely sorry for what I’ve done to you. I always thought it was consensual and a two-way thing.’
During his football career, Jenas appeared for England and played for Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers.
He also hosts Formula E race coverage for TNT Sports, which was previously BT Sport.
The woman who worked with him on the show said BT should now rethink its relationship with Jenas.
She said: ‘I can’t blame BT because they didn’t know about it at the time.
‘But they do now, and what they do will show what kind of company they are. If they’re willing to allow people to do that under their name, under their brand.’
A Formula E spokesperson said last month that the presenting line-up for the next series of would be ‘carefully considered’ after the last season finished in July.
As well as the BBC, Jenas has also been dropped by his high-profile TV and celebrity management company, M&C Saatchi Merlin, who look after other names including Freddie Flintoff and Helen Skelton.
BT Sport was approached for comment.
