The One Show presenter Alex Jones has opened up about her fears of being replaced on the BBC programme after she took maternity leave in 2017
The One Show’s Alex Jones has confessed to feeling “replaceable” in a candid discussion about her role on the popular BBC One programme. The Welsh presenter joined the hit BBC One programme back in 2010 as a replacement for Christine Lampard.
In 2017 Alex took maternity leave while pregnant with her first child. However she admits she was nervous to step back from the show, fearing that bosses would simply replace her permanently.
Speaking on the Great Company podcast with Jamie Laing, she revealed: “I felt secure in my job, but I had an absolute meltdown when I went off for maternity, thinking ‘Oh s***’. I love my job and I really respect it and appreciate it, and I’m grateful for it, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, they’re going to get someone in and that’ll be it, I’ll never be seen again’.”
“It was a hard thing to step away,” Alex explained, admitting that she was concerned she would be forgotten about or replaced.
Despite reassurances from her colleagues, she confessed: “I still feel replaceable, all the time, even though, bless them, they go to great lengths all the time to say, ‘But you’re not.’ I always feel that I have to be on top of it and bring the A game all the time.”
Now, 15 years after landing the role on the show, Alex is often asked why she continues to present. She responded: “People ask, ‘Why are you still there?’ And I say, ‘Well I’m not bored’. I still feel like I need to prove myself and you only need to leave when you feel like you’re done.”
Alex has previously revealed on Loose Women that she was labelled a “geriatric” mother after having her first child at 38, prompting her to call for a “change in the language” surrounding older mothers, reports Wales Online.
The TV star admitted she was “always keen” to have a family but explained she hadn’t “found her husband” Charlie Thomson until she was 34. She added: “For me family was always the number one goal and I’ve been brought up with my sister very close and I suppose I just wanted to replicate that.
“But moving to London and finding Charlie and settling into life just took a bit of time. Breaking up, getting back together, are we moving to New Zealand, no we’re staying in London, all of that takes a bit of time.”
Alex, who has three children with Charlie, praised the BBC for being “fantastic” during her maternity leave but confessed she experienced “paranoia” about her career.
She explained: “If you like your job and respect your job, you still feel a little bit insecure because if you enjoy it, you want to keep it and it’s a very difficult thing because you want a family as well.”
The broadcaster acknowledged she could have “taken a few more months” off after Teddy’s birth but described juggling her professional and personal life as “it’s a balancing act”.
Alex returns to The One Show at 7pm tonight (November 20), joining co-host Roman Kemp alongside guests Alan Carr and Sheridan Smith.
