Alex Jones has described The One Show team as a 'second family,' revealing she vents about her work frustrations at home and vice versa. The presenter, who joined the BBC show in July 2010 replacing Christine Bleakley, made the comments to occasional co-host Vernon Kay.
'I Moan About the Family at Home'
Agreeing with Vernon that there is an 'on-show' family and a home family, Alex said: "When I go to the show, I moan about the family at home, and when I go home, I moan about the family at work."
Despite her occasional complaints, Alex remains a big fan of the programme, calling it a 'massive privilege' to work on. "If you're bored with The One Show, you're bored with life," she insisted. "I still really enjoy doing it."
Future on The One Show
Discussing her future on the show with Closer magazine, Alex said she has no plans to leave: "If they'll have me, I'll stay as long as they want!"
Launched in 2006 as a successor to long-running regional magazine show Nationwide, The One Show is now 20 years old. Alex believes it will continue for many years: "I think this show will probably outlive any of us," she said. "It's more relevant than ever and as successful as ever."
She attributed the show's success to its combination of looseness and professionalism: "Because the show is so well produced, I think people sometimes forget it's live. We don't over-rehearse because we want to keep it fresh and we enjoy not quite knowing what's going to happen," she noted. "I get people's names wrong all the time, but I don't think people mind because they're on a journey with us."
Favourite Guest: Dolly Parton
Alex named Dolly Parton as her most exciting interview experience on the show. She recalled meeting the country legend early before an appearance: "I think Dolly Parton stands out because I was very new and one of the producers who worked on The One Show said, 'Do you want to come and say hi to Dolly? She's here early.'"
"So I went in and said, 'Oh, hi Dolly. I'm Alex. Um, I'll be asking you some questions later,' and she was like, 'Come in, darling,' she said, 'Come and sit.'"
"She had no makeup on," Alex added. "So it was before she'd become Dolly. I think she's very open in the fact that she wears a lot of wigs and so her hair wasn't done. She was bare-faced, still absolutely striking."
As Alex watched, Dolly began 'Dollifying' herself, putting on her stage look. "In front of me, she transformed into Dolly," Alex said. "I thought, how special that, you know, we all know her as this vivacious, very made-up, beautiful woman, but actually she was equally striking and equally impressive because she is just a nice person."
"That was an hour that I will never ever forget."
