TV presenter Michael Underwood has claimed he was secretly sacked from the BBC. The former CBBC star, 50, worked for the station from 1999 to 2002, before he moved to ITV as a celebrity reporter on GMTV. Now he has told his fans that he reportedly did not want to make the move to ITV, but he was told it was his 'time to move on'.
Revelation on TikTok
During a Q&A on TikTok, a fan asked him to talk about how he went to ITV as he wrote underneath: 'I've avoided talking about this for years.' He explained: 'I didn't want to go to ITV, I loved working at CBBC. It's where I started out, I had so many friends there, it was fun going into work every single day. Why would I want to leave?'
'But here's the thing – we had two bosses, there was boss in charge of the presenters and a boss in charge of the whole channel. Now the presenter boss changed and he wanted meetings with all of the presenters which wasn't unusual, also I was close to a contract renewal. That's normally when they call you in, talk about more money, more responsibility, that type of thing.'
'So I went in for my meeting, sat down and this is how it went, "Michael, you're just coming up to your three years at CBBC. I think you've had a great run up until this point but now it's time for you to move on".'
Shock and Aftermath
He continued: 'I was gobsmacked. You know when you get really awful or shocking news and you just go blank and space out, that's what I did cos I was not expecting it at all. I don't even remember what I said, I couldn't tell you what I said after I heard that. I just remember getting up, walking out of the office and thinking, "I've just been fired".'
He then recalled going upstairs to the big boss and telling him what had happened, but then he said he had no idea it was going to happen. Michael then went downstairs and told his now-wife, Angellica Bell, who told him that if the BBC didn't want him, he should go to ITV.
'They offered twice the money plus three new shows guaranteed, which is an amazing offer, but I wanted to stay at CBBC,' he added. However, he claimed that the BBC boss who reportedly fired him, called him back in after Christmas and offered him a year's contract. But he decided to leave and took the job at ITV, where he hosted CITV's Jungle Run.
The Daily Mail have contacted BBC for a comment.
