Adrian Chiles admits he found hosting The One Show and Match of the Day ‘fantastically unfulfilling’ despite earning £4.5M a year
As someone who has always admired Adrian Chiles’ work and followed his career closely, it comes as a bit of a surprise to learn that he found his time hosting The One Show and Match of the Day “fantastically unfulfilling.” Despite being one of Britain’s highest-paid broadcasters, earning more than £4.5 million a year, Chiles confesses that the jobs he took on were not what truly made him happy.
Adrian Chiles, a TV host, admitted that he discovered his stint on The One Show and Match of the Day to be remarkably unsatisfying.
In the prime of his professional life, Chiles, aged 57, ranked among the top earners in British broadcasting, taking home over 4.5 million pounds annually.
However, he’s admitted that although he earned a substantial income, The One Show simply wasn’t the appropriate role for him, nor was it a type of program he’d typically choose to watch.
In a professional context, people often find themselves attracted to jobs they feel compelled to accept – this could be due to financial reasons, the desire for a higher social standing, or simply because it seems like a natural step forward in their career. However, these jobs might not always align perfectly with what truly suits them. This is what he shared during his conversation on Kaye Adams’ How to be 60 podcast.
You might feel that “The One Show” wasn’t suitable for your taste. While it achieved success, it wasn’t the type of show I would typically enjoy watching, nor was it the kind of program I envisioned myself being part of.
“Watching top-tier live football was also an option, but I discovered it to be surprisingly unsatisfying. In truth, my performance may have suffered due to this.
As a football-obsessed enthusiast, when my playing days wound down, I found myself returning to the world of radio. Conducting brief, 10 to 15-minute interviews became my new norm. It was as if the lifeblood that had once coursed through me during those thrilling matches began to pulse anew.
Chiles’ successful TV career saw him host BBC1’s Match of the Day 2 for six years, before being poached by ITV to front their World Cup and Champions League coverage in a golden handcuffs deal worth £6 million over four years.
Apart from co-hosting “The One Show” alongside Christine Lampard from 2007-2010, which attracted around seven million viewers, he has since acknowledged that the program’s structure didn’t resonate with his personal preferences.
He pointed out that one reason for entering this line of work is the enjoyment and natural curiosity in asking questions. In a brief interview on The One Show sandwiched between unrelated films, there isn’t much opportunity to satisfy that curiosity. However, given ten or fifteen minutes on the radio, it becomes an entirely different scenario.
The presenter, who now hosts a show on Radio 5 Live as well as writing a weekly newspaper column, added: ‘The same is true of columns, it’s not as high profile and certainly it doesn’t pay anything like as well, but it is undoubtedly more fulfilling.
When someone on the street tells me, “I enjoy your radio show,” or “I found that column from last week interesting,” it makes me feel like I’d love to give them a warm hug.
If I had described my dream job at age 20, it would look like this: Writing a well-received column for The Guardian and hosting insightful radio programs that are enjoyable as well, all rolled into one.
Instead of imagining or wishing for this unexpected chaos – hosting World Cup events and chatting with Michael Caine during primetime on The One Show, I’d gladly accept just this [the current situation].
Originating from Birmingham, the television host started his small screen journey on Working Lunch, and later transitioned to The One Show. Additionally, he spent a period of four years as the host for the spin-off series of The Apprentice titled You’re Fired.
At the pinnacle of his profession, he was among the most prominent figures in BBC sports broadcasting. Besides hosting Match of the Day 2, he was part of the BBC’s World Cup team, served as the lead presenter for the BBC’s Euro 2008 coverage, and anchored one of the programs during the 2008 Olympics.
But he told Kaye Adams that his high-flying career didn’t make him happy. ‘I don’t feel like an Alpha male, I don’t walk round feeling like I’m a great success. I don’t feel that at all in my bones,’ he said.
As a passionate devotee, I can’t help but express the thrilling rush and exhilaration this experience delivers – yet it also bestows fame, a double-edged sword that subtly scrambles one’s thoughts. The challenges truly emerged when I was playing two matches every three weeks, a period of my life that left me feeling more wretched than ever. It was then that I came to understand that I struggle with idle time; I thrive under structure, and I believe this might be due to my ADHD.
In 2020, the presenter shared that he was diagnosed with ADHD. He mentioned that this diagnosis has been beneficial for him, yet he admitted that if he doesn’t take additional steps to manage it, his health could be at risk.
He explained: ‘It’s not going to help matters if it then just gives me a free pass to carry on being incompetent and just say: ‘terribly sorry, you’re going to have to accept my neurodiversity, I’m ADHD.’
I seek a balance of empathy and self-awareness, yet I must draw a line and remind myself to take things slow while focusing more on improving that particular area in the future.
In a statement, Alan Rusbridger, currently married to Kath Viner (editor of The Guardian), and formerly wedded to Jane Garvey (radio host), noted: “I won’t reach 70 unless I reduce my stress levels significantly.
Instead of finding peace in a rocking chair, watching TV, my future seems to consist of a desperate search for my missing slippers and pipe, as I scramble to discover some solution to this hectic lifestyle.
Kaye Adams: How to be 60 is available on all podcast providers.
Read More
- TOMI/USD
- GBP EUR PREDICTION
- SYNT/USD
- ARPA PREDICTION. ARPA cryptocurrency
- ARIX/USD
- PROTEO/USD
- POLYX PREDICTION. POLYX cryptocurrency
- EURC PREDICTION. EURC cryptocurrency
- ETH PREDICTION. ETH cryptocurrency
- SHDW PREDICTION. SHDW cryptocurrency
2024-10-31 20:13