Jermaine Jenas: Ex-BBC presenter turned to broadcasting after football career

Jermaine Jenas has hit the headlines after being sacked from the BBC following complaints about workplace conduct.

Before injury forced him into the world of TV broadcasting, Jenas was a Premier League footballer, being called up to represent England 21 times during his professional career.

At the age of 17, Jenas made his professional football debut for his boyhood club Nottingham Forest.

The England Under-19s captain signed for Newcastle in February 2002, setting a new British-record fee for a teenager with the £5 million move to St James’ Park.

Jenas went on to play for clubs including Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, and Queens Park Rangers during his career and made 21 appearances for the England national team.

The midfielder retired from football after struggling to recover from a knee injury in 2014, before regularly making appearances as a TV pundit on BBC’s Match Of The Day and Match Of The Day 2, as well as presenting BBC Radio 5 Live.

He was also chosen by Fifa to host the draw for the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar.

Jenas joined The One Show in 2020 as a stand-in co-host following the departure of Matt Baker, and he was made a permanent fixture the following year.

In the same year, he was banned from driving for six months after he was caught using his mobile phone behind the wheel.

After breaking into the world of broadcasting, Jenas has gone on to front a number of documentaries.

In 2019, he returned to his home city of Nottingham to investigate the spike in knife crime in a BBC Three show titled Teenage Knife Wars.

Two years later, he fronted The Truth About Police Stop And Search for Channel 4, giving black men issued with hidden cameras the chance to share their experiences of being stopped and searched.

He also starred in Channel 4’s Hunting The Football Trolls, a documentary exploring social media, racism and football.

It came after England players Jadon Sancho, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford were targeted with racist abuse following their Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy.

In October last year, a Match Of The Day spin-off show hosted by Jenas was cancelled by the BBC after four years.

MOTDx had seen the former England footballer reflect on the action with famous faces on BBC Three.

It came a month after former Tottenham midfielder Jenas apologised on X, formerly Twitter, after branding a referee a “complete s***house” during an Arsenal match.

The pundit and presenter posted on social media following the team being awarded a penalty against Tottenham.

Following a backlash, he wrote: “I hold my hands up, I got it wrong yesterday”, adding “my emotions got the better of me and I apologise to The FA and to all match officials”.

Jenas also hosts Formula E race coverage for TNT Sports.

He shares two daughters and a son with his model wife Ellie Penfold, who he married in 2011, and an older daughter from a previous relationship.