Radio presenter Sara Cox has insisted she wasn’t interested in taking on the Radio 2 breakfast show, as it would mean spending too much time away from her children.
When Chris Evans announced last year that he was stepping down from his role as breakfast show host, his stand-in presenter Sara’s name was immediately mentioned in the media as a potential replacement.
Although it was widely reported that Sara was in the running, the gig eventually went to Zoë Ball and the former has now suggested she didn’t actually want the job because, in her words, she “can’t mop up [her] kid’s tears with a wad of fifties”.
Speaking on ‘This Morning’, she told Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield: “I loved standing in for Chris when he was on. I’m not gonna stand in for Zoë because I want time with my kids this half term and that’s not happened for a few years now.
“What it is, when I used to swan in and cover for Chris Evans it was really easy because I was on there for like two weeks… it is quite tiring, and by three or four I was kind of horrible to my kids by that time.
“So, you know, breakfast is a great gig, it’s an amazing show to do, it’s great money, but I can’t mop my kids’ tears with a wad of fifties.”
Sara has three children, including 10-year-old Isaac and eight-year-old Renee with husband Ben Cyzer, and 14-year-old Lola, from a previous marriage.
During the interview, Sara went on to reveal that when Chris Evans was first announced to be leaving, she received a deluge of text messages, including one from Zoë, which read: “You’ve got this.”
“I replied to her and all my family and friends and I said ‘Look the ancient Chinese proverb says, the stand-in never gets the gig’,” Sara explained. “It just doesn’t happen in radio so I never thought I was gonna get breakfast.”
After Zoë was confirmed for the breakfast show, Sara was revealed to have landed the drive-time show on Radio 2, taking over the vacancy left by Simon Mayo and Jo Whiley.
Zoë, who is also a mother to 18-year-old Woody and eight-year-old Nelly, hosts her first breakfast show on Radio 2 on Monday (14 January).
‘This Morning’ airs every weekday from 10.30am.
