Chris Evans has backed Sara Cox to replace him on BBC Radio 2, when he makes the jump to Virgin Radio at the end of the year.

On Monday, the DJ revealed that he will be leaving the UK’s most listened-to radio show in December, after eight years at the helm.

He’s now told his listeners that he’s backing his regular stand-in presenter, Sara, to succeed him as host.

He said: “Why the heck not? She’s the regular sub, she’s a super sub, she’s the regular deputy.

“Look, everybody here loves Sara. We all love Sara, she’s lovely to work with. We all adore her. And we know the listeners love her – you tell us, you tell me out on the street, you tell other people that work on the show and around the show.”

He then pointed out that listeners have already made their opinion on who should replace him pretty clear, when Sara’s name began trending on Twitter immediately after his announcement.

Chris also used the opportunity to deny there’d been a split between himself and the BBC over how much he was paid, adding: “It’s nothing to do with money, there is no rift here.”

William Hill currently has Sara as the favourite to replace Chris Evans, with 8/13 odds to be the new host, in front of Zoe Ball with 11/4 odds. Simon Mayo is also in the race with 13/2 odds.

Evans will leave behind his weekly BBC audience of 15 million for Virgin Radio, where the figures currently stand at 413,000.

He is the second highest-paid BBC star, behind Gary Lineker, earning £1.6 million last year.

Chris also reminded his listeners that his Radio 2 departure didn’t mean he was leaving radio all together, insisting: “Lots of people in the street saying yesterday, ‘So sorry you’re leaving the radio in the mornings’. And I said ‘Thanks very much, but I’m not actually leaving the radio in the mornings’ because that’s the bit we didn’t mention yesterday, I will still be on just somewhere else, OK?”