Dan Walker says getting up at 3am for six years hosting BBC Breakfast "took a toll on his brain and body" - and now he is looking forward to a "fresh challenge" hosting Channel 5 news shows.
Former BBC host Dan begins presenting 5 News on Monday and he insists his move is not money motivated and it was the right time to move on.
Ahead of the launch, he says he has not done a full run through in the studio with co-host Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije as he prefers to keep everything spontaneous.
Excited Dan, 45, said: "I went in and had a look around the studio and I'm quite keen to have a bit of movement involved in it.
"But I didn't really want to do a run through because I don't really like rehearsing too much.
"I like that adrenaline rush of live TV, we don't really know what's happening and try to keep it as spontaneous as possible.
"I think the programme is in really good nick already. It's just a case of making sure that partnership with Claudia-Liza is great, which seems brilliant so far. She's fantastic.
"I want to try and replicate what I had with Louise and with Sally (co-hosts on BBC Breakfast).
"Try and make it something which is appointment to watch. And yeah, it'll be different."
Giving an idea of the style of the show, he suggested it would have some similarities in tone from his role on BBC Breakfast, which he anchored for the last six years alongside Louise Minchin and then Sally Nugent.
He is certainly not going for the more aggressive or opinionated persona adopted by the likes of Piers Morgan.
He added: "You can go down the route of watch this news because this is my opinion and I'll give it to you.
"And then I suppose the other way of doing it is what I'm really keen on, sort of news with feeling. I'm not a robot.
"I'm not going to shove my opinion down your throat at all but some stories are hard to deal with.
"And I think it's the whole model of Channel Five is how I sort of really feel that news should be and what I've always done a BBC Breakfast.
"It's a real close connection with your audience, understanding where they come from, what they want and the issues that matter to them."
Dan lives in Sheffield with his wife Sarah and three children. Whilst he has never complained about the hours involved in breakfast television, it seems his new job will help them to be together during normal hours, even though his news role will be London based.
Dan said: "I think getting up at three o'clock in the morning for six and a half years, it definitely does sort of take its toll on your brain and your body.
"So even though I've managed to cope with four hours of sleep for a long time, I think I'm looking forward to a more regular sleeping and waking pattern.
"I'm going to stay overnight a couple of nights in London and do four days-a-week but we will work it out and hopefully I'll get to spend more time with my family. They are being very flexible.
"If I want to have a long weekend, like a Monday or a Friday off, I can just shuffle it around, which is brilliant."
His new deal with 5 is understood to be a large six-figure salary and he used to earn in the region of £295,000 at the BBC.
It is not a subject Dan likes to discuss but he said: "I understand it is an obsession with what people earn, but it really doesn't float my boat at all. I'm very thankful for the jobs that I've been able to do. And I feel very privileged to have done them.
"Money is not my motivating factor. It never has been, so I feel very privileged to get paid well to do the job, but my sister works far harder than I do, she's a nurse on the frontline.
"At the BBC I hosted Match of the Day, Football Focus for 12 years, I did BBC Breakfast for six and a half years, I had my own radio show.
"I'd done documentaries, made programmes with the royal family. I've had a quiz series, I have been on Strictly, I've done basically everything I've ever dreamed of doing at the BBC.
"Every now and again, you need a fresh challenge to test you and to see what you're made of. And this is a really good opportunity to do that at a really exciting channel at an exciting time."
- 5 News with Dan Walker starts on Monday at 5pm on Channel 5.
