Richard Osman has revealed that he wasn't paid a single penny for the first four series of Pointless he filmed with the BBC.
The 51-year-old TV presenter and author, co -hosted the quiz show alongside good friend Alexander Armstrong - from episode one in 2009 until this summer.
However, when the show initially began, he decided against taking a pay cheque until it became highly-successful - as one of the bosses of Endemol UK, who produced the series.
Read more: BBC Pointless fans complain minutes into show as host Richard Osman is replaced
The Mirror reports that he said: "I didn't get paid for the first four series or so of Pointless because I was the creative director of the company and I did feel like it wasn't appropriate. Until series four we didn't have a hit and I was still doing my job.
"To me [hosting the show] was a fun hobby."
He continued: "But from the second series, me and Xander [Armstrong] were able to talk a bit more and the ratings started picking up. There was something about that relationship, the casualness and gentleness of it, that I think people liked."
Richard parted ways with the show earlier this year, after his career took off with crime novel series The Thursday Murder Club. But he could have been solving mysteries himself as he was tapped up to be a spy when he was at Cambridge University.
He even completed a weekend trial run. He added: "I've always loved the idea of being a spy but at the time it wasn’t for me. But it was interesting. You'd do fun war gaming. You’d have four different people, it would be like The Apprentice, but for spies, and they'd interview you and you'd be war gaming and they'd ask you about killing for your country and all these things.
"I loved it. But no, I didn't pursue that path. Or did I? I did not pursue it." Richard, who is 6ft 7ins, added: "I think I’m too tall to be a spy."
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