Jermaine Jenas has said he is "ashamed" and has "let everybody down" after being sacked by the BBC - but insisted he is “not a sex pest”.
The Match of the Day presenter was sacked by the BBC earlier this week amid allegations he sent unsolicited messages to a female colleague.
In an interview with The Sun, Jenas said the messages were a “huge error of judgement” and described the exchanges as "inappropriate messages between two consenting adults".
“I have let myself down, my family, friends and colleagues down, and I owe everyone an apology — especially the women with whom I was messaging. I am so, so sorry,” he said.
He told the newspaper that nothing physical had happened between him and the women he was messaging, and that he had booked himself in for therapy to address issues relating to the incident before it became public.
Jenas added that he felt like the “number one target” in the country.
The former footballer, 41, who has been married to model Ellie Penfold for 13 years, will also not appear on radio station talkSPORT in the “immediate future”.
Jenas said he fell below the standard of responsibility that “needs to be upheld when you’re a member of the BBC”, but insisted there was no criminality involved.
He also denied sending any explicit pictures or video, The Sun reported.
Jenas began co-presenting a talkSPORT drive-time show with fellow former footballer Jermaine Pennant, moments after it was announced he had been removed from all BBC presenting line-ups.
On Thursday, a BBC spokesperson said: "We can confirm Jermaine Jenas is no longer part of our presenting line-up."
According to official figures published last year, Jenas earned £190,000 to £194,999 for his work on the FA Cup, Match Of The Day and the World Cup at the BBC.
Jenas has three children with Ellie Penfold and also a fourth from a previous relationship.
His playing career was ended by a serious knee injury in 2014 while at his final club QPR.
Jenas spent eight years until 2013 at Tottenham, where he made 155 appearances, and also completed spells at Nottingham Forest and Newcastle. He won 21 caps for England from 2003 to 2009.
Officially his retirement came in 2016 after finally conceding defeat in his attempt to overcome his injury, but by then he had already begun transitioning into his media career.
He started out at ITV Sport and BT Sport and there were also detours into reality TV and documentary making before his career took off at the BBC, becoming a permanent host of The One Show in 2021.
