Vanessa Feltz has accused the BBC of "agesism" as she praised her former BBC Radio 2 co-star Ken Bruce after he confirmed he was leaving the station after 31 years.
It was announced earlier this week that the legendary radio presenter will be leaving his regular slot as he moves to Greatest Hits Radio with his infamous quiz segment, PopMaster.
The This Morning co-hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby discussed the surprising exit with Vanessa, 60, she labelled him a “genius” and disclosed what a dream it was to work with him.
“He is such a lovely man,” Phil, 60, said, as Vanessa agreed: “He’s not only such a lovely man, he’s a broadcasting genius, a genius.
“He had over 9 million listeners and he had the biggest show on the radio, his ratings get higher every single quarter. I know as I was his colleague at Radio 2 for years and years and years.”
Vanessa went on to share a sweet story about how she used to listen to the presenter back when she was a student, before she worked alongside him on the network.
“I used to listen to him when I was at University from 1980-83,” she continued, “and when I got to work with him I had to really stop myself curtseying and bowing.”
She squealed: “I could not believe it. I was in awe! I thought I get to walk in and do the Jeremy Vine handover with Ken actual Bruce oh my god!
“I had to act like a grown up and it was really hard as I was like ‘you’re Ken Bruce, ahhh!’”
Phil and Holly admitted they were confused as to why the popular presenter and that it was a “huge loss for the BBC ” as he moves to their biggest rival Greatest Hits.
Phil asked: “I don’t understand, he’s got 8.5 million weekly listeners so you’ve recently left, why has he gone?”
"Well I haven’t’ spoken to him personally, but I imagine it’s a feeling of some sense of ageism at the BBC. That once you get over a certain age your days are numbered, you’re not valued in the certain way.”
Phil questioned whether Vanessa had felt this “sense of ageism” at the station and responded: “Yes, yes I did.”
As she reflected on the biggest stars who have left BBC Radio 2 in recent years such as Paul O’Grady, Chris Evans, Graham Norton and Simon Mayo.
Ahead of his move to the new network, Ken’s former colleague and soon to be colleague again, Simon addressed working with him once again.
On his Three worders segment his listeners sent through thousands relating to Ken such as “new Scottish guy”, “Ken Bruce Legend”, “Ken Bruce wow”, “Is PopMaster coming?” and “What’s the frequency?”
As his sports host Martin added: “It turns out the biggest move this transfer window didn’t go to Chelsea but right here at Greatest Hits Radio. Ken Bruce has announced he’s bringing PopMaster here soon slotting in up front between 10 and 1 every weekday.”
Simon added that “Greatest Hits radio is the home of Ken Bruce from April 3 rd .”
*This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV
