The BBC is “lining up a wildcard” replacement for Scott Mills, who was sacked from the Radio 2 breakfast show last month.
Mills, 53, was fired shortly before it emerged he’d been investigated by the Metropolitan Police in 2016 over allegations of serious sexual offences involving a teenage boy under 16 between 1997 and 2000. Mills was not charged at the time after the Crown Prosecution Service found that “the evidential threshold had not been met”.
Gary Davies has been filling in for Mills on the breakfast show slot, with a permanent replacement yet to be announced – but while high-profile names including Vernon Kay, Sara Cox and Claudia Winkleman have been touted, reports suggest these three won’t be stepping up to the plate.
Instead, OJ Borg, who presents a weekday overnight show from midnight to 3am on the station, is now a frontrunner, according to The Sun.
“Bosses want to choose someone who's not the biggest name, but is well-liked at the station,” a source said.
“OJ is someone who has proven he can do the job. He ticks all the right boxes and could be the perfect fit – even though he’s not one of the top stars vying for the job, picking him may feel like a surprise choice, but it would be a clean slate for the breakfast show.”
Borg, 47, started his career on VH1 in 2005 and also hosted the National Lottery and EuroMillions shows on BBC One. He also produces and hosts a cycling podcast and a mixed martial arts (MMA) podcast for the BBC. Borg joined Radio 2 in 2018.
The Independent has contacted Borg for comment. The BBC said: “Further news on a permanent replacement will follow in due course.”
Another name in the mix is reportedly Rylan Clark, who is already a favourite among current Radio 2 listeners thanks to his upbeat Saturday afternoon show.
Kay is currently the bookmakers’ favourite. He currently presents Radio 2’s mid-morning slot, which is the “most listened-to show on UK radio”, attracting 6.7 million listeners each week. Meanwhile, Cox, who has worked with the corporation since the Nineties, has hosted the drivetime slot since 2019.
Winkleman is believed to be too busy for the role, considering she has her own BBC One chat show and duties with hit game show The Traitors.
Mills has been dropped from a number of engagements since his firing. He was removed from the line-up of the Ibiza Symphonica summer concert because of the “serious nature” of allegations against him, and Channel 4 announced it would not show the final episode of The Great Celebrity Bake Off For Stand Up To Cancer, which features the DJ as a celebrity contestant, because of the allegations.
Since Mills’ sacking, the BBC has admitted it knew about a police investigation into allegations of a historical sexual offence in 2017, but said it “acted decisively” after receiving “new information” in the weeks before his sacking.
Days after the news broke, Mills released a statement through his lawyers saying he had been the subject of “rumour and speculation” since he was fired, and that he “co-operated fully” with the police investigation into allegations of a historical sexual offence.
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