Zoe Ball has announced she is leaving her role as presenter of her BBC Radio 2 show and will be replaced by Emma Willis.
Speaking on the show, the 55-year-old said she would be leaving in the new year but will still present a number of specials on the station.
She said: “I have loved being betwixt my dear friends Romesh (Ranganathan) and Rylan (Clark), and you know, I love you all to bits, but I’m not disappearing completely.
“Obviously, it’ll be Christmas Crooners and I’m doing an eras show in the new year, more on that later.
“But I am thrilled to tell you that you will be in the safest of hands, because there is a super woman who is no stranger to you all, but this does mean that she will officially become a member of the Radio 2 family.
“You’ll have loved her on The Voice, The Circle, Big Brother, Cooking With The Stars, Love Is blind, and delivering babies, she’s a gorgeous lass so welcome to the BBC Radio 2 family and Saturday afternoons, Emma Willis.”
It comes after Ball bowed out as presenter of the Radio 2 breakfast show in December last year, after nearly six years in the role, before returning to the station four-and-a-half months later in her current slot from 1pm to 3pm on Saturdays.
Ball said she was “thrilled” to be replaced by Willis, who said she would “miss” listening to the presenter she is replacing.
Speaking about joining the station, Willis, 49, said: “It’s really exciting, and it’s quite nerve wracking as well, because you’ve got, you always have fantastic boots and shoes, but they are very big boots and shoes to step into Zoe Ball.”
Willis, who is married to Busted bass player Matt Willis, has previously hosted a radio show on the Heart network from 2012 to 2018, and has presented on Radio 2 as a cover presenter since 2019.
Ball was the first woman to present the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show solo when her co-host Kevin Greening left the show in 1998.
