National World: Paddy McGuinness 'was paid £250,000 by BBC despite Top Gear and Question of Sport being axed' claim insiders

Story from National World:

A BBC star was given £250,000 even though two of the major programmes he worked on were taken off air, it has been claimed.

Top brass at the BBC were so keen to make sure that Paddy McGuinness did not move back to ITV that they dished out the hefty amount, even though Question of Sport and Top Gear were decommissioned.

The 51-year-old moved to the Beeb in 2018 to work on Top Gear. And it’s also been claimed by the Mail on Sunday that production staff were ordered to come up with a new programme for him to front.

BBC insiders told the MoS that: “Paddy is loved by BBC Studios and they wanted to keep him in the family even though both of his programmes had been axed. He was picking up a nice sum of cash for it, too. Some production staff were told they had to come up with a great new project for him.”

BBC Studios – the BBC's commercial arm – did not comment on the claims, but his lawyers said that he doesn't have a retainer.

In 2021, he replaced Sue Barker as the host of Question Of Sport, but the show was axed last year after its lowest-ever viewing figures. And Top Gear stopped in 2022 after co-host Andrew Flintoff’s horror crash during filming.