Zoe Ball was left in tears as her son Woody sent in a sweet message to her final BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Friday.
The DJ, 54, has stepped down from the programme after six years at the helm to ‘focus on family’ and was flooded with messages of support on her last show.
At one point, production staff surprised her by playing a message from Woody, 24, whom she shares with ex Norman Cook AKA Fatboy Slim.
Ball started sobbing as Woody said: ‘Hey mum, you’ve done such an amazing job on the Breakfast Show and I just wanted to thank you for making everyone’s mornings a bit more magic. Here’s to a healthier sleeping schedule. Love Woody.’
Choking back tears as she introduced the next song, Ball said: ‘Oh my goodness, this is for everyone who’s listened and everyone in the room and my kids of course. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) It’s Frank Wilson.’
As her three-hour show came to an end, Ball signed off to her listeners with a message of female empowerment.
The first ever female host of the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, shared: ‘Remember, girls, you can do anything.’
She began her final message by remarking it had been a ‘real privilege’ to host the show, as she praised the ‘special, intimate relationship’ she had with the listeners, saying it felt like ‘having a chat with a mate’.
Ball shared: ‘It’s been such a gift to do this show, to follow wonderful Terry and, of course, Chris, tough acts to follow. Pretty cool to be the first lass to host and I won’t be the last. Remember, girls, you can do anything.
‘So to the biggest stars of our Breakfast Show, that’s you all of our listeners, young and old, and those in the middle, thank you for tuning in, whether as a lone listener, as a family, as a work gang on your morning jogs, dog walks, truck drives, training, commutes or hiding in bed, it’s been a real privilege to keep you company through your morning manoeuvres.
‘You’re just there, and I’m just here having a chat with a mate. It’s such a special, intimate relationship. It’s never lost on me that we’ve been through life’s little highs and little lows together.
Chuckling, she reflected on years of ‘much laughter, silliness, few tears, lots of singing and dancing’, and said ‘dear Scott [Mills will look after you in the new year’.
Quoting Paul Williams’ hit, she went on: ‘You give a little love and it all comes back to you. I’ve felt that love from you listeners. I send buckets of love to you. Take care of yourselves lovely peeps, my top cats.’
She ended her show by playing Keeping the Dream Alive by Münchener Freiheit.
Ball began the programme in an upbeat mood, quoting adapted lines from Les Miserables’ One Day More by telling listeners: ‘Another day, another destiny, one final show from me, ZB… only joking I’m not going to sing, let’s have some Daft Punk.’
She then played the French electronic duo’s hit One More Time and read out a message from a listener who said he was driving home for Christmas early so he could listen to her last show.
Admitting she had been ‘crying on and off since 6.30AM’, she read out a message from Strictly and I’m A Celebrity star Oti Mabuse, saying after the song: ‘Thank you Oti for your gorgeous message this morning, that made me cry too.’
After reading out some ‘five-word weekends’ where listeners sum up their weekends in short form, Ball said one of her plans was: ‘Having a good old blub.’
She then played Peggy Gou’s (It Goes Like) Nanana and announced that Father Christmas would be appearing on the show after 8am ‘talking to the kids’.
Ball also received a sweet message from Australian singer Kylie Minogue.
The message from the superstar read: ‘Hi Zoe, it’s Kylie. Thank you for an incredible six years. The nation loves you and I love you, and every time I’ve been in to see you, it’s been so much fun.
‘You’ve been part of some of the biggest and best memories I’ve had in the last six years.
‘In 2019 you spoke to me before my legends slot at Glastonbury, you were there for the disco era in 2020 and you were the first person anywhere in the world to play Padam Padam and kick start the “Padamic”.
‘We’ve danced around the studio, you, me and your fabulous prod squad, shout out to them, it has all happened with you Zoe.
‘You’re the best, we’re all going to miss you but ‘bye bye morning alarm, you were great for six years but no more’.
‘Zoe I wish you all the love, success and joy and everything you want moving on, we love you.’
During the show, Ball said she wanted to send love, especially to her family, and children, Woody and Nell, who ‘fill me with wonder every day, being your mum is the best thing that ever happened to me”‘
Ball also gave a shout-out to ‘all the marvellous folk who work at Radio 2, our boss, Helen (Thomas), she has a tough job but she does it with great care. I have so much respect for her.’
She also told staff, including security guards, cleaners, presenters and the production team, that ‘you’re all wonderful and you’ve made our show so fun.’
David Tennant also called into the show, saying: ‘Hello Zoe, Dame Zoe Ball, David Tennant here in London. You’ve been so amazing over the last six years.
‘Oh my Lord, the country’s going to miss you, the best person to have breakfast with. Thank you for letting me come on to your show multiple times and annoy you.
‘Who can forget when you forced me to do a dramatic reading of Man! I Feel Like A Woman! into the very eyes of Shania Twain herself.
‘I certainly can’t forget it, indeed, neither can Shania. She loved it, she sent me a hat inspired by that moment.
‘Come on, let’s have three big karaoke belters for the final 7.33 (song feature), come on, Zoe. Love you Zoe Ball, bye.”
Ball replied: ‘Love you David Tennant, oh that’s so brilliant David, so much love to you and your family. Merry, merry Christmas to you all.’
The mother-of-two also reflected on her very first show as she granted a listener’s request to play Aretha Franklin’s Respect – the song that she played to kick off her debut programme.
Leaving BBC’s Broadcasting House in London after her final show, Ball told the PA news agency: “I’m feeling great, I’m going to see my kids.”
The presenter, wearing a black puffer jacket and carrying a big bunch of flowers, also hugged staff in reception, signed autographs for a group of fans huddled outside, and told journalists: “Merry Christmas everyone.”
Ball, the daughter of children’s TV presenter Johnny Ball, began presenting The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show ago in January 2019, taking over from radio presenter Chris Evans and becoming the first woman to present the show.
She announced her decision to leave in November, saying it was time for her to ‘step away from the very early mornings and focus on family’.
At the time, she also said she would not be ‘disappearing entirely’ and added: ‘I’ll still be a part of the Radio 2 family, with more news in the new year.’
From January, Scott Mills will take over the breakfast show and his previous weekday slot of 2pm to 4pm will be filled by Trevor Nelson.
In an official statement, Ball said: ‘After six incredible years on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, it’s time for me to step away from the very early mornings and focus on family. It’s been a privilege.
‘I think the world of you listeners and I’m grateful to my bosses here for their support, especially this year.’
Ball has two children with ex-husband Norman Cook; Woody and Nelly, 14.
She will return to the airwaves to present two episodes of Zoe Ball’s Christmas Crooners, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Ball took a break from hosting her breakfast show over the summer and returned in September.
In November, after she revealed she would be leaving, she announced she had a temporomandibular joint disorder, which affects the movement of the jaw, according to the NHS.
Symptoms include jaw, neck and shoulder pain, headaches, limited jaw movement or locking, dizziness and vision problems.
Ball was the BBC’s highest-paid on-air female presenter in 2023/24 with a salary between £950,000 and £954,999, ranking her second on the list of top-earning talent behind Gary Lineker, according to the corporation’s annual report published in July.
Uploading a photos of herself before and after getting a lymphatic drainage massage to relax the muscles, Zoe wrote: ‘I have TMJ and wake most days with awful headaches from tension & jaw clenching.
‘So grateful to Helen @thesculptresslondon for her magic. this is my face after i’ve seen her, check out my face before – yikes – picture 2. can’t recommend her enough. she also has the greatest playlists. thank you H and to @just.__.tiff for the intro.
‘#tmj #tensionheadache #lymphatic drainage massage #stress relief #facialmassage’.
Ball became a well known face after shooting to fame in the Nineties, presenting BBC One’s children’s show Live & Kicking as well as Top Of The Pop.
In 2019, she took over hosting the Radio 2 Breakfast Show but has now announced she wants to reduce her work commitments.
And it appears Ball won’t have to rush into anything as it appears she will be taking on a more behind the scenes roll and is widely expected to remain on a hefty – albeit reduced – salary.
A source told The Daily Mail: ‘It all feels like smoke and mirrors.
‘Zoe is loved by the upper echelons and the job is demanding – five days getting up at the crack of dawn is hard.
‘But the truth is that she will be handed a plum new show for which she will be paid hundreds of thousands of pounds, despite her listening figures dropping massively.’
Several of BBC’s highest paid stars from 2024 have either stepped down or announced their imminent departure.
In what is a huge shake-up, top-earner Gary Lineker will step back from his £1.35million-a-year role as host of Match of the Day.
The footballer turned pundit, 63, has been the regular host of the show since 1999 but he will end his 25-year stint on the Saturday night programme at the end of this season.
According to reports, Gary was ‘open’ to staying and is even believed to have volunteered to take a £350,000-a-year pay cut from his £1.35million salary to stay as host of the flagship football show beyond next May.
But his new boss Alex Kay-Jelski, with whom he is not close, declined so he can freshen the corporation’s Saturday night football coverage while cutting the salary bill.
‘Lineker was open to staying on at Match of the Day, but the BBC did not offer him a new contract for the show’, the corporation’s culture and media editor Katie Razzall said.
While former Director General Greg Dyke believes that Lineker’s penchant for giving personal views, and the headache it has caused his bosses, will have been ‘in the mind’ of the BBC when they decided to go for a new host. ‘In the end, people watch Match Of The Day for the football’, he declared.
This morning the corporation revealed that Lineker has extended his TV contract until the end of the 2026 World Cup – but is stepping down from MotD as it ‘evolves for changing viewing habits’.
Meanwhile, disgraced Huw Edwards was the BBC’s highest-paid newsreader, with its accounts putting him in a pay bracket of between £475,000 and £479,999 for 2023/24.
The corporation knew the presenter, 62, had been arrested last November but continued to pay his salary until he resigned on medical advice this April.
In August it was reported the BBC asked Huw to hand back the £200,000 salary he earned after being arrested for having indecent images of children.
