12 hours ago
Gabby Logan gives VERY blunt response when asked about BBC equal pay and reveals she cried on the sofa and said 'people don't like me' after Strictly elimination
Gabby Logan gave a very blunt response when she was asked if she would receive the same salary as Gary Lineker on Match Of The Day.
The presenter, 52, is replacing Gary on the BBC series where he was the broadcaster's highest paid star on £1.35million a year.
When asked if she had demanded equal pay upon taking his old job, Gabby told The Times: 'That's all sorted.'
When asked what she meant by that, she again replied: 'It's sorted.'
Gabby, Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates are set to split presenting duties for Match of the Day and Match of the Day 2 when they begin their new role upon Gary's departure.
The trio created a secret WhatsApp group to discuss all things Match of the Day and strike a closer bond ahead of the big reveal - and even deleted messages to make sure the news stayed between them.
Elsewhere during the interview, Gabby discussed her time on Strictly Come Dancing in 2007 where her husband Kenny Logan also competed.
Former rugby player Kenny made it to the top five but Gabby was the fourth contestant sent home during their series.
The early elimination deeply hurt her at the time and she recalled crying 'People don't like me' into her sofa the day she was voted off the show.
'It was a harsh lesson, learning that sometimes not everyone likes you,' she said. 'You realise the parts of your personality that you thought were attributes as a sportswoman are not valued.
'I was told I was being too competitive, whereas I was thinking, 'I thought that was good. That's what I did in sport — and it worked — and that's what my husband is doing.'
Gabby took part on Strictly in 2007 and she thinks there was a cultural shift on the programme in later years where more competiitve women were appreciated.
Although Match Of The Day fans are set to see plenty of switches in the hosting chair from week to week, Gabby has urged that changes to the iconic highlights show will not be seismic.
'Nobody wants to throw the baby out with the bath water. It's a football highlights show, we've got the same kind of pundits… and it's all about the football,' the presenter told the ainslie + ainslie Performance People podcast.
It is understood BBC executives, headed by new director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski, are eager to move the show in a fresh direction with the appointment of Logan, Chapman and Cates.
Having a rotating cast and two female presenters on Match of the Day is a huge change for the show after over a quarter of a century with Lineker in the hotseat.
Logan applauded the fact that broadcasting is a 'completely different landscape' for women working in sport, both in front of and behind the camera.
'There are now so many great male and female broadcasters,' she added.
'But also, so many more females working in sports, not just in front of the camera or the microphone, but also behind the scenes.
Gabby, who works as a pundit for multiple networks, applauded the fact that broadcasting is a 'completely different landscape' for women, both in front of and behind the camera
'It's like any business, if you say we have a 50/50 male and female split but all the women are doing the low paid jobs, that's not 50/50, that's a hierarchy that's male-dominated.
'It's been really good development to hear women's voices in your ears and hearing them say they're the director which is great.
'Hopefully it's a better environment than when we were starting out. It's definitely a much more positive place generally.'
