Inside the Jermaine Jenas bombshell: How ‘queasy’ staff are refusing to work with sexting scandal star who’s now been kicked out of £1million marital bed. MIKE KEEGAN reveals the truth about his return to the airwaves

Bosses at talkSPORT had a decision to make – and not much time in which to do so. 

Moments before he was due to go on air, to front a drivetime show last August, Jermaine Jenas informed them that he had been sacked from his £190,000-a-year job as host of The One Show by the BBC.

With the clock ticking, they elected to allow him to take the chair.

What followed was a couple of hours of almost surreal airtime, with the story breaking online that he had been fired amid allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ towards a female employee not long into his stint.

Four minutes later BBC Director of Sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, sent an all-staff message saying simply: ‘Hi all, I wanted to let you know that Jermaine Jenas is no longer working for the BBC.’

The elephant was not so much in the room, but in the passenger seat of white vans up and down the country as Jenas and co-presenter Jermaine Pennant discussed everything but the story on everyone else’s lips.

Jermaine Jenas was sacked from his £190,000-a-year BBC job last August amid allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’

Jenas was a rising star at the BBC, presenting the One Show – seen here with Alex Jones

BBC insiders saw Jenas as the future replacement of Gary Lineker on Match of the Day

At one point, a reporter from one of News UK’s stable of newspapers, based in the same London Bridge building, turned up outside the studio’s glass windows on the hunt for a quote.

Jenas did eventually address the issue. In a short interview after the show which left more questions than answers he claimed that there were ‘two sides to every story’ before repeatedly claiming he could not comment further until he had spoken to his lawyer.

More details of his abrupt departure from the Beeb, where many believed he was being lined up to replace Gary Lineker as Match of the Day host, emerged.

His dismissal was understood to relate to the sending of explicit texts to two female employees at the broadcaster.

The 41-year-old subsequently made a public apology and referred to ‘self sabotage and a self-destructive streak’.

He admitted sending the texts but insisted that they were between consenting adults and added that he had done nothing illegal.

His wife, with whom he shares three children, kicked him out of the bedroom they shared at their £1million family home and was, in his words ‘absolutely raging’.

TalkSPORT said they had no immediate plans to use him again, while insiders at TNT Sports, for whom the former England, Newcastle and Tottenham midfielder also worked, sounded a similar line.

Jenas’ wife Ellie Penfold kicked him out of their marital bed in their £1million home

Penfold was said to be ‘absolutely raging’ – in her husband’s words – about Jenas’ conduct

Jenas had effectively been cancelled, and not heard of on the airwaves or TV until this week

At BBC HQ in Salford, a Match of the Day mural featuring the 41-year-old was swiftly taken down.

He was promptly removed from the One Show’s Facebook photo and airbrushed from the website of the M&C Saatchi Merlin agency, his bio page returning a ‘page not found’ error message.

Jenas had, effectively, been cancelled, and not heard of on the airwaves or on television since. That was until earlier this week.

Mail Sport understands that the first most staff at talkSPORT knew of his planned return, to provide colour commentary for Sunday’s clash between two of his former clubs Villa and Spurs as we revealed yesterday, was when it was dropped on them as a fait accompli in a planning meeting on Monday.

No consultation had been carried out. The decision is thought to have been made by Liam Fisher, the station’s head.

Immediately, those within the room are known to have raised objections.

Word spread around the department and a number of employees, both male and female, made it clear that they would not feel comfortable working with Jenas. 

Indeed, it can be reported that the three people who were due to work on the game at Villa Park refused point blank.

Jenas is set to return to talkSPORT on Sunday to commentate on two of his old clubs, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur

Jenas told talkSPORT bosses just moments before he went live on air of his BBC sacking

Senior staff also raised concerns while alternative plans had to be made. Others are set to step in as replacements with the broadcaster in apparent turmoil.

One insider, close to the situation, explained: ‘This is a decision that appears to have been forced on the staff.

‘There’s a lot of shock that there was no consultation with female employees. Would you not at least check their views?’

There is some semblance of a plan. Jenas is first expected to be a guest on Friday’s morning show.

Presenter Alex Crook and Jenas’s fellow former pro Troy Deeney will also be on air, instead of regulars Jim White and Simon Jordan, which many will see as a lost opportunity for a proper grilling.

Some are also viewing it as an attempt to pave the way and soften the blow ahead of Sunday’s broadcast.

If nothing else, it may well make for interesting listening. Some staff are queasy at the prospect.

‘I just don’t get it,’ said another insider, who did not wish to be named. ‘I don’t understand why you would do something like this and risk the backlash.

Jenas’s agent confirmed he is returning on Sunday but there has been silence from elsewhere

Industry group Women in Football have hit out at Jenas’ return to the airwaves this weekend

‘While it should be irrelevant anyway, it’s not as though you are talking about someone the listeners loved.’

TalkSPORT have failed to respond to repeated requests for comment, and Jenas’s agent responded to confirm that he would be returning on Sunday. TNT Sports declined to add anything.

It will be intriguing to see how this plays out, and the views of the station’s advertisers may well be key.

One group who is talking on a day of near-silence after Mail Sport broke the story, is Women In Football, a network of professionals in the industry who ‘support and champion their peers’.

In December, they announced talkSPORT owners News UK as a ‘new corporate member’.

In a statement, they pointed to research that found ‘almost one in five members of the game’s female workforce have experienced sexual harassment while doing their jobs’.

‘Given the conduct of Jermaine Jenas in his previous role with the BBC, it comes as no surprise that employees at talkSPORT are reportedly uneasy at the prospect of working alongside him,’ they added.

‘There is no suggestion here that Jenas should never work again, even with talkSPORT. Rehabilitation is possible, and when he was removed from the BBC, Jenas expressed regret and an intention to improve his behaviour.

Presenter Alex Crook and Jenas’s fellow former pro Troy Deeney will also be on air on Sunday, instead of regulars Jim White and Simon Jordan

Jenas and Penfold have been married since 2011 and live in Hertfordshire with their two children

‘Our concern is that talkSPORT appears neither to have ascertained whether Jenas has honoured this commitment nor to have consulted the women working in their offices and studios. This is a mistake.

‘Women in Football enjoys a healthy relationship with talkSPORT, whose owner News UK recently joined our Corporate Membership programme. Organisations decide to become corporate members of Women in Football not because they’re perfect but because they know they can be better.

‘We have made our feelings on this issue very clear to talkSPORT and will continue to work with News UK to provide development opportunities for their female staff and build a more gender-equal working culture, where mistakes of this kind are less likely to recur.’

They are valid points. When Jenas informed them of what happened back in August, station bosses had mere minutes to respond. This time they have had more than five months.

Few, however, are surprised. In 2011, Sky Sports sacked Richard Keys amid a sexism storm which began after they made disparaging comments about a female football official off air that were leaked to the Mail on Sunday.

Two weeks later they had a new job presenting a day time show – on talkSPORT.