Alex Jones has spoken out about her former co-host Jermaine Jenas’ controversial departure from The One Show.

The One Show presenter Alex Jones has finally addressed the controversial exit of her former co-host Jermaine Jenas, who was dismissed with immediate effect last year after an allegation of inappropriate behaviour. In addition to his role on the BBC evening show, the scandal also cost the 43-year-old his position on Match of the Day and led to the collapse of his 14-year marriage to his wife, Ellie, with the pair announcing their split in March.

At the time, Jermaine faced accusations that he had sent inappropriate texts to female colleagues. While his contract with the BBC was terminated, he also parted ways with his longstanding agents, MC Saatchi and lost his position presenting Formula E. During an excruciating meeting with HR and senior executives, it was reported that they were shown a string of X-rated messages he’d sent to the woman who reported him. Now, in a rare interview, Alex has broken her silence on his departure during an appearance on Jamie Laing’s Great Company podcast.

During their conversation, the presenter reflected: “JJ and I had become good friends. I was the last to know. The BBC dealt with it, and I think if people feel uncomfortable, they have to deal with it.

“If it was my daughter, and she was at work in whatever industry and she felt uncomfortable, I would hope to God that I’d given her the tools to be able to speak up.”

Alex continued: “If she was brave enough to speak up, because it is a brave thing to do, I would hope that the company, corporation, whoever, would deal with it.

“Lots of journalists are asked, ‘Have you ever had experiences that are uncomfortable?’ I mean, if you go back to the 90s, early 2000s, there was stuff and there were ways that things were said that weren’t great.

“But, nothing has stuck with me, nothing makes me shudder. And I know the type of girl I was then, and I wouldn’t have handled it,” Alex admitted.

In response, Jamie added: “It’s one of those things that you’d be worried that if your job were on the line, you wouldn’t have said anything.”

To which Alex confirmed: “Yeah, I know I wouldn’t have said anything, and so I’ve got a lot of respect for the girls that did, because I do think it is an incredibly brave thing to do.”

Following the scandal, Jermaine explained: “I have always held up my hand and taken full responsibility for it, that’s very important to do. You go through a lot of different emotions of anger and blame, but eventually you realise ‘take responsibility and you’ll be able to move forward’.

“Because of their ability to take away my life, in terms of every deal I had, the jobs that I had at that particular time, I said that is never happening to me again,” he said on the Let Me Tell You Something podcast.