Joe Swift has presented Gardener’s World on TV for more than two decades – but now he’s unleashed an extraordinary rant against the BBC and this year’s Chelsea Flower Show
Gardening guru Joe Swift has dug into the BBC and Chelsea Flower Show after being dropped from the presenting team after 24 years.
King Charles and Queen Camilla were joined by Sir David Beckham on Monday to launch the star-studded week-long festival. But Gardener’s World star Joe, 60, says he had to apply to the Royal Horticultural Society for a ticket for this week’s VIP gala, held at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, despite his decades covering the event. He said: “I have been going to Chelsea for 30 years. I worked 24 years of them filming and I split up with the BBC on my 25th year. That was a long schlep.”
Formerly co-anchor of the BBC’s coverage of the show, alongside Monty Don, fans complained on social media when Joe was replaced by presenters Rachel de Thame and Arit Anderson. Speaking on his podcast, The James and Joe Garden Show – which he fronts with garden designer and RHS vice president James Alexander-Sinclair – Joe was scathing about younger presenters. He said: “You can’t trust the young. They get obsessed with gimmicks, not real gardening, horticulture and good design.”
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On the episode entitled Chelsea Flower Show 2026: The Secrets the BBC Won’t Tell You, he also took a swipe at a new garden designed by Frances Tophill and championed by King Charles, Sir David Beckham and Alan Titchmarsh.
He said, sarcastically: “David Beckham, that famous garden designer…and he will take all the credit. He will bend it like Beckham. “
Catering for presenters at the event also received a tongue-lashing. He said: “The catering used to be amazing. My kids used to come and they didn’t even look at a garden. They used to just sit there just working their way through breakfast, lunch and dinner. That all got cut back a few years ago.”
And Joe criticised the less than fragrant toilets at the RHS show, saying: “It is the chemical loo smell. By the end of the summer you are like ‘get me out of there.’”
Swift, who is attending a private party staged by Range Rover on Thursday, also claimed BBC coverage has suffered because of budget cuts.
He said: “I used to do a lot of pre-films. When I first started filming for Chelsea they would send me all over the place. We would go abroad and film – like to France and Portugal. I think the budgets just got cut and cut.”
Finally criticising the road links to the show, saying traffic backs up down the Embankment. He continued: “There is only one road around Chelsea. There is a lot of tension between designers and gardeners because it is military precision.”
Adding that he would like to create his own Chelsea garden in the future, Joe said he doubted he would be able to raise the money – especially as the RHS is currently seeking new sponsors after the charity Project Giving Back announced this year is the final year it will fund the festival. He said: “I have got an idea for a show garden but I need £500 million to do it.”
Responding to Joe’s criticisms, an RHS spokeswoman said: “Joe RSVP’d to our invitation to attend RHS Chelsea on 11 February.
“Chelsea Flower Show ran for a hundred years without Project Giving Back and if it’s a super design, which will get the immense publicity that RHS Chelsea offers, we’re sure Joe will be able to find a sponsor…. although he might need to stop joking about the highly exaggerated £500 million budget!”
A BBC spokeswoman said: “We have nothing to add.”
Coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show continues all week on BBC1 and BBC2.
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