Former CBBC presenter, Michael Underood, was one of the most popular hosts on the channel, but he claims he was suddenly sacked in a move which he says left him ‘gobsmacked’
CBBC legend, Michael Underwood, has made a bombshell claim about his exit from the channel. The husband of fellow CBBC star, Angellica Bell, 50, was a regular presenter on the kids’ TV platform from 1999 to 2002 before he moved to ITV and worked as showbiz reporter for GMTV.
Michael’s fans had always assumed it was his choice to join ITV. However, he’s now claimed he was suddenly sacked by the BBC in a move which left him “gobsmacked”. Taking to TikTok, admitting he had not wanted to talk about his departure, he began: “I’ve avoided talking about this for years…”
Michael, who has since retrained as a teacher, continued: “I didn’t wanna go to ITV, I loved working at CBBC. It’s where I started out, I had so many friends there, it was fun going into work every single day. Why would I want to leave?
“But here’s the thing – we had two bosses, there was boss in charge of the presenters and a boss in charge of the whole channel.”
Claiming the presenter boss changed and asked Michael for a meeting, the Kids TV legend assumed it was to renew his contract.
However, in a complete turnaround, Michael says he was suddenly given his marching orders.
He revealed: “So I went in for my meeting, sat down and this is how it went, ‘Michael, your just coming up to your three years at CBBC, I think you’ve had a great run up till this point but now it’s time for you to move on’.”
Admitting he was blindsided by the conversation, he continued: “I was gobsmacked. You know when you get really awful or shocking news and you just go blank and space out, that’s what I did cos I was not expecting it at all.”
Michael then told his now-wife Angellica, who has had her own work drama after being suddenly sacked from the Martin Lewis Money Show after six years. She reportedly told her colleague that if the BBC didn’t want him, he should go to ITV.
“They offered twice the money plus three new shows guaranteed, which is an amazing offer but I wanted to stay at CBBC,” Michael divulged.
However, he claimed that the BBC boss who initially fired him, called him back in after Christmas and offered him a year’s contract, but Michael says he decided against it and decided to make the move to ITV permanent.
The Mirror has contacted the BBC for comment.
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