Scott Mills admitted he should have been fired for presenting his Radio 1 show while drunk – long before his shock sacking by the BBC today.
The broadcaster, who left the Radio 2 suddenly on Monday, had a difficult relationship with alcohol after one of his first serious boyfriends died following a drug overdose.
Scott dealt with the pain by drinking heavily, sometimes a bottle of spirits per day before work, and later admitted being drunk on air when on the night shift.
He leant heavily on celebrity friend Robbie Williams, who also struggled with alcoholism – but Mills said true stability only came in recent years when he met his husband Sam Vaughan.
The couple married in 2024 after winning the celebrity version of BBC hit show Race Across The World.
Mills, who has suffered from chronic anxiety, depression and panic attacks all his life, revealed previously how he was lucky not to be sacked in 2001 when his boyfriend Mitch died suddenly – but the BBC cared for him.
In a 2012 interview with Now Magazine he said: ‘I was 26 and we spent every minute together…It was truly awful. I’d been to the Brits. After my Radio 1 show, the police were waiting for me. They told me he’d died. I couldn’t process it.’
He went on: ‘As it dawned on me, it got worse and worse and worse. I started smoking that day and I haven’t stopped since.’
The star explained how his grief and loneliness whilst presenting Radio 1’s early morning show saw him turn to alcohol, describing how he’d ‘wake up at 2.30am, do the show, come home and go back to sleep’.
He went on: ‘Then I’d wake up in the evening and drink two bottles of wine or a bottle of spirits in front of the TV. It was a way to escape.’
His alcohol problems followed him into work, with the rising star going on air drunk. ‘That could have been a massive f***-up for me. Even I would’ve sacked me,’ he admitted. ‘But thank God for Radio 1 – they knew about Mitch and why I was having a bad time. It was a proper wake-up call.’
Mills joined the BBC in 1998 but his 28 year tenure at Radio 1 and then Radio 2 has not been without controversy including being drunk on air in his twenties as he battled grief and mental health problems
It was confirmed on Monday that the Radio 2 star has been sacked by the BBC following a complaint about his personal conduct; Pictured with his husband Sam Vaughn on Celebrity Race Across The World in 2024, which they won
Scott married his boyfriend of eight years in a star-studded Spain ceremony in front of his radio pals Zoe Ball, Rylan Clark, and Jordan North
Mills turned to his celeb friend Robbie Williams, revealing how he shared ‘comforting’ talks with the singer, after successfully managing to keep his problems hidden from public life.
In 2003 though Mills would again let his drinking cross over into work, famously turning up to his early morning show at 4am whilst still audibly ‘really, really drunk’ after partying at the Brit Awards until 2:30am.
His producer was forced to get a hotel manager to let him into the star’s room to physically wake him after he failed to turn up to work.
‘I absolutely should not have gone on air,’ Mills admitted at the time. ‘The producer was telling me to sit there, play another song and not say a word while she made me a coffee.’
It was confirmed on Monday that the 53-year-old Radio 2 star has been sacked by the BBC following a complaint about his personal conduct.
It was then claimed that the sacking relates to a ‘historic male relationship from more than ten years ago’.
The BBC will not comment further.
Mills, who also presents the BBC’s Eurovision coverage, was taken off air last Tuesday while bosses looked at the claim before announcing his dismissal today, telling the Daily Mail in a statement: ‘While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted to work with the BBC’.
Veteran DJ Gary Davies replaces Mills from Wednesday onwards.
Mills joined the BBC in 1998 after starting his career in local radio at home in Hampshire at the age of 16 but his 28 year tenure at Radio 1 and then Radio 2 has not been without controversy.
‘But as soon as she left the room I was slurring away. I couldn’t even say artists’ names properly.’
Mills admitted he was ‘very lucky to walk away with my job, but it did teach me a lesson and I’ve not done anything like that since,’ before quipping that ‘that show has become part of Radio 1 folklore.’
A year after the incident Mills was moved from the Early Breakfast Show and given the Drivetime slot. After eight years he swapped timeslots with Radio 1’s rising star, Greg James, and was effectively demoted to the 1-4pm show.
Mills admitted at the time that losing the covetable Drivetime slot to Greg in 2012 was ‘like a punch in the stomach’.
The star carried on at the station for another decade though, eventually leaving after 24 years to replace Steve Wright on Radio 2, where he was awarded the best paid role on the station in January 2025 – replacing Zoe Ball on the Breakfast Show.
Mills declared after winning the top job that it capped the ‘best year of my life’.
Four months before being announced as the new Breakfast Show voice, Mills had allowed fans into his personal life as he competed on the popular BBC show Celebrity Race Across The World with his husband Sam Vaughn.
The show aired weeks after Mills announced he had married his boyfriend of eight years in a star-studded Spain ceremony in front of his radio pals Zoe Ball, Rylan Clark, and Jordan North.
The popular presenter, who has suffered from chronic anxiety, depression and panic attacks all his life, revealed how he derailed in 2001 when his boyfriend Mitch died from a drug overdose
Scott Mills has left colleagues and listerners shocked
Race Across The World viewers watched as Mills and Sam opened up about their at times tumultuous relationship on the show, revealing how brand manager Sam had initially turned down the star.
Mills recalled how for him it was love from the beginning but Sam, who had just ended a three-year relationship and had only come out a few years earlier at the age of 23, required a more convincing. ‘The more time we spent together, the more I could see we were right for each other. I just needed him to see that too,’ Mills has recalled.
‘When we had the conversation about taking it forward and he said “I’m not ready”, I was devastated,’ he said. ‘Being friends with someone you’re in love with doesn’t work. We didn’t speak for six months.’
Mills told The Times: ‘My mum came to stay because I was in bits, sitting on the sofa crying, eating ice cream.’
But luckily Sam’s mother intervened and gave him the courage to go for it.
‘When he sent me a text saying “I miss you”, his mum sat him down and said, “Don’t mess him around. Either go for it or leave him alone,” Mills explained. ‘We moved in together three months before the first lockdown [in 2020].’
Scott Mills’s sudden sacking by the BBC reportedly relates to a ‘historic male relationship’, it was claimed today.
The 53-year-old Radio 2 star was fired by the corporation this morning over his ‘personal conduct’.
He was taken off air last week while bosses looked at the claim before announcing his dismissal on Monday – just six days after he vanished from Radio 2.
The BBC has refused to comment on the nature of Mills’ personal conduct, but the Daily Mirror claims that his shock exit is related to a ‘historic male relationship from more than ten years ago’.
The presenter was last on air on Tuesday, with veteran DJ Gary Davies replacing him from Wednesday onwards.
The BBC said in a statement today: ‘While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted to work with the BBC.’
It has been claimed he was informed over the weekend that he was sacked.
Mills, who is paid between £355,000 and £359,999 a year by the BBC, took over the Radio 2 breakfast show from Zoe Ball in 2025.
He married his long-term partner Sam Vaughan at a celebrity-studded wedding in Barcelona in 2024, the year they won Celebrity Race Across The World together. Previously, Scott had a three-year relationship with marketing manager Brad Harris, which ended in 2016.
A senior broadcaster at the BBC has said there is ‘total shock’ at the corporation after Mills’ sacking. There were apparently ‘audible gasps’ from staff as they were told on Monday morning in an email from BBC director of music Lorna Clarke.
Mills married his long-term partner Sam Vaughan at a celebrity-studded wedding in Barcelona in 2024. They are pictured at an awards ceremony in February this year
Scott was fired just six days after he was secretly suspended. He signed off at the end of his Radio 2 show as usual last Tuesday – but he never came back, with Gary Davies stepping in.
Several stars who have spent time with him described him as ‘kind and generous’ and that friends are ‘devastated’ for him. He was described by a radio colleague as ‘hugely popular’ internally.
‘It is not like the BBC to act so fast’, a household name broadcaster told the Mail.
Another source claimed that wild rumours are flying around Broadcasting House about the reason for his sacking.
‘No suspension period or prolonged investigation does not bode well’, another insider said.
BBC News’ Senior UK Correspondent Sima Kotecha said on the channel this afternoon that Scott’s sacking is the biggest departure since Huw Edwards left in 2024.
‘Now this is mega news. We heard gasps in the newsroom when people realised that he had been sacked’, she said.
‘We don’t know why he’s been sacked but we do know that it will surely be unwelcome news. The fact that the bosses had to do this means there must be something potentially very significant here to let one of their big names go.
As I said, this is a huge name in the BBC. We know what happened to Huw Edwards and how he left the organisation because of what he had done. We are now asking questions about another mega star at the BBC who was on between £355,000 to £359,000 per year. This will be unwelcome news. There will be many questions’.
Radio 2 listeners are in shock.
As he handed over on what was to become his final show, Mills joked about waxing his legs and doing Stars In Their Eyes with fellow Radio 2 presenter Vernon Kay, before signing off with: ‘See you tomorrow.’
Davies did not address the reason for Mills’s absence when he began Wednesday’s show, telling listeners: ‘Morning, Gary in for Scott.’
News of Mills’s sacking led the 12pm bulletin on his former station BBC Radio 2.
At the start of his show on BBC Radio 2, Jeremy Vine said he was ‘taken aback’ by the news about Scott Mills. He said: ‘Obviously, I was taken aback by that opening story to the news.
‘I had not heard anything about it until 17 minutes ago, when it was on the BBC website, and I only had the information that was given to you in the bulletin, I have nothing more, that it was allegations about Scott Mills’s personal conduct, which have led to him being sacked.
‘I have no more than that. Alright, on to today’s show.’
Lorna Clarke, Director of Music, told BBC staff in an email: ‘I wanted to personally let you know that Scott Mills has left the Breakfast show, and the BBC. I know that this news will be sudden and unexpected and therefore must come as a shock.
‘Not least as so many of us have worked with Scott over a great many years, across a broad range of our programmes on R1, 5Live, R2 and TV. I felt it was important to share this news with you at the earliest opportunity.
‘Of course, it will also come as a shock to our audience and loyal breakfast show listeners too. I will update everyone with more information on plans for the show when I’m able to. While I appreciate many of you will have questions, I hope you can understand that I am not going to be saying anything.’
The DJ, from Southampton, began his BBC career on Radio 1 in the late 1990s as the early breakfast host, before going on to present weekend slots and then an early evening show while providing maternity cover for Sara Cox. When Cox did not return, the programme was renamed The Scott Mills Show.
In 2022, he joined Radio 2, replacing Steve Wright in his weekday afternoon slot.
He has presented a number of shows on the station before taking up the Breakfast Show after Ball’s departure.
He has also presented a weekend show on Radio 5 Live and appeared on series 12 of Strictly Come Dancing, where he was paired with professional dancer Joanne Clifton, becoming the fifth couple to be eliminated.
Mills has also been a commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest on the BBC – raising the possibility it will be forced to find a replacement for this year’s event.
Mills’s departure comes weeks before Google executive Matt Brittin is due to start as the BBC’s new director general – replacing Tim Davie.
Jo Mackie, employment law partner at national law firm Michelmores, said: ‘The BBC has not said on what grounds it has sacked Mills at this time except that it’s a ”personal conduct” issue.
‘However we can assume it must be a very significant issue for them to dismiss him immediately like this given he is one of their biggest stars.
‘The BBC has faced criticism for several years for not making immediate and robust decisions and so this could be the start of the new look of their HR and employment regime.’
Mills took over the flagship breakfast show from Zoe Ball in 2025
The news will be a blow to Mills, who welcomed his unveiling as Zoe Ball’s replacement last year by saying he had finally ‘made it’.
He told how he had started out as a local DJ host earning just £20 a show but had enjoyed success after ‘playing the long game’.
Mills recounted his personal journey at the start of his first show, telling listeners: ‘Here we go then, Monday the 27th of January 2025 and this is The Scott Mills Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, and I can’t believe I am finally saying those words,’ the presenter began.
‘As a radio presenter and a radio fan all my life, I’m still finding it quite hard to process that this is happening, if I’m honest. If I think too much about the previous occupiers of this show it becomes mind-blowing to me for a kid who wanted to be on the radio, but wasn’t sure he had the self-confidence to be able to actually do it.’
Mills promised to make listeners smile and dance and ‘keep your spirits up on mornings when maybe you don’t feel so great’.
‘I’ve worked at the BBC for 25 years now on the radio,’ he continued. ‘A lot of you may well have grown up listening to me, I’m sure a lot of you will not have much idea about me at all.
‘Either way, if you could make me part of your morning routine, it would honestly mean so much because, believe me, I’m gonna give it absolutely everything I’ve got.’
BBC Radio has seen a wave of personnel changes and restructurings in recent years.
Liza Tarbuck became the last to go earlier this month after she announced she was quitting her popular Radio 2 Saturday evening show.
The actress had been hosting the 6-8pm slot since 2012 and amassed an army of loyal fans.
‘I think you’ve guessed, some fool left a door open & I sneaked out – a French exit!’ she wrote.
‘Together we made 2 hours of radio feel like a private member’s club, that’s the stuff of dreams, thousands of people enjoying each others company like great friends. Imagine what else we could do.
‘Thank you for letting me in, it’s been a privilege. [TARBUCK doffs a battered bowler hat & bows deeply] See you on the ice.’
Kaye Adams was axed from BBC Radio Scotland after a disciplinary probe found her culpable of inappropriate behaviour, including allegedly swearing at a colleague, throwing a pen at another and berating an intern’s professional ability.
Amol Rajan stepped down from Radio 4’s Today programme in January after deciding to pursue other opportunities, but will continue to present University Challenge and the Radical With Amol Rajan podcast.
The Daily Mail has contacted Mills’s representatives for comment.
