Nick Grimshaw quits BBC Radio One after 14 years

BBC Radio One mainstay Nick Grimshaw has announced he’s leaving the station after 14 years.

The 36-year-old presenter confirmed the news on his Drivetime show today, telling fans that his role was his ‘childhood dream’ but wants to try something else.

At the start of his show, Grimshaw said that he had ‘given it a lot of thought’ and will be leaving in the next few weeks.

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“We start the show a little bit differently today, because I have some news guys. Some big, big news. It's been some big news for me to announce, and I really want to do it right now to start the show, because otherwise, I'll be weird for like two hours. So let's do it now,” he said.

“This is some news that I've been thinking about for a little while and now the time is to break that news to you guys and the news is that after 14 years of working here, I have made the decision to leave Radio One. Not now. Not at 5.45 - in a bit. In a few weeks.”

“This feels really weird cause I've not told anyone. I've really really kept this secret. But yeah, it's been a big old decision a huge decision for me,” he continued. “Something I've been thinking about for a little while but it's an exciting one.

"It's a happy one, and something that I've given a lot of thought because Radio One means so much to me.

“It's been my home for 14 years. It's the only place I've ever wanted to work, the only radio station I ever listened to, so a big decision, huge decision but a good one.”

Grimshaw added that he was spurred on to make the change after the coronavirus pandemic forced him to take stock of his life, and now wants to ‘make some other dreams’.

“You sort of look at your life, and I looked at mine, and I wanted to make that change,” Grimshaw explained. So, this is the change now. Pretty crazy to be saying this on the radio.

“But I just want to say how much I've loved it, and how, honestly, I've had the time of my life. It was seriously, and I know people say this, but it was my childhood dream, and I made it come true.”

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I’m A Celebrity 2020 finalist Jordan North and Vick Hope are believed to be taking over from him, with his final broadcast airing in six weeks’ time.

The decision comes three years after Grimshaw left his long-standing position as host of Radio One’s Breakfast Show, handing the reins over to Greg James in 2018.

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