Paddy McGuinness paid eye-watering £250,000 to stay at BBC despite shows off air

A report has suggested that Paddy McGuinness is being encouraged to remain at the BBC to the tune of £250,000 despite the end of Top Gear and A Question of Sport

The BBC has splashed a tidy sum of money to keep Paddy McGuinness as part of their top talent.

A report has suggested the 51-year-old has been rewarded with a new contract worth £250,000 as the BBC is desperate to keep him on side and to prevent him going back to work for ITV. Paddy famously hosted hit dating show Take Me Out for ITV from 2010 until 2019 before being poached by the Beeb where he hosted high profile shows Top Gear and A Question Of Sport.

Sadly, both shows have since been axed by the Corporation - but Paddy has gone on to front other series including recent travel show Paddy and Chris: Road Tripping, which he helms alongside fellow former Top Gear star Chris Harris, 49. Now it is suggested the BBC is concocting new show ideas for Paddy to host.

It has been suggested, however, that Paddy does not have a retainer - which could mean he will host shows for rival networks despite his apparent six figure deal to gain work at the BBC. While at Top Gear, audience figures remained around the 5 million mark, but viewership for A Question Of Sport plunged from four million to just 800,000 after Paddy took over.

The Mail on Sunday reported Paddy has secured his new £250,000 contract, with a source telling the publication: "Paddy is loved by BBC Studios and they wanted to keep him in the family even though both of his programmes had been axed. He was picking up a nice sum of cash for it, too. Some production staff were told they had to come up with a great new project for him."

The Mirror has contacted representatives of the BBC and Paddy for comment. The Mail report also links Paddy's work with BBC Studios rather than the BBC directly - with the BBC themselves noting that BBC Studios do not operate from the license fee. While viewing figures at Top Gear remained reasonably strong while Paddy was on the hosting panel, the show's fate was sealed in December 2022 when co-host Freddie Flintoff almost died in a horror accident.

The show was put into the freezer by the BBC months later with an official announcement being made in November 2023 which revealed the show would not return for the foreseeable future. The statement read: "Given the exceptional circumstances, the BBC has decided to rest the UK show for the foreseeable future.

"The BBC remains committed to Freddie, Chris and Paddy who have been at the heart of the show's renaissance since 2019, and we're excited about new projects being developed with each of them. We will have more to say in the near future on this. We know resting the show will be disappointing news for fans, but it is the right thing to do." Freddie made his return to TV in August this year with the release of season two of his cricket show, Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams.

Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads.