Zoe Ball returned to her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show today after more than a six-week break.
The 53-year-old has been notably absent from her morning show with the station’s afternoon presenter Scott Mills stepping in.
At the start of today’s show, Zoe told listeners: “Morning gorgeous people it’s me Zoe the happy wanderer. I’ve wandered back. How was your Brat summer? Was it marvellous? We did that in the 90s it was called something different then.”
The much-loved presenter had not been on the airways since August 8.
It comes after Zoe reportedly sold her countryside home in the village of Newick, Sussex, which she bought in August 2020.
It is believed she recntly moved to a townhouse between Brighton and Hove, near her ex-husband DJ Norman Cook, also known a Fatboy Slim, who is the father of her two children.
Radio show
Listeners of the show had no warning that Zoe, who earns £950,000 for her BBC role, was taking some time from her breakfast show. On his first day of filling in, Mills said: “Good Morning. You weren’t expecting me, were you? Welcome to Monday. It’s Scott Mills.
“If you set your alarm every morning to go off at 6.30 and normally Zoe comes on please do not freak out. You have not overslept. I’m here doing the breakfast show, do not panic.”
Later in the same show, he added: “If you’ve just put us on this morning, it’s Scott Mills in for Zoe for the next few weeks. I’m sending you all my love Zo’ as are the team.”
Zoe made her return to the Radio 2 breakfast show on Monday, September 23.
Upon her return, Zoe joked that she hadn’t gone to Turkey for “a new face and teeth” after a listener texted in to suggest that is where she had been.
Ball also said she was “sending lots of love” to her friends Lauren Laverne and Jamie Theakston after they each announced cancer diagnoses in recent weeks.
A BBC Radio 2 spokesperson said over the weekend: “We are looking forward to welcoming Zoe back to the Radio 2 Breakfast Show.”
Zoe had confirmed her return in a post on social media platform X, formally known as Twitter, on Sunday.
In a post, she wrote: “Back on breakfast @bbcradio2 tomorrow morning at 6:30.”
Family life
Over the years, she has appeared in several shows including the third series of Strictly Come Dancing as a contestant and the BBC Two spin-off show Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two as the host.
Zoe was born in Blackpool and grew up in Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire but now she lives in East Sussex with her two children, Woody, 23, and Nelly, 14.
Zoe took over the Radion 2 breakfast from Chris Evans in 2019 and became the first female breakfast host in the show’s history.
The presenter, who shares her two children with ex-husband Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, saw her son speak out about his mother’s absence last week.
The 23-year-old said: “My mum and I like to keep our private lives to ourselves but I will say I have stepped up and spent a lot more time with her recently as she has always been there when I’ve had tough times. I’m glad to see her smiling.”
Zoe Ball’s former house
She reportedly lived in a house located in a gorgeous town in East Sussex called Lewes. Lewes is a historic town known for its slopes and charming independent shops and boutiques.
Zoe moved into her house in 2020 and made it her own with unique, vibrant decor and luxurious furnishings. The property was built by Russian aristocrat, Baron Vladimir de Wolff in the 1920s and included lots of period features such as picture rails and high ceilings.
Lewes is the county town of East Sussex and is filled with pretty medieval streets, old English churches and idyllic “twittens”, known as alleyways.
The town is surrounded by chalk cliffs and has the remains of a Norman castle which is also home to the townhouse of Anne of Cleves who was the fourth wife of Henry VIII.
While it is known as Anne of Cleves House, Anne never lived there. It was given to her at the end of her marriage to Henry VIII. The town’s rich history, pretty streets and proximity to some of the UK’s best beaches have made it a sought-after place to live.
Properties in Lewes had an overall average price of £495,979 over the last year, according to Rightmove. The majority of sales in Lewes during the last year were semi-detached properties, selling for an average price of £598,380. Terraced properties sold for an average of £494,149, with flats fetching £255,233.
Overall, sold prices in Lewes over the last year were 13 percent down on the previous year and similar to the 2021 peak of £498,329.
Zoe’s new home
It has since been reported that Zoe recently sold her £2 million home in Sussex to move to a townhouse between Brighton and Hove closer to where her ex-husband Norman lives. Average house prices in Bright and Hove fetch 433,000, as of July 2024.
A source told Mail Online: “Zoe obviously got fed up with life in the country and wanted to move to somewhere a bit more lively.”
The source added: “She has become really engrossed in making her house just as she wants it and has been happily ordering furniture and buying bits and bobs to make it perfect.”
Relationship with Fatboy Slim
It comes as Ball was photographed with her ex-husband Cook, 61, outside a cafe in Hove last week.
The former couple were married for 18 years before splitting in 2016 with their divorce being finalised in 2020. The pair were known for their partying in the nineties with the pair both now being teetotal.
Last year Cook credited his ex for keeping him grounded during the height of his fame. Speaking to the Changes podcast, he said: “One thing I did have to keep a lid on during that crazy time was my ego.
“While you’ve got a licence to break rules, you’ve always got a lot of people who’ll let you get away with murder. Zoe was really good for me for that, because she knew the fame game and we would sort of check each other.
“If I wasn’t respectful to people, she’d go: ‘Oi, come on, that’s not how we behave! Go back and thank them for that.’
“We were both quite good at keeping each other’s feet on the ground. Because it’s hard when everyone’s saying: ‘Here, have this, take this, drink this, you’re brilliant.’
“It’s hard to keep some kind of limit and say: ‘I am actually a human being, not a superstar.’ I think we probably saved each other a lot of bother.”
