Zoe Ball joins Greatest Hits Radio: Ex-Radio 2 colleagues Ken Brice and Simon Mayo announce her arrival in Traitors-inspired trailer after she left breakfast show

Zoe Ball is returning to broadcast on BBC Radio 2’s biggest rival and has revealed the shock move alongside Ken Bruce and Simon Mayo in a Traitors-inspired trailer.

The veteran DJ, 55, will host weekday afternoons on Greatest Hits Radio later this year in another major coup for the Beeb.

She will take over from Kate Thornton on September 7, and her show will take place between former BBC Radio 2 colleagues Mr Bruce and Mr Mayo.

In a BBC dig, Greatest Hits announced Zoe’s arrival with a Traitors-style reveal with the headline: ‘Another one from the old place! Please welcome our newest employee.’

The video shows Ms Ball entering the studio with a flashlight, pulling down her hood and telling Ken and Simon: ‘I couldn’t let you two have that much fun, could I?’

He also made a Traitor-style vow that he would only steal jerseys from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

This will be Zoe’s first daily radio show since leaving the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show two years ago. It came after she was rejected from presenting Strictly Come Dancing, which she said left her struggling with ‘grief and rejection’.

Announcing his new job, he said: ‘I missed it and this felt like the right time to start a new chapter at Greatest Hits Radio.’

Ms Ball left BBC Radio 2 at the height of its success, leaving the coveted Breakfast Show in 2024 and the Saturday afternoon show a year later.

Zoe Ball will join Greatest Hits Radio, revealed in Traitors-inspired reveal with Ken Bruce and Simon Mayo

The 55-year-old broadcaster will become the new weekday afternoon host on Greatest Hits Radio later this year.

Last month, Ms Ball spoke of her “sadness” at being rejected by the BBC following an audition to become one of Strictly Come Dancing’s new presenters.

The positions have now been filled by Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe following a rigorous selection process.

Before leaving the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, Ms Ball was one of the company’s highest-paid female stars, taking home £950,000 a year.

After a long absence following the death of her mother, she only returned to the show for a few months before announcing her departure at the end of 2024.

He took over the Saturday afternoon division but left that as well, less than a year later in December 2025.

She also described suffering from ‘paralyzing anxiety’ as she dealt with the pain of her mother’s death and going through pre-menopause, making her struggle to get through the shows.

The long-time BBC presenter said he began experiencing ‘panic attacks’ after his mother Julia, 55, died of pancreatic cancer in April 2024.

Ms Ball said she often found it “difficult” to do radio shows with perimenopause symptoms.

“Personally, I’ve always been very laid back, worried about ordinary things,” he said on the latest episode of the Dig It podcast with Jo Whiley.

‘But I started having panic attacks and I think it was from sadness, because that’s when it all started for me.’

She added: ‘Then perimenopause came along and then I started experiencing crippling anxiety to the point where I was struggling to work or finish a show.’

He said the ‘word’ he would use to describe how he felt was ‘hurt’ and added that he ‘didn’t really know where to go with this’ as he was reluctant to visit his GP.

She will take over from Kate Thornton on September 7 and will be sandwiched between former BBC Radio 2 colleagues Bruce and Mayo.

Ms Ball, who recently announced that her 16-year-old daughter Nelly had moved in with her ex-husband Norman Cook, said she had now “grown out of that situation” and had “learned a lot about it” since then.

The presenter said that he used antidepressants to cope with anxiety and panic attacks for two years during this period.

“I had them for a few years,” she wrote on Instagram in response to a follower’s comment.

‘Low dose sertraline. Through my doctor. He’s not on them anymore. Speak to your GP. I appreciate that everyone has a very different experience.’

On Sunday, Fatboy Slim revealed he cured himself of alcoholism after his ex-wife Zoe Ball threatened to leave him if he didn’t get sober.

The superstar DJ, whose real name is Norman Cook, has been married to Zoe for 17 years and the pair have remained close friends.

Norman has now revealed how influential the 55-year-old TV and radio star was at the height of his battle with alcohol.

Norman, 62, entered rehab in 2009, ten years into his marriage, and revealed his wake-up call came when Zoe quietly confronted him.

‘This was my waking moment,’ he recalled. ‘I had tons of people yelling at me before, but in the end it was whispered very quietly.’

Reminiscing about his recovery during an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs programme, he said that while he was in recovery he realized he was seeking help ‘just in time’.

Fatboy Slim says his ex-wife Zoe Ball saved him from alcoholism after she threatened to leave him if he didn’t get sober (filmed in 2001)

Norman, 62, entered rehab in 2009, ten years into his marriage, and revealed his wake-up call came when Zoe quietly confronted him.

“It’s like a parasite,” he added of alcoholism. ‘He’s protecting himself. He knows if you give up he’ll have nowhere to live anymore, so he’ll do things to you to keep you.’

‘Probably the last year I was drinking I wasn’t enjoying myself very much and things were starting to go wrong in my life.’

“No, definitely not,” he said when asked if getting sober was easy. ‘It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done but I couldn’t have done it without going to rehab.’

‘I needed someone to pat me on the head for a month. You know, ‘if you don’t stop doing this you will die and be miserable’.’

Norman, a six-time Grammy nominee, still struggles after coming out of treatment and admits he’s afraid to perform without booze.

‘For the first five shows I was so paralyzed with fear I couldn’t dance or enjoy it,’ he said. ‘I was thinking: “What are you actually doing? Why are you going to play that record next? And why are they going to react to it?”‘

He said a ‘good night in Japan’ helped him overcome his fears as the crowd was ‘really excited’ and he realized his job was to make the crowd happy. ‘Everything fell into place,’ he explained.

Zoe and Norman began their romance after meeting in Ibiza in 1997 and married two years later at Babington House in Somerset.

‘This was my waking moment,’ he recalled. ‘I’ve had tons of people shout at me before, but in the end it was whispered very quietly’ (Photo taken on their wedding day in 1999)

After welcoming son Woody in 2000, they briefly separated in 2003 when it was revealed that her husband was having an affair with close friend DJ Dan Peppe.

After the announcement, Norman said that he still loved Zoe and would take her back as long as she promised not to see Peppe again.

The Praise You hitmaker admitted at the time: ‘I still love him. If you love someone, you will forgive them.’

They reconciled in 2010 and welcomed their daughter Nelly. However, they officially announced their separation in September 2016. ‘It is with great sadness that we announce our separation,’ the pair wrote in a joint statement.

Zoe, who began the ‘painful’ divorce process earlier this year, admitted: ‘You try everything and then you think it’s not working.

‘The expectation of revealing this and telling your partner ‘it’s time’. It’s so scary because it’s overwhelming in every way, you’re worried about the kids, you’re worried about your partner, you’re worried about yourself and how everything is going to work out.

‘One thing I can tell you from personal experience is that yes, there is a lot to go through, but you will come out on the other side.’