Steph McGovern has opened up about leaving the BBC’s Breakfast ** programme ahead of her return to the broadcaster, revealing that she wanted to leave after almost a decade in the role.

The TV presenter was a frequent face on BBC Breakfast from 2011 until 2019 as the show’s main business presenter and occasional co-host. While she initially left the programme to go on maternity leave, she announced a month later that she would be leaving the BBC to join Channel 4.

Speaking about her exit seven years on, McGovern said that she decided to leave for good as she “didn’t want to do the hours anymore”.

“It was relentless,” she told The Telegraph. “I did it for nearly 10 years, and I was always the girl out and about at 3am, in a hard hat and hi-vis somewhere.”

McGovern, who shares a six-year-old daughter with her girlfriend, went onto host the now-axed Steph’s Packed Lunch on Channel 4 and competed on Netflix’s Celebrity Bear Hunt – however, she is now heading back to the BBC to host art dealer competition The Big Deal with Steph McGovern on BBC Two.

Looking back at her time on BBC Breakfast, McGovern also addressed the reported investigation into allegations of bullying made against presenter Naga Munchetty.

Last year, the BBC was said to have investigated complaints of bullying made about Munchetty over a three-year period. The presenter was accused of bullying a female colleague at BBC Breakfast and making a sex joke off-air, according to The Sun. The outcome of the investigation is currently unknown.

Speaking about working on the show, McGovern said that the team was like her “family” and that she still talks to Munchetty as well as hosts Louise Minchin, Carol Kirkwood, Sally Nugent and Susanna Reid who “took me under their wing”.

As for allegations of bullying, McGovern said: “No, I didn’t see any of that. I mean, the editor changed by the time I left so I didn’t work under the one who is there now. But, look, people just love speculating about drama and, unfortunately, it’s quite boring in real life.”

Programme editor Richard Frediani, who took on the role in September 2019, was also accused of bullying – however, he was cleared of the claims in September last year.

Since McGovern left the programme, BBC Breakfast has seen a number of its high-profile presenters exit – including Louise Minchin in 2021, Dan Walker the following year and most recently, Rachel Burden.

Burden announced in July that she was leaving the show as it was scrapping its Sunday morning shows due to budget cuts. Later that month, Munchetty also revealed that she was leaving the show to take over from Burden on BBC Radio 5 Live’s breakfast show, saying that it had been a privilege to be a part of the team for the last 17 years. The BBC has not said that the bullying investigation was related to her exit.