After more than 15 years on TV, Steph McGovern knows a thing or two about working under high pressure.

If she’s learned anything – whether presenting the news live on air, hosting a high-stakes reality show or starring in one herself – there’s never a quiet day on the job.

‘You’ve got to make sure you give people a fair hearing and that you are describing things to the best of your ability. That has fed through into everything I’ve done,’ she told Metro, as she launches her new BBC series The Big Deal.

Since leaving BBC Breakfast in 2019, the presenter’s celebrated several milestones, from the personal (having a baby) to the professional (competing in her first reality show, Celebrity Bear Hunt).

Although it seems as though she’s eager ‘not to repeat’ the latter experience anytime soon.

Assuming the toughest part of Celebrity Bear Hunt with Holly Willoughby and Bear Grylls would be ‘the physical’ as the cast waded through the Costa Rican jungle, she quickly discovered it was actually the people.

‘The hardest thing was living with 11 huge personalities. Everyone would think: “Oh, Steph would be fine. She’s loud. She’s bubbly.” But in that environment, I was like: “Ooh, everyone’s so loud!” I couldn’t get away from it,’ she explained.

‘A lot of the work I do is not with celebrities; it’s with people who are just living normal lives, and so living with 11 people who have not had a normal experience of life was wild, and as much as I love them all, it’s not something I think I could ever repeat.’

Sadly, much like the 44-year-old’s desire to never do a show like that again (she confirmed the only exception would be Celebrity Traitors), the Holly Willoughby-helmed Netflix show was never renewed.

It’s a similar fate Steph’s own Channel 4 show, Packed Lunch, met in 2023 when it didn’t return due to ‘changing audience habits’. While she was ‘gutted’ at the time, she subsequently accepted ‘that’s life’.

‘I did over 500 episodes of that show. I never would have imagined I’d ever have a TV show with my name and the title on every day on national telly. So I celebrate the wins. I don’t worry about the losses,’ she said.

‘As much as I’ve looked to the outside world, all I do is telly. I’ve got loads of other things. I’ve got businesses. I write. There are lots of different avenues,’ she reflected, adding that podcasts are, by far, her ‘biggest revenue maker’.

It’s clear the star is not interested in looking back and, although she’s regularly asked if she would ever foray back to Breakfast, she’s firm that she’s no longer in that phase of life.

Not least because having a 3am start with a young family is simply unrealistic. Or, as Steph put it: ‘My life goes in stages, and this stage is not one that involves getting up at half past three to go on telly.’

Although the TV personality likens returning to the BBC to ‘getting back with an ex’, she adds that she’s happily in touch with the ol’ Breakfast gang, including Sally Nugent, Carol Kirkwood, Susanna Reid and Naga Munchetty.

With Naga leaving the show after 17 years, we asked if Steph had offered any advice to her friend on navigating a post-BBC Breakfast life as she heads to 5 Live.

Ever humble, she replied: ‘I don’t think I need to give Naga any advice. She is an all-round legend. I talk to Naga mainly to check in on how we are.

‘We don’t discuss career things, other than I’ll send messages like: “Good luck, you’re gonna smash it”. Likewise, she’ll send those back. She’s a powerhouse in herself and brilliant at what she does.’

As for Steph, she’s now hosting her own BBC reality series, firmly on the right side of the equation this time. The Big Deal follows seven pairs of aspiring art dealers negotiating huge deals in this high-risk, highbrow industry.

It’s a full-circle moment for the TV personality whose own father is an artist and has described growing up in a ‘house of curiosities’.

Steph was keen to stress this was not a grand return to the BBC, having appeared on shows like Crimewatch and Have I Got News For You in the interim, but everyone is treating it as such, including her colleagues.

‘I walked in there, and they were like: “Welcome back!” and I was like: “I was here about three weeks ago and no one noticed.”

‘So it’s just dead surreal how it’s become this moment of “she’s gone back to the BBC”, whereas to me it feels like I didn’t massively leave,’ she joked.

Comparing her new show to the art world equivalent of The Apprentice, she said she could never do the whole ‘you’re fired’ gig like Lord Sugar and is more like the ‘motivational class jester’ trying to iron out any tensions among the cast.

Most of all, she’s been struck by how powerful the show can be.

‘Art is about storytelling. You might look at a piece of art and think you’re not fussed, but then someone might tell you the story behind it that really resonates with you,’ she added.

As for what’s next, right now she’s eyeing up her one reality TV exception, Celebrity Traitors, which she would ‘absolutely love to do’.

Although she conceded: ‘There’s probably a million higher-profile A-listers who are ahead of me in the queue, so maybe when they get to series 10, I might be considered. We’ll see.’

The Big Deal is streaming on BBC iPlayer now.

Comment now
Comments

Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google
Add as preferred source