Carol Vorderman has disclosed she turned down an approach by the rightwing broadcaster GB News.
The presenter, a fierce critic of the government, left her weekly show on BBC Radio Wales last month, saying she would “not be silenced” by the corporation’s new social media guidelines.
Vorderman, who hosted the Saturday morning show for four years, wrote on X on Wednesday that she was approached by GB News asking for a meeting but said she did not reply to the channel’s message.
The former Countdown co-host, 62, posted an excerpt of a Daily Mirror article on X which said: “Carol Vorderman snubs GB News offer following BBC exit.
“The chief exec messaged Carol after she quit her job on BBC and asked to meet up. She did not reply to his text. A TV source said: ‘Carol wouldn’t touch GB News with a barge-pole.’”
BREAKING
— Carol Vorderman (@carolvorders) December 6, 2023
"Carol Vorderman snubs GB News offer following BBC exit"
The chief exec messaged Carol after she quit her job on BBC and asked to meet up.
She did not reply to his text.
A TV source said: “Carol wouldn’t touch GB News with a barge-pole.”
👍🏼 https://t.co/DupRdDc3Bn
At the time of Vorderman’s resignation she said that BBC Wales management decided she “must leave” after she continued to express forthright opinions.
In September the BBC updated its social media guidelines to include a strengthened “Lineker clause”, in an attempt to stop high-profile presenters expressing strong views on party politics.
Earlier this year, Vorderman called the government “a lying bunch of greedy, corrupt, destructive, hateful, divisive, gaslighting crooks”.
She would be an unusual hire at GB News, which is best-known for its slate of staunch rightwing presenters including Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Tory deputy chair Lee Anderson. It was recently announced that Boris Johnson would be joining the channel.
Vorderman has more than 910,000 followers on X and 458,000 followers on Instagram.
She has appeared on Loose Women, Have I Got News For You, Strictly Come Dancing and in the 2016 version of I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!
GB News has been approached for comment. A source from the broadcaster told the Mirror: “There was no firm offer but we are always open-minded to both left and right voices on the channel.”
