Jermaine Jenas has claimed there was a ‘thirst for blood’ from the Good Morning Britain presenters during his tense interview about his sexting scandal on Friday.
Jenas joined Kate Garraway and Ranvir Singh to chat following several Instagram posts in which he appears to have been testing out a soft relaunch of his career.
The former footballer was removed from the BBC presenting team on Match Of The Day and The One Show after sending explicit text messages to female colleagues.
Before he was sacked in August 2024, the ex-Tottenham Hotspur midfielder had been a regular pundit on sports programmes and a presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live.
And he has said in a video on Instagram on Saturday morning: ‘How do I feel after my interview on Good Morning Britain?
‘First and foremost, I’m glad I did it, I really am, because I think any time you’re presented with these big tests in your life, I think standing up to them is important.
Jermaine Jenas says there was a ‘thirst for blood’ during his ‘trap’ interview on GMB
Jenas pushed back at Kate Garraway in a tense appearance on Good Morning Britain
The ex-footballer was defensive and combative with presenters Ranvir Singh and Garraway
‘No matter what side of it you land, you just feel better that you stood up to the challenge. So I’m happy that I did that.
‘There’s obviously a level of disappointment as well, just purely and simply with the direction that the interview was taken. It felt like they had an agenda. It felt like there was a thirst for blood from one presenter in particular.
‘It just, if I’m honest, felt unnecessary to me and it leant itself to what I said in my last post, it’s the reason I had fears going into it and why I questioned, do I need this in my life?
‘They invited me on. I didn’t ask to go on the show. They invited me on because they saw my post about these transitions in your life and rebuilding your life.
‘But still, no matter how many conversations I had with producers about, “okay, we can touch on this, but we want to move forward and look at what’s next,” it just felt like a trap. It just felt like one individual had an agenda and she was going to twist the knife because she wanted to.
‘I can handle that, it’s totally fine, it is what it is. I just wanted to show you lot [that] this is part of my journey, it’s the journey that I’m on, and it is a warts-and-all documentation of what’s going off in this transitional period in my life.
‘I think it’s very important that you all see what the media is like and if I’m honest, that side of it, I don’t miss at all.’
The 43-year-old was combative with the hosts during the ITV programme, while his responses and body language were defensive – though he argued otherwise.
Jenas recently shared how he is ‘building’ his life, two years after being axed by the BBC
The interview saw Garraway ask Jenas what he had ‘learned’. Jenas replied: ‘To say I was happy in the industry I was in is an overstatement. When it comes to what I’ve learnt, it’s a very specific thing to put my finger on.
‘It’s probably a little bit of an unfair question to find that one thing. You go through life, you make mistakes and there were things happening on the outside of work also affecting my behaviour.’
Singh then accused him of ‘skirting around what you’ve learnt’, but Jenas responded: ‘I’m not skirting around anything, Ranvir.
‘I’m more than happy to have the conversation, which is why I’m here. I’m not here to be defending myself in any way, shape or form.
‘I know what I did was wrong and I accept those punishments. Nobody is skirting around the responsibility of what I did. I know what I did and I know what I did was wrong. So I don’t understand where that line of questioning is coming from.’
Singh then asked him for his ‘advice to other men who are in positions of power in any industry and who think they are just flirting with women at work who… what is your advice to other people then who might be learning from your mistakes?’
Jenas replied: ‘I think they can look at what happened to me and make their own assumptions about what they have to do with their own lives.
‘I’m not here to preach to other people about what they should do with their lives. I’m here to explain to people my own experiences of what I’ve been through and what I’ve done and the impact that it’s had on everybody in my life.
‘I’m not here to dictate to people in terms of what they want to do. I understand why you have to come at me with this line of questioning and it’s completely fine and if you feel like I have not been punished enough then go ahead and keep going.’
Singh said she was ‘not saying that’, adding that Jenas had spoken about ‘what’s been taken away from me’ – but ‘people might say you put yourself in that position, you risked it all by doing what you did’.
Jenas replied: ‘Oh, 100 per cent. I did put myself in that position and I’m not sat here begging and pleading for my job back.
‘I’m fully accepting of what has been taken away from me. I put myself in that position and that’s where the learning comes from – and that’s where I have to now look forward to what is coming next. That’s where the post comes from.
‘It’s impossible to not learn about yourself when you are put into the position that I was put into, that I put myself into. You have to take stock, look around yourself, look at your own behaviour and realise that things have to change.
‘I’ve done that over a period of time where it’s been very tricky – granted I put myself in that position.’
Jenas and his former wife Ellie Penfold at Wimbledon in July 2024
After the split, Jenas has found love again with his Parisian estate agent girlfriend Anne Leplaideur
Jenas deflected throughout his ten-minute interview, pleading for forgiveness because everyone ‘makes mistakes’.
The 43-year-old learnt of his sacking from the BBC while live on radio.
He added: ‘The learning from it doesn’t always have to be negative. We are so obsessed in this industry with “oh, he’s been cancelled” – everything has to be negative.
‘Hang on a minute, I’m a person who has learnt a lot from my mistakes and spent ten to 12 years in this industry and had a brilliant career and really enjoyed my time on television. There’s a lot for me to give back.
‘I’m not saying on television, it could be on any different platform where I know a lot of people feel how I feel.
‘I’m a human being. We make mistakes. You two [Singh and Garraway] can’t sit in front of me and say you’ve never made a mistake in your life. We all make mistakes, we live in the public eye.
‘Every mistake I made was made public and I had to handle that as a man. That’s exactly what I did. The thing now is about moving forward and what I’m about to do next. Currently, I’m not sure.’
His axe from the BBC after misconduct allegations caused Jenas to lose his marriage to Ellie Penfold.
The former footballer and his wife, a model, were married for more than 13 years.
Jenas had previously been considered a natural successor to replace Gary Lineker as host of Match Of The Day, who stepped down as host of the football highlights programme at the end of last season.
After being sacked from the BBC, Jenas apologised saying he had done ‘nothing illegal’ and that ‘inappropriate messages’ sent were ‘between two consenting adults’.
Jenas returned to broadcasting on talkSPORT radio in February after the outlet distanced itself from him in the wake of his departure from the BBC.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on individuals, but we will always look at any issues raised with us and take action as appropriate.’
