Chris Moyles details battle with body dysmorphia and reveals glee over Radio 1’s dwindling fan-base

Radio DJ Chris Moyles has well and truly spilled the tea on his self-image and ex-employers.

The 46-year-old made headlines in 2012 when he was replaced as the voice of Radio 1 Breakfast by Nick Grimshaw, before courting more attention with his dramatic weight loss.

And speaking to Ross Kemp on his podcast The Kempcast, Chris – who now hosts at Radio X – has addressed both issues.

Of his weight loss, he admitted he still suffers from body dysmporphia, despite having shrunk from 18 stone to 12 stone over the years.

He admitted his strict regimen of weighing himself daily and barely eating all day Monday-Friday, before enjoying himself at the weekends.

He also claimed he still ‘feels fat’.

‘Before lockdown, Monday, Wednesday, Friday I would do the show we would have a quick meeting… and then I’d get to the gym and I’d train 11-12 or 11-1, depending on how fat I was feeling. I’m feeling really fat at the moment!

Transformation: Of his weight loss, he admitted he still suffers from body dysmporphia, despite having shrunk from 18 stone to 12 stone over the years [pictured in 2006]

Now and then: ‘I’m fascinated by body dysmorphia because I really have an issue with body dysmorphia, which I think most people do. I’ve lost six stone from my worst weight when I was 18 stone!’ he said [pictured L in 2020 and R in 2004]

‘I’m fascinated by body dysmorphia because I really have an issue with body dysmorphia, which I think most people do. I’ve lost six stone from my worst weight when I was 18 stone!

‘I know my body really well now, and I’m still learning. I don’t have the metabolism of an 18-year-old girl or boy, I just don’t.

‘I will, and people don’t believe me, but I weigh myself six days a week, and I know you shouldn’t and I know it’s not for everyone, but I do that so I can learn about how my body works.

‘I will train Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and I will watch what I eat and I’ll eat very little. I do intermittent fasting and I’ll eat at 6:30PM or 7PM and I’ll be fine. I need to do that from the weekends that I have.

Chris said: ‘I know my body really well now, and I’m still learning. I don’t have the metabolism of an 18-year-old girl or boy, I just don’t!’ [pictured in June]

Out with the old, in with the also old: Chris was replaced with Nick Grimshaw [L] in 2012, who hemorrhaged the station listeners and subsequently got swapped with Greg James [R] in 2018. Radio 1 has obsessively insisted it is a place for late teens/early 20s – despite most of the hosts being older than 30

‘I will be really good during the week and then Friday comes, I’ll have a couple of drinks and then maybe Saturdays we will go for dinner and maybe a few drinks and then maybe Sunday we’ll do something…

‘And I’ll get on the scales on Monday and I will have put on anywhere from five, six, eight, 10 pounds – 10 pounds!’

He went on: ‘It’s not fat, it’s just bloat, it’s just water retention and by the Friday the next week that ten pounds will have gone and maybe a bit more if I’ve worked hard enough, maybe a little bit less, but it will go.

What a difference a decade makes: He also claimed he still ‘feels fat’ [pictured in 2007]

‘By Friday I’ll probably look exactly the same but I’ll feel like “yeah, feeling good”. I then get to the weekend and you’re f**king tired and you want a drink, it’s boring watching what you eat.

‘Anyone who goes, “I don’t really worry about what I eat”… well, you lucky b******s because I’ve got to!’

Turning the interview to his uncermonious exit from Radio 1, Chris explained how he felt when the network seemed to suggest they were looking for a younger morning host despite his super-popular show.

‘I was a bit miffed that the story that went out was that I was too old and I had got fired. I knew I wasn’t going to be doing that show for ever. I thought they handled it really badly,’ he said. ‘Then when [Grimshaw’s] show failed and the listening figures fell, I was like, “Not that f-ing easy, is it boys?”

From the axe, to the X: Turning the interview to his uncermonious exit from Radio 1, Chris explained how he felt when the network seemed to suggest they were looking for a younger morning host despite his super-popular show

Chris was supposedly scolded for ‘talking too much’ on his show, and went on to add: ‘They had an advert for Nick’s show which went, “Now with added music…”, which was clearly a p**s-take about how much we would talk on the show’ [pictured in March]

‘Not aimed at Nick but at Radio 1 in general. The show lost a million-and-a-half almost overnight. They didn’t get them back!’

Chris was supposedly scolded for ‘talking too much’ on his show, and went on to add: ‘They had an advert for Nick’s show which went, “Now with added music…”, which was clearly a p**s-take about how much we would talk on the show.

‘I was like, OK, the most successful Breakfast Show you’ve ever had, with the most listeners you’ve had in over a decade, that’s a bit of an F you to us and eight million listeners. OK, f**k you back!’

Chris hosted his morning show from 2004-2012.

Grimshaw took over following this but his version of the Breakfast Show only lasted until 2018, when he was swapped with continuing host Greg James.

Candid: Chris was speaking to Ross Kemp on his podcast The Kempcast

James took over during the summer of 2018 and recorded 5.1 million listeners at the end of the year. That fell to 4.8 million at the end of 2019. 

In February 2020, it was announced that Radio 1 had dropped to its lowest listenership since records began, according to RAJAR.

Prior to Chris’ departure, it was at peak listenership in 2011 with 11.9 million, and has plummeted to 8.8 million weekly listeners.

The network has constantly insisted it is a place for young listeners, obsessively focusing on late teens/early 20s – despite most of the hosts being older than 30.

Evidently, this appears to have alienated former fans.