Lesser-known BBC presenter Jason Mohammad has burst into the corporation’s top ten highest paid broadcasters after an extraordinary £95,000 salary increase.
The sports journalist took home between £355,000 and £359,999 last year – up from £260,000 to £269,999 in 12 months.
Mr Mohammad, 43, presents Final Score on Saturdays as well as a daily show on BBC Radio Wales, and also played a major role in the BBC’s 2018 World Cup coverage in Russia.
He also fronts Radio 5 Live’s 606 show as well as radio and TV programmes for BBC Wales and lives in Cardiff with his wife Nicola and three children.
Some licence-fee payers have taken to Twitter to say they had never heard of him despite his entry in the top-ten highest paid BBC stars, with one saying: ‘Jason Mohammad, who?’
Jason Mohammad has burst into the corporation’s top ten highest paid broadcasters after an extraordinary £95,000 salary increase to up to £359,999 last year
One wrote: ‘Who on earth is Jason Mohammad’ while another who had heard of him tweeted: ‘Even Jason Mohammed is on the list – I can watch footie on telly without paying these guys big bucks’.
Jason Mohammad is a regular on BBC TV and radio presenting football and rugby
The broadcaster’s father is from Pakistan and his mother is from Wales, and he was brought up Muslim attending a Welsh school during the week and an Islamic school on Saturdays. He still attends Friday Prayers and recently made a documentary about his pilgrimage to Mecca.
His wife Nicola is a Welsh-born Christian and the couple educate their children about both religions, he says.
He was seen as a ‘rising star’ of the BBC, having joined its Welsh radio station in 1997 after graduating from university.
In 2013 he replaced Gabby Logan as the host of Final Score on BBC One on Saturday afternoons and then hosted parts of the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics as well as rare slots in charge of Match of the Day when Gary Lineker is away.
Mr Mohammad’s bumper pay rise was one of only a handful handed to top men last year.
BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker, who also presents Football Focus, has had an increase of roughly £60,000.
Justin Webb and Nick Robinson, presenters of the Today programme, have both seen an increase – £85,000 and £40,000 respectively.
Radio 1 breakfast show host Greg James is up around £55,000, while football pundit Alan Shearer has seen a rise of £30,000.
The BBC has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds of licence fee-payers’ cash on increasing the wages of women, including those paid to Sara Cox, Jo Whiley, Lauren Laverne and Emily Maitlis, while slashing the salaries of senior men.
Some Twitter users bashed the BBC over pay and admitted they had never heard of Mr Mohammad
Stats released today show a number of women stars seeing pay increases while male presenters endured pay cuts. The figures above show the increases and decreases, but men still enjoy higher pay than their female counterparts
Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine has seen the biggest year-on-year cut in salary. In 2018/19 he earned up to £294,000 -a drop of around £150,000 from £440,000-£449,999 in 2017/18.
John Humphrys, a veteran of the Today programme, has also seen a big cut, down around £110,000 to £290,000 to £294,999.
Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw is down around £90,000, Radio 2 DJ Steve Wright has seen a cut of approximately £85,000, and Radio 5 Live presenter Nicky Campbell has had his salary reduced by roughly £70,000.
BBC newsreader and presenter Huw Edwards has seen his salary reduced by around £30,000, and presenter Andrew Marr has seen a cut of roughly £10,000.
Other radio broadcasters to see a drop in salary include Stephen Nolan, down around £75,000, Mark Radcliffe down £35,000, Ken Bruce down £20,000 and Shaun Keaveny down £10,000.
Match Of The Day presenter Lineker retains his spot with the highest pay packet, of between £1,750,000 and £1,754,999.
Former Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans is still on the list, with around £1.25 million, as he only quit his Breakfast Show in December.
Graham Norton completes an all-male trio at the top, pocketing between £610,000 and £614,999 for payments for his Radio 2 presenting job and ‘a range of programmes and series’, not including his chat show.
BBC director-general Tony Hall said the broadcaster had ‘turned the corner on gender pay’.
He said: ‘When we first published the figures for top talent, there was a 75:25 split between men and women.
‘The projection for 2019/20 is now 55:45. This is significant change. The task is not complete, we are not complacent, but we are well on our way.’