Kelly Cates says she found “barefaced lying” to her friends “horrendous” as she tried to keep her appointment as one of three main Match of the Day hosts for next season under wraps.
The 49-year-old’s appointment alongside Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman to share presenting duties of the BBC’s flagship weekend Premier League highlights show and its midweek Champions League package from next season was confirmed on Wednesday.
The news follows confirmation that the current main host of the Saturday night programme, Gary Lineker, will stand down from the role at the end of the season.
Cates admitted she struggled with the secrecy around her new role, and came to realise she was not cut out for a career in espionage.
Cates spoke to Chapman about the news as the pair co-hosted a new Sports Agents podcast released on Thursday afternoon, with Chapman’s regular co-host Logan off this week.
“When it was first kind of made official, I was on a call with Alex (Kay-Jelski) who is the head of BBC Sport, and I just kept saying to him, ‘I’m so excited, I’m so excited!'” Cates recalled.
“And then I realised that he had me on speaker, and several really quite important people were listening to me sounding like a 13-year-old. Not that there’s anything wrong with sounding like a 13-year-old – I’ve got one of my own! But it didn’t feel like the most professional or mature way to deal with it.
“I have learned about myself that I could never have a second life, this time. I could never be – I mean, it was never on the cards for me – but I could never be, for example, a spy. That was never going to be an option for me.
“I’ve just been barefaced lying to friends, it’s been horrendous.”
Chapman, who presents the Sports Agents podcast alongside Logan, asked Cates whether she had told her family, or whether she felt she could not trust them either.
Cates replied: “It wasn’t that I couldn’t trust them. I just only told my mum, and that was because, for a lot of the time I just didn’t want extra noise. I just wanted it to be very quiet outside of that kind of the conversation. So, yeah, I just told my mum for a while.”
Chapman admitted he had known about it for some time and said he had also needed to “hide it for a little bit”.
“I am excited. It’s weird, because as I’ve said, it’s sort of the job that I’ve been doing for quite a while,” he said. “I mean, look, on the one hand, it’s a TV football show, and therefore there are much more important things in life, and we both – all three of us – get that.
“But it has a part in people’s lives, and therefore it is an honour to be doing it.”
Cates will continue her work as a Sky Sports presenter alongside her new role with the BBC. She was already working for the BBC as a radio presenter, fronting Radio 5 Live’s Tuesday night sports coverage. She has worked on its tournament coverage since 2016.
Logan, a former gymnast, has previously presented Match of the Day in Lineker’s absence on many occasions and has become one of the main presenters of the BBC’s Olympic Games coverage.
Logan sent a voice note to the podcast addressed to her fellow presenters.
“Starting in the autumn, it’ll be down to us three to sit in that hot seat over the weekend,” she said.
“And I am absolutely thrilled. I couldn’t wish to share those duties with two more brilliant broadcasters, and I’m very excited about a show that I’ve grown up watching and knowing, and it’s been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I’m sure your lives as well.
“What a responsibility, but what a joy as well! And I think our viewers can rest assured that we love it as much as they do.”
Chapman is the current regular host of the Sunday night highlights programme Match of the Day 2 and also presents a number of sports programmes on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Lineker will continue to front the BBC’s live FA Cup coverage next season and will bow out from the corporation by leading its coverage of the 2026 men’s World Cup.
