There’s bad news for fans of Gardeners’ World host Monty Don after he said working on the show felt like a “remorseless treadmill” and he’ll likely step back in a couple of years’ time.
The BBC presenter, 68, has opened up about when he plans to leave the popular gardening show, revealing that with his busy workload, he needs to “give something up” when he reaches the age of 70.
Monty Don delivers blow for Gardeners’ World fans
Talking to Time Radio, the Gardeners’ World favourite said if the BBC offers him more episodes, he might take them up on the offer, however, it seems it’s not cut and dried for the green-fingered host.
“If they offered me more then I might take it. But I mean, the serious point is I will be 70 in two year. Will I want to go on? I like making television programmes, I like writing books. To have the energy to do that and not scrabble, always that sense of scrabbling.”
After he revealed he doesn’t want to “give up writing”, Monty said the logical thing to do would be to exit Gardeners’ World.
“I think I have to give something up. I’m not prepared to give up writing and I really enjoy the travel stuff I do. So therefore the logical thing to give up is Gardeners’ World, which is, for all its virtues, a remorseless treadmill,” he continued.
He confessed his replacement should represent “diversity”
Monty previously revealed to the Guardian that he would leave Gardeners’ World “in the next five years”.
He has also given an insight into who he thinks would be the best to replace him. Talking to The Sun, Monty added: “I would like to think the next Gardeners’ World presenter ideally would be female, would represent either singly, or in multiplicity, the diversity in this country, that has at least some urban context. So I think all that leads to it not being just one garden any more, because if it is one garden, it’s got to be a big one.”
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“It probably has to be in the country, and the further you get into the countryside, the less diversity there is. The world’s changing; we need to change with it. In many ways, I’m likely the last middle-aged, middle-class white male with a large garden doing Gardeners’ World. Which is fine,” he concluded.
The news comes after Monty was showered with support from fans after the heartbreaking loss of his beloved dog, Nellie.
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