Radio presenter Zoe Ball has asked the BBC to pay her “less” after her £1 milion pay rise.

The 49-year-old star’s salary increased to £1.36 million a year and she recently became the corporation’s top earner after Match of the Day host Gary Linekar agreed a 23 per cent pay cut.

Now Radio 2 Breakfast Show presenter Zoe, who lives in Ditchling, is to take a pay cut at her own request, according to The Sun.

A BBC source told The Sun: “Zoe was given a very big pay rise when she took on the job because the gender pay row at the BBC was raging and she was replacing a man on a big wage in a high profile job.

“She has always been thankful for the wages she earns, and she does work very hard, getting up at 4 am daily and putting in long hours.

“But in the current climate, and during a pandemic, she has felt increasingly uncomfortable about how much she earns so has requested that it is reduced.”

The pay rise attracted criticism after it was revealed the breakfast show had lost more than a million listeners compared with when Chris Evans presented it.Figures released last October said numbers had dropped to 7.9 million since Zoe took over. She said she takes the figures, gathered by Rajar, to heart.

The presenter is set to begin negotiations with the BBC on the reported pay cut in the coming weeks and is expected to sign a new deal due to start in January.

Zoe has been broadcasting since 1993 and was a host of Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast Show and then BBC’s Live And Kicking during the 1990s.