BBC Top Earners' Salaries: Best Comebacks From Stars As Pay Packets Revealed

Stars throw shade at the critics.
LOADINGERROR LOADING

The wages of top earners at the BBC have finally been revealed - setting tongues wagging and commentators huffing and puffing across the UK.

Gary Lineker, who earned at least £1.75 million from the broadcaster in 2016, preempted the fallout from the controversial list when he tweeted ahead of its publication - joking about needing his “tin helmet”.

He later joked the salary exposure was an “absolute outrage” - asking how Chris Evans, who earned at least £2.2 million, earned more.

The former footballer was just one of 96 BBC stars earning £150,000 or more a year funded by the licence fee to be revealed.

And while some have stayed silent on social media, elsewhere the BBC banter has begun.

Scott Mills, who earned at least £250,000 in 2016, was asked to shout lunch for colleagues including BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Stark.

Mills apparently obliged.

TV presenter Dan Walker, who also made the list but earned around £50k less than Mills, with a salary of at least £150,000, also piped in on the BBC banter.

Radio 1 DJ Greg James, who earned at least £150,000 last year, simply Tweeted a YouTube clip of The Office where David Brent sings Des’ree’s ’Crazy Maze’ which includes the lyrics: “Money don’t make my world go round. I’m reaching out to a higher ground.”

His colleague Nick Grimshaw was shown to be Radio 1′s top earner by the list - taking up to £250,000 more than him, with a salary of between £350,000 and £399,999.

Other BBC colleagues also had fun comebacks to the list, with one political correspondent saying she was going to sell badges for those who didn’t earn enough to make the cut.

This is what BBC Woman’s Hour presenter Jane Garvey had to say.

Could #notonthelist become a hashtag?

Some spoof accounts of people mentioned on the list also joined in with the banter following the publication of the list.

A ‘John Harumphrys’ account joked the real John Humphrys, who earned at least £600,000 last year, would be avoiding his Radio 4 Today programme colleagues Justin Webb, who earned at least £150,000, and Nick Robinson, who was revealed to be on between £250,000 and £299,999.

An account spoofing former footballer and sports pundit Alan Shearer, who earned between £400,000 and £499,999 expressed disbelief at the news.

Meanwhile, Labour MP Jess Phillips made people LOL when she responded to Fiona Bruce being paid less than Huw Edwards.

With this.

And one journalist summed up the fact that the BBC couldn’t please everyone - or pay talent in a way that every person would approve of - in one witty Tweet.

The BBC press office also had its fair share of reasons why the BBC was worth it.

Close

What's Hot