FORMER BBC Breakfast star Louise Minchin has slammed the show of 'age-old sexsim' after lifting the lid on the truth from behind the scenes of the programme.
Louise was one of the BBC's morning show's most popular presenters but she claims her 'experience' and popularity on the programme was overlooked as a result of her being a woman.
The 54 year old has opened up on her experience on the show and has ripped into show bosses for continuously snubbing her from being allowed to open the show despite her wealth of experience as a journalist and presenter.
In new extracts from her book, Fearless: Adventures with Extraordinary Women, obtained by the Daily Mail, Louise writes candidly about the sexism she experienced on the show.
Louise admitted: "I had noticed that almost every day my male colleague was given the prestigious task of saying hello at the top of each hour, introducing the programme and doing the first interview."
Happy Valley's James Norton teases Tommy's 'deep hatred' in final series
She added: "Why was I always the second person to speak, even though I was older and more experienced? What message did it send to our female viewers?"
Louise most famously fronted the show alongside Dan Walker but she set out to change her frustration at him getting the opening of the show by confronting the programme's directors.
She added that whilst some were receptive and happy to offer Louise the chance to do so, others shut down the idea and told her 'this is the way we have always done it'.
The star went onto say of the show and its bosses: "There it was: age-old, systemic discrimination built into the fabric of the programme."
Her persistence paid off as she kept a diary of exactly what she and her male co-star did and found astounding evidence to prove the male presenter was often chosen to be the lead.
She reveals she presented this to her bosses who initially once again dismissed her but upon realising she had kept "notes", she says: "He [the boss] never asked to see my notes and from that day it was set in stone: every other day, the woman on the sofa was allowed to lead the programme, to be in charge."
Louise quit the show for good in 2021 after 15 years and went onto to enjoy a stint in I'm A Celebrity, a stark contrast to the Salford sofa she was used to.
Her book opens up on more behind-the-scenes issues of BBC Breakfast where she also confesses that she fought a "long battle" in order to be paid the same wage as her male co-star.
