DRAMATIC EXIT
Springwatch star reveals ‘real reason’ she walked away from BBC show after seven years – admitting series ‘scared’ her
Kate Humble reveals the surprising reason she walked away from the hit BBC show
BBC presenter Kate Humble has revealed the real reason she quit the popular wildlife show Springwatch.
She fronted the show for seven years from 2005 to 2011.
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The presenter, 55, has continued working for the BBC specialising in wildlife and science programmes.
She notably appears on Animal Park, which she has co-presented with adventurer Ben Fogle since 2001.
However, Kate recently opened up about her time on Springwatch and why she decided to leave the series 15 years ago.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun’s TV Magazine last week, Kate admitted that the nature series really “scared” her in the beginning, but it wasn’t enough of a challenge for her in the end.
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She has since elaborated on what she meant by this, telling Reach PLC that deciding to leave Springwatch was a really difficult decision.
“It was a bit like leaving home, I loved Springwatch. I was enormously proud of it and it was enormously challenging in all the best sort of ways.
Reflecting on different aspects of the show, she added: “I mean, terrifying, you know, you’re working with animals on live telly, you can’t get them to turn up at eight o’clock and do something spectacular.
“I would hear the countdown to on-air in my ear and think, ‘I have literally no idea what’s gonna happen’, and, you know, working with all the incredible naturalists, and conservationists, and filmmakers and all the people that I’ve worked with over the years - it was amazing,” Kate recalled.
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However, her biggest motivator for working on the show was the way it made her feel; scared.
But eventually, that went away.
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Kate admitted: “The honest truth is, it stopped scaring me. There is a quote that people attribute to Eleanor Roosevelt, which is, ‘do something that scares you every day’, and I really live by that, and when Springwatch stopped scaring me, I thought, ‘this is such an important programme, it has done so much.’
“I mean, I still have people come up to me now and say, ‘I work in conservation because of the Springwatch’, and I knew all programmes need refreshing, you know, things need a new approach, a new set of eyes.
“And for me, when it stopped scaring me, I thought this is the time that I need to step away and someone else needs to come in because they’ll keep it going and that’s the most important thing that Springwatch keeps going.
Despite it being a difficult move, Kate felt she had to step away from Springwatch when she did.
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“It was [a] really hard decision in some ways. But also it was a really easy decision because I knew for me it was the right thing to do, even though, as I say, I felt bereft.”
After her exit, Kate was replaced by Chris Packham, who continues to be a regular presenter on the nature show.
Meanwhile, Kate has gone on to front shows like Kate Humble’s Coastal Britain and Kate Humble: Good Life, Green Life, along with Animal Park.
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