Question of Sport: Ugo and Paddy mock Ellis Genge's answer
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Ugo Monye has opened up about his role on BBC’s Question of Sport, which he inherited in September 2021. The former Strictly star, 38, has teamed up with Boots UK for the second series of the health and wellbeing podcast Taboo Talk, where he discusses the topic of chronic pain with host Vogue Williams.
In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Ugo addressed the taboo topic of both physical and mental pain in the sporting world, addressing the challenges he faced on the pitch, alongside pressures he tackled whilst under the spotlight.
Ugo is a former rugby union player, who has since worked as a sports pundit, before joining BBC’s Question of Sport late last year.
When asked about what kind of pressure being in the public eye for so long put on his mental health, he replied: “It’s interesting, isn’t it? The word pressure?
“Yeah, I did some high profile things last year, but I guess from the outside people say it’s a lot of pressure.
“I think it’s a real privilege to have done the things that I’ve done,” Ugo admitted.
“Being a captain on A Question of Sport and Strictly, the largest show on telly, comes with its pressures, but they’re privileges because the alternative is that you don’t do them – and I’d rather do them.
“I think whenever I do anything, my number one goal is that I want to give the best account of myself.
“And when you’re on shows like that, on Question of Sport as a team captain, I want to be able to offer up the best version of myself every single time for the guests that are there.”
Ugo became a team captain on Question of Sport back in September alongside ex-hockey champion Sam Quek.
The new team came in to replace Matt Dawson, Phil Tufnell, and longtime host Sue Barker, who exited the show as the BBC attempted a new format shake-up.
Ugo and Sam have joined Top Gear’s Paddy McGuinness, who now hosts the show, in welcoming an array of top athletes to the studio.
However, the change sparked controversy from some Question of Sport viewers, who missed the original panel and couldn’t understand why they had been replaced.
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Speaking about his guests, Ugo continued: “Some of them are leaders in their field, Olympic champions, world record holders, World Champions, World Cup winners… Whoever it might be, they deserve the best version of me.
“And on telly… I think you often forget that at 7:30pm on a Friday night I’m not on telly, I’m in people’s living rooms.
“They want to see the best version of me, and by the way they don’t always get that and I don’t always know all the answers, but they expect the best.
“So if there is a pressure, it’s one that comes on myself to just be good at what I do.
“On Strictly I lasted five weeks, so maybe the pressure got to me!” the sports star jokingly added.
Ugo made it as far as the fifth episode of Strictly Come Dancing last year with his partner Oti Mabuse, before the pair landed in the bottom two and were sent home.
Just a week before, however, the pairing had to sit out of the competition completely when Ugo’s long-term back problems began to flare up and he was forced to go to hospital for a procedure.
When asked about how he felt to miss a week of the live show, Ugo explained that it was “difficult” but also admitted that his “back was in bits”.
The star, who suffers from chronic back pain, recently went under surgery to try and lessen his symptoms.
Ugo kicked off the first episode in series two of the Boots health & wellbeing podcast Taboo Talk, where he discusses the topic of chronic pain with host Vogue Williams.
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