Davina McCall praises Jonathan Ross for sharing his salary details to protect her from gender pay gap

Both presenters are judges on ‘The Masked Singer’

Davina McCall has praised Jonathan Ross as an “ally of women” after he shared his salary details with her in a bid to avoid a gender pay gap.

The TV presenter, 55, said her co-judge on The Masked Singer wanted to be transparent about how much he was getting paid to be on the show when it launched in 2020.

Speaking toThe Sun, McCall said: “When I [got] my job, he called me and said, ‘This is what I’m being paid. I think you and I should get paid the same amount’.”

She clarified that there wasn’t a major discrepancy between their salaries, adding: “But he wanted to make sure there wasn’t and I love him for that.”

McCall also described Ross as “the nicest man and an ally of women”.

The former Big Brother presenter is a judge on the singing competition alongside Ross, Rita Ora, and Mo Gilligan.

Elsewhere in the interview, she revealed that she is close to her fellow panelists and they bond over photographs of otters and text messages.

“Oh my God, I love those guys,” she said. “I love Mo and send him constant photos of otters. We love otters. Rita, I love. I send her messages.”

McCall was honoured with an MBE last month for services to broadcasting, following a TV career that has spanned more than two decades.

She was made an MBE in King Charles III’s birthday honours, which she said was a “great honour” and “really means a great deal”.

Davina McCall attends the ITV Autumn Entertainment Launch at White City House on August 30, 2022 (Getty Images)

Her 2021 documentary Sex, Myths and The Menopause, which aired on Channel 4, was hailed by viewers for broaching the topics of menopause and hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

She recently explored the effects of the contraceptive pill in her new documentary Davina McCall’s Pill Revolution. In the show, she had her coil fitted on-screen to help dispel misinformation around contraception.

McCall is set to host a new ITV dating reality series titled My Mum, Your Dad, which will see a group of single parents nominated by their adult children to try getting another chance at finding love.

McCall has been in a relationship with celebrity hairdresser Michael Doughlas since 2019. She shares three children, Holly, Tilly and Chester, with her former husband Matthew Robertson.

She was married to Robertson from 2000 to 2017. Before that, she was married to Andrew Leggett from 1997 to 1999.