Rylan Clark hailed a 'saviour' by colleagues at Radio 2 for speaking out about his BBC salary

Rylan Clark has been hailed a ‘saviour’ by his colleagues at the BBC for speaking out against bosses at Radio 2.

The 37-year-old presenter said he was forced to miss one of his Saturday afternoon shows on Radio 2 in June because his flight home from a holiday in the South of France was cancelled.

Despite veteran DJ Mark Goodier agreeing to step in, Rylan revealed BBC bosses still ‘had a right go’.

He told Celebrity Traitors winner, Alan Carr, on his podcast: ‘It weren't my fault there was a French air traffic control strike.

‘What am I supposed to do? Walk? P*** off, for the money they pay me. Thank you, licence payers.'

His comments have been praised by his colleagues from inside the BBC who have described him to the Mail as their ‘saviour’.

One source said: ‘Rylan has full support for the comments; everyone loves him. He’s not afraid to speak his mind and stick up for people - he’s seen as a real saviour among employees.’

​Though his specific Radio 2 portion is private, Rylan's total earnings with his performing arts company, Rylan Limited, brought in £1.4 million from his presenting stints on This Morning and Strictly’s It Takes Two.

The East London-born host found fame as a contestant on The X Factor in 2012 and took over Zoe Ball’s 3pm to 6pm slot on Radio 2 in 2018, where he has remained since.

Rylan’s close relationship with former Breakfast Show host, Scott Mills, who was sacked in April for historical allegations of sexual assault, was also raised as a possible reason he is speaking out against his bosses.

For the first time since he took over the role in 2018, Rylan hosted the Eurovision Song Contest without Mills, 37, who was replaced by the new Breakfast Show host, Sara Cox.

The source continued: ‘At Eurovision this year he kept himself to himself and wasn’t as happy as he usually is because of how the Scott situation was handled, as it’s his best friend.

‘Usually he and Scott dive into everything and embrace it, but the feeling is he didn’t really do that this year.’

In May, a month after Mills's sacking, Rylan was asked on an episode of the Assembly what it is like if a celebrity friend is cancelled. 

Clearly talking about the former DJ, he said: 'It's really tough...

'Especially because some of them are not just my work friends – they're genuinely, like, close friends.'

'At the end of the day, if someone's done something wrong, then I understand why they can't carry on doing what they're doing.'

'But I do feel today that we live in a world where people will wanna go for you and cancel you for the sake of just doing it, because they can.'

He then urged people not to 'always believe what you hear or read' and that you shouldn't be 'frightened to ask why' certain decisions are made.

Rylan was also tipped as one of the replacements for Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman on Strictly Come Dancing but was passed over in favour of comedian Josh Widdicombe, Johannes Radebe and Emma Willis.

The BBC have been approached for comment.