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Jo Whiley: Radio 2 backlash made it hard to walk out of my front door

BBC Jo WhileyBBC
Jo Whiley will move to the station's evening show

Jo Whiley has said the social media backlash over her BBC Radio 2 show with Simon Mayo made "it hard to walk out my front door, let alone present a radio show" on some days.

Whiley joined Mayo as a co-host on the drivetime show in May. But they came in for criticism and recently announced that they are to leave the slot.

"The last six months have been quite something," the DJ wrote on Instagram.

She added: "But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger etc etc."

The DJ will take on the station's new evening show in January.

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"I couldn't have tried harder or cared more about the show Simon & I did together," Whiley wrote.

"Some of the stuff that's been said on social media has meant that some days it was hard to walk out of my front door, let alone present a radio show."

It was announced on Monday that Sara Cox will take over drivetime from Whiley and Mayo.

When she joined Mayo in May, Whiley became the first female DJ on the station's weekday daytime schedule for 20 years.

But some listeners complained that there was no chemistry between the pair.

When their departure from the slot was confirmed, Mayo took to Twitter to defend his co-host.

"Some of the abuse she has had here has been appalling. Support for a show is one thing, assaulting the dignity of a warm-hearted and loyal friend is another," he wrote.

Whiley joined BBC Radio 1 in 1993 and moved to Radio 2 in 2011.

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