'I assumed we got the same': Alex Jones was 'shocked' to learn that co-star Matt Baker got paid £50,000 MORE for The One Show... as she weighs in on BBC gender gap

They have sat side-by-side on The One Show sofa for six years. 

But Alex Jones has now confessed she was 'shocked' to learn Matt Baker was being paid a far higher salary, for the same presenting role.

Speaking to the Mirror, the 40-year-old admitted she had 'assumed' the pair were being paid the same - after the BBC's top earners list revealed her 39-year-old co-star received £50,000 more, earlier this year.

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The list revealed that Alex received between £400,000 and £449,000 for her hosting duties, while former Blue Peter host Matt was receiving £450,000 to £499,000.

Weighing in on the scandal with the paper, the Welsh host admitted she had just 'assumed' the pair were on the same salaries, as they do exactly the same job on the show.

She explained: 'Matt and I have never discussed wages, but I assumed we got paid the same. I was quite shocked. I guess everybody else was.'

Back in July, the corporation's 'talent' list of its most generously paid stars revealed women are not being paid as much - despite doing the same jobs.

Just a third of its highest-paid stars were women, with seven male stars paid more than the BBC's biggest earning female presenter, Claudia Winkleman, who is on up to £500,000.

62 of the 96 individuals on the list were men, and half of all the women included were in the lowest pay band.   

More than 40 well-known female presenters have written to BBC boss Lord Hall since, demanding he immediately put men and women on equal levels of pay. 

Alex has presented the magazine show for one year longer than Matt - first hosted proceedings in 2010, alongside comedian Jason Manford, before her long-term screen partner joined in 2011.

The news of the pay gap broke two months after Alex had returned to The One Show from maternity leave.

In January the beauty welcomed her first child, a son called Teddy, with insurance broker husband Charlie Thomson. 

She even announced Teddy's arrival in a live telephone call to The One Show that month - gushing to Matt and her temporary replacement Angela Scanlon that the birth was 'straight-forward' and 'lovely'.

Speaking to Daily Mail's You Magazine in April however, Alex confessed she had been anxious about going on maternity leave - but only because she was so passionate about her role on the show.

She explained: 'I’d be lying to say I didn’t feel any paranoia when I first left the show, but then you get over it because you realise there’s nothing you can do about it.‘

At the same time, you hope they’re doing a good job because you want a show to come back to – it’s a balance. But anyone who says there’s no paranoia is lying. 

'It’s healthy, I think – it shows you respect the job and you care about it.’