TV presenter Simon Thomas opens up on the difficulties of being ‘truly freelance’ as he continues to rebuild his career in broadcasting after stepping back from Sky Sports following the death of his wife
- Thomas left Sky Sports in 2017 after his wife died suddenly from leukaemia
- He has started working as a freelancer, regularly seen on Amazon Prime Video
- Thomas admitted he misses the aspect of ‘certainty’ when it comes to working
TV presenter Simon Thomas has opened up on the life of being ‘truly freelance’ after years working at the BBC and Sky Sports.
Thomas stepped back from working full time in the industry after the sudden death of his wife in 2017 four days after she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.
After 18 years in the industry, he took time off to look after his eight-year-old son, essentially tearing up his contract at Sky, where he was their lead football presenter.
He has since re-built his career, now commonly seen presenting on channels such as Amazon Prime Video.
In a LinkedIN post, the 50-year-old has spoken on how he missing his full-time gigs, his thrill of being a freelancer, and the up-and-down nature of the role he’s taken up over the last three years.
TV presenter Simon Thomas has opened up on the struggles of working as a freelancer in broadcast
Thomas left Sky Sports to take time out after losing wife Gemma to cancer in November 2017
Thomas explained his feelings in a lengthy post on his LinkedIN account earlier in the week
‘For many many years, whilst I was technically freelance – I wasn’t really’, Thomas began.
‘For eighteen or so years at the BBC with Blue Peter & then on to Sky Sports I was on either one, two or even three year contracts. For a broadcaster, these contracts were absolute gold dust. I was incredibly fortunate.
‘Financially I had security, I could make plans, I could put money aside for holidays, pay into pensions & rainy day funds.’
Thomas stepped away from presenting almost instantly after the death of his wife and wasn’t seen on screens for three years.
When he returned in 2020 with Amazon, he shared an emotional social media post explaining his situation.
Three years on from his return, Thomas explained how he knows he did the right thing in stepping away, but that life is slightly uncomfortable working in the freelance world.
‘Almost five years on I still know deep down it was the right decision; but as I’ve slowly tried to rebuild my career; its left me in the strange new world of being truly freelance’, he wrote.
‘That world of one minute feeling busy and fulfilled with a packed work calendar, to then turning the page & seeing empty weeks stretching ahead & feeling a sense of disconcerting emptiness.
The 50-year-old explained how he sometimes feels ‘a sense of disconcerting emptiness’
‘I’ve quickly learnt that being freelance in broadcast is not for the faint hearted. One minute you can feel on top of the world wondering how you’re going to fit everything in; next you’re feeling that uncomfortable anxiety pondering where the next gig is going to come from. Is the rainy day fund going to run dry?
‘Part of me loves the excitement of the unknown; the not knowing what might come next; but perhaps a bigger part of me craves a return to the days of a decent degree of certainty.’
Thomas of course could return to a more full-time gig in the future as he continues to re-build his career.
He has now re-married and has since welcomed his first child with wife Derrina, explaining at the time that he felt ‘proud and blessed’ to welcome his baby daughter to the world.
Thomas has re-married to Derrina (right), and the couple have had their first child together
