BBC presenter and rugby star Ugo Monye facing financial ruin
Former England rugby international Ugo Monye is on the verge of bankruptcy.
The pundit's 'physical wellbeing' company Show Me The Monye Ltd, which he set up in 2012, was given a winding-up order at the end of 2023, with HMRC obtaining it from the courts in December of that year. This was reportedly due to an unpaid bill of almost £200,000 in tax and National Insurance payments.
On December 4 of last year, things got worse for Monye as HMRC filed a bankruptcy petition against him in the High Court, with the application calling for authority to be able seize the former wing's assets, in order to pay off his debts.
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Show Me The Monye's accounts for the year ended June 30, 2022, showed it owed £108,562 in corporation tax and £72,967 in other tax and National Insurance.
Monye - who won 14 caps for England and toured with the British & Irish Lions in 2009 - is currently one of the leading figures in rugby coverage with regular punditry gigs for both the BBC and TNT Sports. However, he has also faced a difficult few years with this the latest blow for the ex-Harlequins man.
The 41-year-old appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2021 but was left heartbroken after his father Theophilus died in Nigeria just three weeks before the competition started. Monye, who did not even know his dad was ill before his death, dedicated his first dance on the show to him, having had to attend his funeral via Zoom earlier that day due to travel restrictions at the time.
A few days earlier, he announced that he had split with his wife Lucy - blaming the 'Covid curse' for the break-up rather than the infamous 'Strictly curse'.
That same year, he became a captain on Question of Sport as the iconic BBC show underwent a rebrand, with Monye, Sam Quek and Paddy McGuinness replacing Sue Barker, Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell. However, those changes proved highly controversial with viewers and the show was ultimately axed in December 2023.
In November 2023, Monye said he was racially abused on his way out of Exeter's Sandy Park following a game, with the pundit slamming the "disgraceful" incident on social media. Angus Beukes, 32, of Cape Town, South Africa denied a charge of causing racially aggravated harassment, alarm or distress at Exeter Magistrates' Court in August, with a trial date set for March 7 this year.
