A BBC presenter has opened up to Helen Skelton on an episode of Morning Live.

Kevin Duala appeared on Tuesday, where he offered advice to viewers experiencing similar financial difficulties following his own battle.

He disclosed he found himself trapped in £20,000 of debt, as he spoke candidly about the “vicious cycle” that engulfed him and left him feeling ’embarrassed’ and ‘ashamed’.

He started: “I’d like to take you back 25 years when my journey into debt first started. I was self-employed, 15% of the UK population now are self-employed, so it’s going to affect a lot of people.”

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He went on: “It was my first job, I was new to the game, I’d started in our industry that we’re in now, and once I first got that pay cheque, I just thought, ‘Right, that money’s mine’.

“I wasn’t educated enough to find out what I needed to do, however, I did source that information out, and I did make my pot, I put my tax in one pot, my mortgage, my house bills, and then I had my cash flow here, thinking that this was the way it would be now, that I’d carry on working and I would float about and enjoy life.

“But that wasn’t the case. Work wasn’t forthcoming straight away, but obviously, my mortgage needed to be paid.

“Little bits of work were coming in, but not enough to balance the books.”

He continued: “When it started to get really serious was when I then had to pay the loan back, but I didn’t have enough money in my cash flow to do that.”

Kevin admitted he found himself in a “horrible vicious circle, robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

He subsequently “buried my head in the sand,” feeling “lonely, isolated,” and didn’t want to tell anyone.

“It was embarrassing, I felt ashamed,” he added.

“I was a grown man, I had a family, we were bringing our kids up, I had bills to pay, the pressure started to mount.

“It’s horrible when you go through that situation because you can’t tell anyone, or don’t want to tell anyone.

“Honestly, I was in a dark place.”

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His “turning point” came one day when he tried to get money out from a cashpoint, but it instead took his card.

“That’s when I knew then, I had no money, I had no access to money, so I went home and I just thought, ‘What am I going to do?'”

He went on: “I remember going into the bedroom, lying on the bed and just felt physically sick. I started crying, not out of pity but out of annoyance that I’d got myself in that situation.

“I couldn’t wait for the morning to arrive, I got up and phoned CBA and they put me in touch with a debt charity and my life changed from then, they were absolutely brilliant.”

Who is Kevin Duala?

The television and radio presenter, known for hosting programmes including Health: Truth or Scare, A Matter of Life and Debt, and numerous segments on The One Show.

He has encouraged others to be open about their debt to prevent them from enduring what he faced.

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