Here's the BBC stars who weren't on the list of the highest paid employees

The BBC has published the salaries of their highest paid stars – with Chris Evans topping the list after earning an eye-watering £2.2 million pounds in 2016.

He was closely followed by Gary Lineker, who earned £1.75 million, and the £850,000 salary of Graham Norton.

But the extensive list does not include every BBC star, with names including Jeremy Paxman, David Dimbleby, and Emily Maitlis being noticeably absent from the newly released document.

However, the reason for this has been revealed – and it’s all down to either their salaries, or the company that they are being paid by.

Emily Maitlis, for example, reportedly did not qualify to feature on the list because her salary is under the £150k top earner bracket that acted as the requirement for inclusion.

But for Matt LeBlanc, his Top Gear salary was paid by production company BBC Worldwide, which means that his wage is not included in the straight list of BBC earners.

It is also thought to be the same scenario for The Great British Bake Off’s Mary Berry, who was paid by Love Productions before the show moved to Channel 4 last year.

Jeremy Paxman is also believed to be paid through independent production companies for his contributions, too.

And when it came to BBC Breakfast, presenter Dan Walker earned in-between £200-249k, but his co-presenter Louise Minchin did not appear on the list.

Clarifying the situation, Walker confirmed that he receives the same Breakfast salary as Minchin – but the rest of his wage comes from presenting Football Focus.

A huge gender imbalance was also seen – with presenters including Sarah Montague, Hazel Irvine and Jane Garvey not making the list, and only 34 women being featured overall.