Kirsty Jane Gallacher (born 20 January 1976) is a Scottish

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for ...

and model. She began her career at

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Limited, Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and lat ...

in 1998 and hosted '' Kirsty's Home Videos'', '' RI:SE'' and '' Simply the Best'' before returning to Sky Sports News from 2011–2018. Since June 2021, Gallacher has co-presented ''The Great British Breakfast'' on

GB News GB News is a British free-to-air television and radio news channel. The channel is available on Freeview, Freesat, Sky, YouView, Virgin Media and via the internet. Since 4 January 2022, an audio simulcast of the station is available on DAB+ ra ...

Early life

The daughter of

Bernard Gallacher Bernard Gallacher, OBE (born 9 February 1949) is a Scottish professional golfer. Early life and amateur career Gallacher was born in Bathgate, Scotland. He took up golf at the age of eleven. In 1965 he won the Lothians Golf Association Boys C ...

, a professional golfer and

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

captain, and Lesley Gallacher, Kirsty Gallacher was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. When her father got the job of professional at Wentworth Golf Club, they moved south to

Virginia Water Virginia Water is a commuter village in the Borough of Runnymede in northern Surrey, England. It is home to the Wentworth Estate and the Wentworth Club. The area has much woodland and occupies a large minority of the Runnymede district. Its nam ...

, England, when she was 18 months old. Gallacher and her younger brother and sister were raised on the Wentworth Estate, where their close neighbours included

Bruce Forsyth Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was a British entertainer and presenter whose career spanned more than 70 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the ITV series ''Sunday Night ...

. She was educated at Coworth Flexlands and

St George's School St George's School or Saint George's School may refer to: Brunei * St. George's School, Brunei Canada * St. George's School of Montreal, Quebec * St. George's School (Vancouver), British Columbia Germany * St. George's The British Internation ...

Ascot, Berkshire Ascot () is a town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is south of Windsor, east of Bracknell and west of London. It is most notable as the location of Ascot Racecourse, home of the Royal Ascot meeting, ...

Career

Approached by Mark Sharman, then deputy head of sport at

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

, at a

dinner, she began working as a production assistant in 1996, before moving on to the position of editorial assistant on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. She got her presenting break on

in 1998, and since then has been associated with many other sports shows such as ''90 Minutes'', ''Soccer Extra'', ''Kirsty and Phil'' (on BBC Radio 5 Live) and ''

Soccer AM ''Soccer AM'' is a British football-based comedy/talk show, produced by Sky Sports. First broadcast in 1995, the programme currently airs on Sky Showcase, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football at 10.30am on Saturdays during the fo ...

''.Morris, Sophie (5 May 2008)
"My Life in Media: Kirsty Gallacher"
London: ''The Independent''. Retrieved 14 December 2009. From 2000 until 2004, Gallacher hosted the

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

show '' Kirsty's Home Videos'', a satellite equivalent of

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

's ''

You've Been Framed! ''You've Been Framed!'' is a British television series where viewers can contribute to the programme with their humorous home movies for the entertainment of others. It is produced by ITV Studios and comedian Harry Hill has been providing narrat ...

'' in which viewers send in home videos to be screened. In 2002, she presented the morning show '' RI:SE'', and in 2004 began the show '' Simply the Best''. Gallacher presented the All Star Cup on Sky1 in 2005 and on ITV in 2006. She has made guest appearances on ''

They Think It's All Over "They think it's all over" is a quote from Kenneth Wolstenholme's BBC TV commentary in the closing moments of the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final, when England beat West Germany 4–2 after extra time to win the FIFA World Cup. In the final few second ...

'' and ''

A Question of Sport ''Question of Sport'' (previously ''A Question of Sport'') is a British television sports quiz show produced and broadcast by the BBC. It is the "world's longest running TV sports quiz". Following a pilot episode in December 1968, broadcast onl ...

''. Gallacher presented ''Ant vs Dec'' – the popular strand on ''

Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway ''Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' (referred to simply as ''Saturday Night Takeaway'' or ''SNT'') is a British television variety show, created and presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially known as Ant & Dec), and b ...

''. In 2005, Gallacher won the third series of the popular

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

reality television series '' The Games''. She then presented the following years alongside

Jamie Theakston James Paul Theakston (born 21 December 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, and actor. He co-presented the former Saturday morning BBC One children's show ''Live & Kicking'', alongside Zoe Ball between 1996 and 1999. He co-hosted ...

. In December 2005, she released a DVD entitled ''Body Sculpt with Kirsty Gallacher'' in which she shows a variety of workouts. In July 2006, she co-presented the BBC reality TV show ''

Only Fools on Horses ''Only Fools on Horses'' is a BBC reality television programme produced by Endemol UK. The show's name was a play on that of the sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'', and first aired on 7 July 2006. It featured twelve celebrities who performed eques ...

''. In 2008, Gallacher presented the new version of ''

Gladiators A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

'' on Sky One alongside

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English television and radio personality and former professional footballer. He works as a pundit for BBC Sport and ITV Sport. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal ...

. She did not return for the second series. On 30 August 2008, Gallacher appeared on ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and ...

'' with

Duncan Bannatyne Duncan Walker Bannatyne, (born 2 February 1949) is a Scottish entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author. His business interests include hotels, health clubs, spas, media, TV, and property. He is most famous for his appearance as a business an ...

. She has also guest presented ''

GMTV with Lorraine The following details are for the programmes that GMTV (Good Morning Television) broadcast on ITV. GMTV is the former breakfast television franchise for the UK's ITV network. It began broadcasting on Friday 1 January 1993 and finished on Friday ...

'' in August 2010 for two weeks and ''

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...

'' on

ITV Breakfast ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited (previously known as GMTV Limited) is the national ITV breakfast television licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. The breakfast license r ...

. In May 2011, Gallacher returned to

to present for

. On 27 August 2015, it was confirmed that Gallacher would be taking part in the 2015 series of ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

''. On 5 September 2015, it was announced Gallacher would be paired with professional dancer

Brendan Cole Brendan Cole (born 23 April 1976) is a New Zealand ballroom dancer, specialising in Latin American dancing. He is most famous for appearing as a professional dancer on the BBC One show, '' Strictly Come Dancing''. From 2005 to 2009, he was a ...

for the series. The couple were eliminated on week 6; finishing eleventh. In May 2018, it was announced Gallacher was leaving Sky Sports. On 29 March 2021, it was announced that Gallacher would be joining

to present a breakfast programme on the channel. Gallacher left

in December 2021 after discovering she had a

benign Malignancy () is the tendency of a medical condition to become progressively worse. Malignancy is most familiar as a characterization of cancer. A ''malignant'' tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous benign tumor, ''benign'' tumor in that a malign ...

tumour A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

in her inner

ear canal The ear canal (external acoustic meatus, external auditory meatus, EAM) is a pathway running from the outer ear to the middle ear. The adult human ear canal extends from the pinna to the eardrum and is about in length and in diameter. Struc ...

which was causing

Tinnitus Tinnitus is the perception of sound when no corresponding external sound is present. Nearly everyone experiences a faint "normal tinnitus" in a completely quiet room; but it is of concern only if it is bothersome, interferes with normal hearin ...

and she said that the early starts for the news channel were exacerbating her symptoms. On 3 April 2021, she hosted for the first time on

Smooth Radio Smooth Radio may refer to: * Smooth Radio (2010), the original national network in the UK * Smooth Radio (2014) See also * Smoothfm smoothfm is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by NOVA Entertainment. From original ...

, starting at 4:00 pm BST.

Awards and nominations

Gallacher was nominated for Best Newcomer at the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Television Sports Awards in 1998. She won Satellite/Digital TV Personality at the 2002 Television and Radio Industries Club Awards, and ''Kirsty's Home Videos'' won her the following year's Satellite/Digital Programme award in 2003. She also won a "Platinum Award" for Best Entertainment Programme at the 2002 Houston International Film Festival.

Personal life

Gallacher is the cousin of golfer

Stephen Gallacher Stephen James Gallacher (born 1 November 1974) is a Scottish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. Early life and amateur career Gallacher was born in Dechmont, West Lothian and is the nephew of former European Ryder Cup captain ...

. At the end of February 2013 she was named patron of Hibernian Women. Gallacher married rugby player

Paul Sampson Paul Christian Sampson (born 12 July 1977) is an English rugby union and rugby league player who played at wing or full-back for London Welsh, Blackheath, Worcester Warriors, Bath and Wasps, plus Wakefield Trinity and London Broncos Backgrou ...

in 2010, with whom she has two sons. The couple split in 2015. Her sister Laura Gallacher is married to

Russell Brand Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian and actor known for his flamboyant, loquacious style and manner. Brand has received three British Comedy Awards: Best Newcomer (2006), Best Live Stand-Up (2008), and the award for ...

References

External links

Kirsty Gallacher at M&C Saatchi MerlinKirsty Gallacher at TV Newsroom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallacher, Kirsty 1976 births Living people Television personalities from Edinburgh People educated at St. George's School, Ascot Anglo-Scots British journalists British television presenters British sports broadcasters English people of Scottish descent Scottish people of Irish descent British people of Irish descent People from Virginia Water Alumni of the London College of Fashion GB News newsreaders and journalists Gladiators (1992 British TV series)