Vernon Charles Kay (born 28 April 1974) is an English television and radio presenter, and former model. He presented

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 ...

's ''T4'' (2000–2005) and has presented various television shows for

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 ...

, including ''

All Star Family Fortunes ''Family Fortunes'' is a British television game show based on the American game show ''Family Feud''. The programme ran on ITV (TV network), ITV from 6 January 1980 to 30 December 2002. A celebrity version, ''#All Star Family Fortunes, All St ...

'' (2006–2015), ''Just the Two of Us'' (2006–2007), ''

Beat the Star ''Beat the Star'' is a British game show airing on television network ITV. It is the British version of the ''Schlag den Raab'' franchise, based on the German game show ''Schlag den Raab'' (''Beat the Raab'' – Raab being Stefan Raab). A cand ...

'' (2008–2009), '' The Whole 19 Yards'' (2010), '' Splash!'' (2013–2014), and '' 1000 Heartbeats'' (2015–2016). Kay presented his own

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

show between 2004 and 2012, and presented his own show on Radio X between 2015 and 2017. Since the start of the 2018–19 season, he has been the main presenter for the live coverage of

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is ...

for English speaking territories/platforms around the world. In 2020, Kay appeared on the twentieth series of ''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'', finishing in third place, behind

Jordan North Jordan North (born 14 February 1990) is an English radio DJ, known for hosting shows on BBC Radio 1. In 2020, he was announced as the runner-up of the I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British series 20), twentieth series of ''I'm a Celebr ...

and the eventual Queen of the Castle,

Giovanna Fletcher Giovanna Fletcher (née Falcone, born 29 January 1985) is an English blogger, podcaster, author, actress, and presenter. Since 2019, she has presented the CBeebies series ''The Baby Club''. She won series 20 of ''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out o ...

Early life

Vernon Charles Kay was born on 28 April 1974 and was brought up in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, the elder son of Norman, a lorry driver, and Gladys; he has a younger brother, Stephen, a primary school teacher.Relative values: Vernon Kay and his mother, Gladys
The Sunday Times, 12 April 2009 (archived at the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

) He attended St Joseph's RC High School in

Horwich Horwich ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Prior to 1974 in the historic county of Lancashire. It is southeast of Chorley, northwest of Bolton and northwest of Manchester. It l ...

, near Bolton. He then graduated in environmental science at

Manchester Polytechnic Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

(now

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

). He supports his hometown's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

Career

Modelling

While Vernon was working in a DIY shop as a cutter of wooden panels and in his own words "living for the weekend", he was persuaded to attend the BBC Clothes Show Live where he was scouted by a modelling agency after being convinced to do a catwalk by a friend.

Television

Kay was able to use his success in modelling to launch a television career with co-hosting roles on teen-targeted entertainment shows T4 on Channel 4 and ''The Mag'' on Channel 5. Following this, Kay presented the summer

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

weekend morning show ''

Fully Booked ''Fully Booked'', later retitled ''FBi'', is a British children's television series produced by BBC Scotland and broadcast from 22 April 1995 to 23 September 2000. Format Series 1–3 The first series is presented by Zoe Ball and Grant Stott, ...

'' (called FBI, Fully Booked Interactive) in 2000, as well as ''TOTP+ Plus'' and ''

TOTP@Play Top of the Pops@play (TOTP@play), is a music television programme, that was broadcast on UKTV-owned digital youth entertainment television channel, Play UK.

''. In 2003 he co-hosted the Channel 4 game show '' Boys and Girls'', which was cancelled after one series. The following year Kay hosted the third series of ''

Celebrities Under Pressure ''Celebrities Under Pressure'' is a British game show that aired on ITV from 13 September 2003 to 7 August 2004. It was first hosted by Melanie Sykes for series 1 & 2 and then hosted by Vernon Kay for series 3. Format The show follows families ...

'' on

. From 2006, Kay presented primetime game show ''

''. In June 2015, it was announced that

was to rest the show until 2017, but it did not return. In 2007, he presented ''

Vernon Kay's Gameshow Marathon ''Gameshow Marathon'' is a British game show, broadcast on ITV from 17 September 2005 to 26 May 2007. After a quick retrospective look at the history of the particular show, the show itself is recreated. This involves recreating the original s ...

'', after replacing

Ant & Dec Ant & Dec are a British television presenter, television presenting duo, consisting of Anthony McPartlin (born 18 November 1975) and Declan Donnelly (born 25 September 1975), from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Formed after their meeting as chil ...

, who hosted the first series. From 2008 until 2009, Kay presented two series of ''

'', a programme for

. The first series averaged 4.05 million viewers and the second averaged 3.46 million. On 17 April 2010, Kay began co-presenting a game show for

called '' The Whole 19 Yards'' with

Caroline Flack Caroline Louise Flack (9 November 1979 – 15 February 2020) was an English television and radio presenter and actress. She won the twelfth series of BBC’s ''Strictly Come Dancing'' in 2014 and presented ''The X Factor'' and later '' Love Isl ...

which lasted for eight episodes and was made at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...

. The series averaged 4.1 million viewers. In 2010, Kay was the co-host of ''

Skating with the Stars ''Skating with the Stars'' is an American reality competition series that aired on ABC from November 22 to December 21, 2010. A spin-off of '' Dancing with the Stars'' hosted by British television personality Vernon Kay, it featured celebrities ...

'', a six-part series which was broadcast in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 2011, Kay was originally going to present

game show ''

Sing If You Can ''Sing If You Can'' is a British game show broadcast on ITV. It features celebrities attempting to sing in front of a live studio audience whilst various attempts are made to disrupt their performances. It is presented by Keith Lemon and Stacey ...

'' with

Stacey Solomon Stacey Chanelle Clare Solomon-Swash (born 4 October 1989) is an English singer and television personality. She finished in third place on the sixth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2009, and won the tenth series of '' I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Ou ...

but, after filming the pilot episode, he felt that it would be better hosted by a comedian and was replaced by

Keith Lemon Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

. In December 2011, Kay presented the Christmas

show ''Home For the Holidays''. In the summer of 2012, Kay presented

three episode mini-series ''

Let's Get Gold ''Let's Get Gold'' was a British sports entertainment television series. It aired on ITV; consisting of three episodes, and was hosted by Vernon Kay. It was announced on 11 June 2012, that Rio Ferdinand, Freddie Flintoff, Una Healy and Martine ...

'', however the show received poor viewing figures and was axed. In 2013 and 2014, Kay,

Gabby Logan Gabrielle Nicole Logan (''née'' Yorath; born 24 April 1973) is a Welsh presenter and a former international rhythmic gymnast who represented Wales and Great Britain. She hosted ''Final Score'' for BBC Sport from 2009 until 2013. She has also p ...

and

Tom Daley Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

co-presented the

diving show '' Splash!'' The programme was axed after two series. In 2013, after

regained the NFL rights from the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Early life

Career

Modelling

Television

Radio

Film

Personal life

Filmography

References

External links