Darren McMullen (born 10 February 1982) is a Scottish-Australian television and radio presenter and personality, music journalist and music critic. He was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland, and immigrated with his family to Australia at the age of 12. He is best known as the co-host of ''

The Voice Australia ''The Voice'' is an Australian singing competition television series. It premiered on the Nine Network on 14 April 2012, before moving to the Seven Network in 2021. Based on the original ''The Voice of Holland'', and part of ''The Voice '' ...

''. Prior to his career as a presenter, he was a student at

Bradfield College Bradfield College, formally St Andrew's College, Bradfield, is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils aged 11–18, located in the small village of Bradfield in the English county of Berkshire. It is note ...

and then an advertising executive. In August 2019, McMullen performed as the 'Prawn' in the first season of ''

The Masked Singer Australia ''The Masked Singer Australia'' is an Australian reality television Reality competition, singing competition show hosted that premiered on Network Ten, Network 10 on 23 September 2019. Hosted by Osher Günsberg, the show is based on the intern ...

''.

Career

McMullen's career as a host and presenter began as a presenter with

Arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

's Exclusive news on

Foxtel Foxtel is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was establi ...

and with appearances in major advertising campaigns for Westfield and

Gloria Jean's Gloria Jean's Gourmet Coffee Pty Ltd is an American-Australian retail coffeehouse brand headquartered in Castle Hill, Sydney. The chain is owned by the multinational fast casual restaurant conglomerate Retail Food Group and has more than 1,40 ...

. Darren appeared weekly on

MTV Australia MTV is a 24-hour general entertainment channel specialising in music and youth culture programming which serves Australia and New Zealand. It is operated by parent company Paramount Networks UK & Australia headquartered in London with a local of ...

's ''The Lair'' in 2007 and 2008. In addition to hosting on ''The Lair'', McMullen also hosted a monthly car DVD called ''Ignition''. In 2009, he hosted ''

Commercial Breakdown ''Commercial Breakdown'' is a light entertainment show that shows humorous television advertisements from around the world and ran from 29 December 1989 to 3 August 2008 and aired on BBC One. British adverts were initially not allowed because ...

'' on the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

. In 2010, McMullen signed with the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

as host of their new primetime game show ''

Minute to Win It ''Minute to Win It'' is an international game show franchise where contestants take part in a series of 60-second challenges that use objects that are commonly available around the house. The first version of ''Minute to Win It'' to air was t ...

''. On 29 June 2011, McMullen debuted as the host of the prime-time reality show ''

Love in the Wild ''Love in the Wild'' is a reality television series that debuted on June 29, 2011, on NBC. The show is created and produced by Endemol USA. The first season was hosted by Darren McMullen; season 2 premiered on June 5, 2012, with new host Jenny ...

'' on NBC in the US and CTV in Canada. McMullen also returned to his native United Kingdom to host the British version of ''Minute to Win It'' on

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...

(which was cancelled after one eight-episode season) and hosted Series 2 of '' The Magicians'' on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

. It was announced that McMullen would host ''

'' when it debuted in 2012. For the first and second seasons in 2012 and 2013, McMullen co-hosted the show with

Faustina Agolley Faustina "Fuzzy" Agolley (born 10 April 1984) is an Australian television presenter best known for her role as the host of long-running Australian music program ''Video Hits'' on Channel 10. She was also the host of late-night game and gadget ...

. He took over as a solo host in Season 3 in 2014 and then was joined by Nine Network personality

Sonia Kruger Sonia Melissa Kruger (born 28 August 1965) is an Australian television presenter and media personality, who has been a prominent figure in the media for over 20 years. Kruger is currently the host of '' Big Brother Australia'' and a presenter o ...

for Season 4 in 2015. McMullen announced via social media that he was leaving ''The Voice'' after four seasons. Sonia Kruger will stay as solo host. In 2014, McMullen hosted the six-episode series ''Darren McMullen's Outsiders'' on

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

, which focused on alternative lifestyles taking him on taboo adventures. In 2014, McMullen was cast as Alex Larden on the drama ''

House Husbands ''House Husbands'' is an Australian television comedy drama. The show debuted on the Nine Network on 2 September 2012. Set in Melbourne, ''House Husbands'' stars Firass Dirani, Gyton Grantley, Rhys Muldoon and Gary Sweet as four fathers who sta ...

''. On 13 March 2016, it was announced that McMullen had re-joined the

once again to host a new show, '' The Big Music Quiz''. In late 2019, McMullen appeared in the first season of ''

'' as the Prawn and he was fifth voted out of the show. In 2022, McMullen competed on the sixth season of ''

The Celebrity Apprentice Australia ''The Celebrity Apprentice Australia'' is an Australian reality television series which aired on the Nine Network. Based on NBC's ''The Apprentice'', it first aired on 24 October 2011 and originally featured Mark Bouris, the founder and chairm ...

''. He finished the series as the runner-up, raising over $500,000 for his chosen charity Feel the Magic. He is also set to host Australia's version of ''

The Real Love Boat ''The Real Love Boat'' is an American reality romance television series premiered on CBS, airing Wednesday nights beginning October 5, 2022, and is based on the original romantic comedy/drama television series ''The Love Boat'' that aired on ABC ...

'' on

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

Personal life

McMullen was in a relationship with

Crystal Reed Crystal Marie Reed (born February 6, 1985) is an American actress. She came to prominence for playing Allison Argent in the series '' Teen Wolf'' (2011–2014). She departed the series after the third season but made a guest appearance in the fi ...

from July 2013 to early 2019. McMullen had previously said that the two had planned on marriage and children, but he was not willing to get married until his country of Australia legalised same-sex marriage. It was legalised in December 2017.

References

External links

* *
Darren McMullen
bio at

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMullen, Darren 1982 births Living people Scottish television presenters Australian television presenters Scottish radio personalities Australian radio personalities Scottish music critics Australian music critics British music journalists Australian music journalists Scottish emigrants to Australia Naturalised citizens of Australia Scottish expatriates in Australia People from Sydney The Apprentice Australia candidates