Vernon Kay

Vernon Charles Kay (born 28 April 1974) is an English television and radio presenter, and former model. He presented Channel 4's ''T4'' (2000–2005) and has presented various television shows for ITV, including ''All Star Family Fortunes'' (2006–2015), ''Just the Two of Us'' (2006–2007), '' Beat the Star'' (2008–2009), '' The Whole 19 Yards'' (2010), '' Splash!'' (2013–2014), and '' 1000 Heartbeats'' (2015–2016).

Kay presented his own BBC Radio 1 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 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 and the eventual Queen of the Castle, Giovanna Fletcher.

Early life

Vernon Charles Kay was born on 28 April 1974 and was brought up in Bolton, Greater Manchester, 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) He attended St Joseph's RC High School in Horwich, near Bolton. He then graduated in environmental science at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University). He supports his hometown's football club Bolton Wanderers.

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 weekend morning show ''Fully Booked'' (called FBI, Fully Booked Interactive) in 2000, as well as ''TOTP+ Plus'' and ''TOTP@Play''. 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'' on ITV.

From 2006, Kay presented primetime game show ''All Star Family Fortunes''. In June 2015, it was announced that ITV was to rest the show until 2017, but it did not return. In 2007, he presented ''Vernon Kay's Gameshow Marathon'', after replacing Ant & Dec, who hosted the first series.

From 2008 until 2009, Kay presented two series of '' Beat the Star'', a programme for ITV. 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 ITV called '' The Whole 19 Yards'' with Caroline Flack which lasted for eight episodes and was made at Pinewood Studios. The series averaged 4.1 million viewers. In 2010, Kay was the co-host of '' Skating with the Stars'', a six-part series which was broadcast in the United States.

In 2011, Kay was originally going to present ITV game show ''Sing If You Can'' with Stacey Solomon but, after filming the pilot episode, he felt that it would be better hosted by a comedian and was replaced by Keith Lemon.

In December 2011, Kay presented the Christmas Channel 4 show ''Home For the Holidays''. In the summer of 2012, Kay presented ITV three episode mini-series ''Let's Get Gold'', however the show received poor viewing figures and was axed.

In 2013 and 2014, Kay, Gabby Logan and Tom Daley co-presented the ITV diving show '' Splash!'' The programme was axed after two series.

In 2013, after Channel 4 regained the NFL rights from the BBC
...