Vanessa Feltz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The image above is a candidate for speedy deletion. It will be deleted on 2006-11-24.
It should be possible to replace this fair use image with a freely licensed one. If you can, please do so as soon as is practical.
Vanessa Feltz (born in Islington, February 21, 1962) is an English television and radio personality, who grew up in Totteridge, North London. She has described her middle-class Jewish background as like "growing up in Fiddler on the Roof". As a student she read English at Trinity College, Cambridge.
[edit] Career
After working as a journalist with The Jewish Chronicle which established her as a journalist, she presented the Jewish London show on BBC GLR (now renamed BBC London 94.9).
In the early 90s, Vanessa presented an eponymous ITV daytime television chat show in the UK. She then moved to the BBC to host a similar show in 1996, which was cancelled when it was revealed that some guests were actors from an agency. She also presented a show on Talk Radio UK.
She appeared on the British version of Celebrity Big Brother in 2001, but was the second person evicted by public vote after showing signs of apparent stress when she scrawled on the house table with chalk and screamed an obscenity at the voice of Big Brother.
In May 2003, she was voted the 93rd worst Briton in Channel 4's poll of the 100 Worst Britons, due to perceived media over-exposure and poor judgement when choosing television appearances.
She is also a regular contributor to The Wright Stuff.
She made an appearance in a sketch in the first episode of the second series of the BBC comedy sketch show Little Britain, playing a spokesperson for fictional slimming club Fat Fighters. In 2004, she appeared in the second series of the reality TV show, Celebrity Fit Club, in a bid to lose weight.
Since late 2005, she has been presenting a three-hour radio show on BBC London 94.9, from 9:00 to noon Monday to Saturday. The show is a phone-in on current topics, with occasional studio guests. Contrary to her perceived persona that led to her being mocked as the 93rd Worst Briton in 2003, Feltz's radio work has shown her to be articulate, intelligent, funny and self-deprecating.
She also writes a weekly column on her views on topical subjects which is published in the Tuesday Daily Express newspaper.
Feltz is an avid fan of the non-celebrity version of Big Brother. She has appeared on its Channel 4 spin-off shows Big Brother's Big Mouth on numerous occasions and has also recently appeared on an episode of Big Brother's Little Brother.
Vanessa made a guest appearance on the October 3 Russell Brand's Got Issues. She also appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks in November 2006, where she took offence at references to her failed chat show, and to pointed allusions to "real" lives, apparently relating to the fraudulent "guests" on her previous series.
Her new chat show Vanessa's Real Lives is currently airing on ITV1, Monday to Friday at 12.30.
[edit] Personal life
Feltz is known for her ample figure. She lost a great amount of weight in the late 1990s during the separation from her surgeon husband, Michael Kurer, whom she married in 1983. She lost six stones (84 lbs, 38 kg) and reduced from a dress size 24 to a size 12, but has since gained some of the weight back. With her ample figure and long blonde hair, Feltz jokes that she has been characterized by other media personalities as appearing similar to an "aging Italian porn star."
Since the break-up of her marriage, Feltz has had a relationship with the personal trainer who helped her to lose weight. She is currently dating singer Ben Ofoedu, a relationship she has described on radio as 'very happy'. She lives in suburban North London with her two daughters, Allegra and Saskia.
