Vernon Kay

Vernon Kay
Vernon Kay in 2007
Born	Vernon Charles Kay (1974-04-28) 28 April 1974 Bolton, Greater Manchester, England
Residence	Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Manchester Metropolitan University
Occupation	Television presenter DJ Comedian
Years active	1999–present
Employer	ITV Channel 4
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Television	All Star Family Fortunes (2006—14) Beat the Star (2008-09) Splash! (2013-14) 1000 Heartbeats (2015)
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse(s)	Tess Daly (m. 2003)
Children	2[1]
Parent(s)	Norman and Gladys Kay
Website
officialvernonkay.com

Vernon Charles Kay (born 28 April 1974) is an English television presenter, radio DJ and former model best known for his television roles with ITV, presenting shows such as All Star Family Fortunes, Beat the Star and Splash!. He also presented his own BBC Radio 1 show between 2004 and 2012.

Kay's other television presenting roles have included The Whole 19 Yards on ITV in 2010, Home For the Holidays, a Christmas entertainment show for Channel 4 in 2011 and an ITV-mini series called Let's Get Gold in 2012. In 2015, he began hosting new ITV game show 1000 Heartbeats.

In 2003, Kay married television presenter Tess Daly who is best known for co-presenting Strictly Come Dancing.

Early life

Kay was born and brought up in Horwich, Greater Manchester, the elder son of Norman and Gladys; he has a younger brother, Stephen.^[2] He attended St Joseph's RC High School in Horwich, near Bolton,.^[3] He then graduated in environmental science at Manchester Metropolitan University.^[4] He supports his hometown's football club Bolton Wanderers.^[5] He used to be a regular visitor to Manchester nightclub the Haçienda.^[2]

Career

Since 2006, Kay has presented primetime game show All Star Family Fortunes.

Between 20 April 2008 and 31 May 2009, Kay presented two series of Beat the Star, a programme for ITV. For two episodes, Kay was a contestant rather than the presenter, while Phillip Schofield stood in for him.

On 17 April 2010, Kay began co-presenting a game show for ITV called The Whole 19 Yardswith Caroline Flack which lasted for eight episodes and was filmed at Pinewood Studios. The series averaged 4.1 million viewers.

In 2010, Kay was the co-host of Skating with the Stars, which was broadcast in the United States for six episodes.

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

On 22 October 2011, Kay hosted game show Million Dollar Mind Game.

In 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.

Since 5 January 2013, Kay, Gabby Logan and Tom Daley co-presented ITV diving show Splash!. The programme was axed in 2014 after two series.

In 2013, after Channel 4 regained the NFL rights from the BBC, Kay was announced as a presenter of The American Football Show, airing on Saturday mornings.^[6][7]

In 2014, Kay guest presented four episodes of The One Show.

In 2015, Kay presented daytime quiz show, 1000 Heartbeats for ITV. The first series began airing on 23 February in the 4pm timeslot.^[8]

Radio

In January 2004, Kay joined BBC Radio 1 and presented an entertainment show every Sunday. In April 2004, he was given the 10 am – 1 pm weekend slot, which was previously hosted by Colin Murray and Edith Bowman and previously broadcast on both Saturdays and Sundays on the popular radio network. From October 2007 Dick and Dom took over Sunday mornings; Kay's show then ran between 10 am to 1 pm on Saturday. In 2008, he was one of a team of DJ's who filled in for Edith Bowman while she was on maternity leave along with Fearne Cotton and Nihal.

On 11 February 2009, it was announced that Kay would fill in for Chris Moyles while he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief, an act he repeated on 13 July 2009 when Moyles took a day off. He also filled-in for Pete Tong's Essential Selection on Radio 1 on 10 April 2008. That same year, Kay filled in again for Chris Moyles from 10 August to 15 August when he was on holiday. From 30 November 2009 Kay, again, covered for Chris Moyles on breakfast for a whole week as Moyles, Aled Haydn Jones and Fearne Cotton were away in Uganda handing out malaria nets and seeing how the money raised from the Mount Kilimanjaro climb for Comic Relief was being spent.

On 9 November 2012, it was announced that Kay would leave BBC Radio 1 to spend more time with his family. He presented his final show in December and was replaced by Matt Edmondson.^[9]

Other work

Kay made a cameo appearance in the 2012 film Keith Lemon: The Film.

Personal life

On 12 September 2003, Kay married Tess Daly at St Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Horwich, in Bolton.^[10] They have two daughters the first^[11] born on 17 October 2004 in Westminster, London;^[12] the second born on 30 May 2009.

Kay received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bolton on 9 July 2009, for services to entertainment.^[13]

Kay is a passionate supporter of Bolton Wanderers F.C.. He is also a fan of American football, joining the Manchester Allstars at the age of 13 and reuniting the team in 2011 for a one-off match against the Birmingham Lions^[14] In 2011, he signed for the London Warriors, for whom he plays in the BAFANL Premier South division as a defensive back.^[15][16]

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Channel	Role	Notes
1999	Fully Booked	BBC One	Co-Presenter
2000–2005	T4	Channel 4	Co-Presenter
2003	Boys and Girls		Co-Presenter
2004	HeadJam	BBC Three	Presenter
2005	Hit Me, Baby, One More Time	ITV	Presenter
2006—	All Star Family Fortunes		Presenter
2006, 2007, 2013	The Paul O'Grady Show	Channel 4 and ITV	Guest Presenter
2007	Vernon Kay's Gameshow Marathon	ITV	Presenter
2008–2009	Beat the Star		Presenter
2010	The Whole 19 Yards		Co-Presenter
	Skating with the Stars	ABC	Co-Presenter	[17]
2011	Home For the Holidays	Channel 4	Presenter
2012	Let's Get Gold	ITV	Presenter	[18]
2013–2014	Splash!		Co-Presenter	[19][20]
2013	The American Football Show	Channel 4	Presenter	[21]
2014	The One Show	BBC One	Guest co-presenter
2015	1000 Heartbeats	ITV	Presenter

Guest appearances

• Bo' Selecta! (20 June 11 July 2003) – Guest
• Davina (15 February 2006) – Guest
• James Corden's World Cup Live (19 June 2010) – Guest
• This Morning (30 September 2010, 16 December 2011, 21 June 2012, 1 February 2013) – Guest
• Celebrity Juice (14 April 2011, 14 March 2013, 16 April 2015) - Guest
• Chris Moyles' Quiz Night (22 July 2011) – Panellist
• 8 Out of 10 Cats (21 October 2011, 18 May, 19 November 2012, 8 March 2013) – Guest
• Alan Carr: Chatty Man (4 December 2011) – Guest
• Would I Lie to You? (3 May 2013) – Guest
• That Puppet Game Show (7 September 2013) – Contestant, with Mel Giedroyc
• Room 101 (14 February 2014) – Guest
• Through the Keyhole (4 October 2014)^[22] - Panellist
• Celebrity Squares (8 October 2014)^[23] - Guest

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	Keith Lemon: The Film	Himself
2014	Hercules	Feasting hall guest (uncredited)

References

External links

• Official Website
• Official Twitter page
• Official Facebook page
• Official Google+ page
• Vernon Kay at the Internet Movie Database

Splash! Series 1 2 Presenters Gabby Logan Vernon Kay Judges Andy Banks Jo Brand Leon Taylor Mentors Tom Daley Winners Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards Perri Kiely Contestants Series 1 Jake Canuso Linda Barker Omid Djalili Charlotte Jackson Anthony Ogogo Tina Malone Dom Joly Donna Air Joey Essex Caprice Diarmuid Gavin Jenni Falconer Helen Lederer Jade Ewen Series 2 Richard Whitehead Keith Duffy Dan Osborne Anna Williamson Austin Healey Michaela Strachan Danielle Lloyd Una Healy Jenny Eclair Pollyanna Woodward Penny Mordaunt Paul Young Patrick Monahan Toyah Willcox Paul Ross Martin Offiah Gemma Collins Ricky Groves Gemma Merna

Preceded by Andy Collins

Host of Family Fortunes 2006–

Incumbent