Vernon Kay

Vernon Kay first came to prominence in 1998, when he co-hosted teen-targeted entertainment show 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 Top of the Pops Plus and Top of the Pops @ Play. In 2003 he co-hosted the Channel 4 gameshow Boys and Girls, which was cancelled after one series. In 2004, 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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]

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.[10]

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.[11][12]

Since 2014, Kay has guest presented five episodes of The One Show. In 2015, Vernon began presenting daytime quiz show, 1000 Heartbeats for ITV. The show returned for a second run in November 2015.[13] In 2016, Kay presented Drive, a five-part entertainment show for ITV.[14] He made regular appearances in the second series of The Keith Lemon Sketch Show on ITV2.

In July 2017, Kay co-presented The Hero Challenge with Kirsty Gallacher on Sky Sports.

Kay hosted the non-broadcast pilot for a revival of Play Your Cards Right, a game show formerly hosted by Bruce Forsyth, but was not commissioned for a series. In September 2015, he hosted a pilot for a new ITV game show Home Win, made at Fountain Studios in Wembley.[15]

In November 2017, it was announced that Kay would host Channel 5's coverage of the 2017–18 Formula E motor racing season.[16] He co-presents the FIA's coverage of the 2018–19 season.

In November 2020, it was announced that Kay would be taking part in the twentieth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here.[17] Kay reached the final and finished in third place on 4 December 2020.[18]

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 on 22 December and was replaced by Matt Edmondson.[19]

After three years since his departure from Radio 1, Kay returned to radio on the newly launched Radio X network. In September 2015, Kay began presenting the weekday morning show from 10 am to 1 pm.[20] He left the station on Friday 17 March 2017.

Kay will return to the BBC after 9 years, for BBC Radio 2 to cover for Rylan Clark-Neal on his show "Rylan On Saturday" on 6 and 13 February 2021.

In 2004, Kay made a cameo appearance in Shaun of the Dead. Kay also made a cameo appearance in the 2012 film Keith Lemon: The Film and made a guest appearance in the 2014 film Hercules as a feasting hall guest. He was uncredited for this role.