Zoe Ball Biography
Zoe Ball is a radio and television presenter from the United Kingdom. She was the BBC’s first female host of both Radio 1 Breakfast and The Radio 2 Breakfast Show, and she co-hosted the children’s show Live & Kicking with Jamie Theakston from 1996 to 1999.
How old is Zoe Ball? – Age
She is 52 years old as of 23 November 2022. She was born Zoe Louise Ball in 1970 in Blackpool, United Kingdom.
Zoe Ball Family – Education
She is the daughter of Johnny Ball, a children’s television presenter, and Julia née Anderson. When Zoe was two, her parents divorced. Between 1975 and 1978, Ball attended Heston Junior School in the Hounslow district of London. Her family then relocated to Buckinghamshire’s Farnham Common. She attended Farnham Common First and Middle Schools before transferring to Holy Cross Convent School in Chalfont St Peter and Amersham College of Art and Technology. She also trained as an actress at the Young Theatre in Beaconsfield. Her first TV appearance was as a child in the studio audience of Saturday Superstore, a Saturday morning children’s show on which her father was a guest in the 1980s.
Does Zoe Ball have a Husband? – Children
While working at BBC Radio 1, Ball began dating DJ and musician Norman Cook (also known as Fatboy Slim). In August 1999, the couple married at Babington House in Somerset. The couple divorced in 2003 after Ball revealed she had an affair; they later reconciled. Woody Fred Cook, born in 2000, and Nelly, born in 2010, are the couple’s children. After 18 years together, the couple announced their separation on September 24, 2016, and later divorced. Michael Reed, Zoe’s long-term partner, is a fashion model and carpenter; she refers to him as Curly Sue on her radio show. In 2017, they met through a mutual friend.
Zoe Ball Net Worth
Ball has an estimated net worth of $5 Million.
Zoe Ball Height
Zoe stands at a height of 5 feet 10 inches(1.78m).
Zoe Ball Strictly Come Dancing
Ball appeared on the third series of the BBC One talent show Strictly Come Dancing in October 2005, partnered by Ian Waite. Ball and Waite finished third, scoring 38/40 (including two tens) for three dances in the series and one in the Christmas special.
In 2011, she took over as host of Strictly Come Dancing’s sister show It Takes Two, which airs every weeknight on BBC Two; in 2014, she co-hosted the main show while Winkleman was on leave after her daughter suffered serious burn injuries. Ball announced her departure as a presenter after ten years on May 17, 2021.
Zoe Ball BBC Radio
Although Ball is most well-known for her work on television, she started her career in radio when she and Kevin Greening became co-hosts of Radio 1 Breakfast on BBC Radio 1 in October 1997. She was the first female DJ to become the sole host. Her hard-drinking, hard-partying lifestyle at this time helped define the late-1990s phenomenon known as “ladette culture.” The BBC issued her with two warnings for using profanity on the radio.
In March 2000, Ball left BBC Radio 1 to start a family and a new chapter. Her last performance was on March 10, 2000; Sara Cox was named in her place. Ball joined London radio station Xfm in the middle of 2002 and presented the weekday drivetime show there until December 2003. This marked her return to radio. She took over the station’s Friday evening music show in January 2004. She also played Ricky Gervais during the second season of The Office. At the end of 2004, she left Xfm.
She returned to BBC Radio in September 2007 and co-hosted a show with Sara Cox to celebrate the 40th anniversary of BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2.
She fronted specialist documentaries beginning in 2006, sat in for Dermot O’Leary for three weeks in February 2006, and co-presented the hastily conceived replacement for Jonathan Ross’ Saturday morning show with Danny Baker following Ross’ suspension in 2008 due to Sachsgate.
In 2009, Ball became the regular substitute for Ken Bruce on BBC Radio 2’s weekday morning show. She also began hosting the network’s Saturday breakfast show on June 6, 2009, from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. as part of a reorganization of Radio 2’s weekend programming. As her final show aired on January 28, 2012, Ball left Radio 2 for a while. Anneka Rice took her place in that role.
Ball performed multiple times as a cover artist for Chris Evans on The Radio 2 Breakfast Show. Ball took over Dermot O’Leary’s Saturday afternoon slot on BBC Radio 2 between 3 and 6 p.m. on March 4, 2017, and continued there permanently until December 22, 2018.
She was announced by Chris Evans on October 3, 2018, as the new host of The Radio 2 Breakfast Show, which debuted on January 14, 2019. On Saturday in the middle of the afternoon, Rylan Clark took Ball’s place.
Zoe Ball Career
Ball began her career in television as a runner for Granada Television and a researcher for the Cool Cube on BSkyB. After that, she spent two years researching quiz shows. She has hosted The Big Breakfast and The Priory on Channel 4, the Saturday morning children’s show Live & Kicking on BBC One, and the preschool show Playdays.
Up until her departure in 1996, Ball presented SMart alongside Jay Burridge and Mark Speight. For the first season of Fully Booked in 1995, Ball was the host. She was a regular presenter on Top of the Pops from 1996 to 1998, usually alternating with fellow presenters and DJs Jo Whiley and Jayne Middlemiss. She co-hosted the music and chat show The Priory on Wednesday nights from 1999 to 2001 with Jamie Theakston, which was commissioned by Chris Evans’s then-producer Ginger Productions.
Ball and Frank Skinner co-hosted the Brit Awards in 2002. After becoming a mother, she worked less on television. She co-hosted the 2005 reality show Strictly Dance Fever on the BBC. Together with Trevor McDonald, Ball co-hosted the ITV program Extinct in 2006.
She replaced Fern Britton and Ben Shephard as hosts of the first season of ITV’s Soapstar Superstar, which she presented in January 2007. She was the host of the ITV talent show Grease Is the Word in March 2007.
In 2009, Ball hosted the Channel 5 quiz show Britain’s Best Brain alongside Jamie Theakston. Ball has substituted for Alex Jones on several episodes of The One Show.
As the hostess of a special titled “Doctor Who Live,” on August 4, 2013, She made Peter Capaldi the new Twelfth Doctor on The Next Doctor and hosted his first interview there.
She co-hosted the BBC One Children in Need telethon with Tess Daly, Fearne Cotton, Nick Grimshaw, and Sir Terry Wogan in November 2013. Ball hosted a BBC Two spin-off of The Voice UK in 2014 titled The Voice: On Two, louder. The show ran for ten episodes in one series.
EastEnders: Ball hosted in 2015 During EastEnders live week, there is a spin-off show called Backstage Live. She and Darcey Bussell co-hosted the BBC Young Dancer competition on BBC Two.
She also narrated the BBC One series Don’t Tell the Bride and two ITV specials, The Nation’s Favourite ’70s Number One and The Nation’s Favourite ’80s Number One. Ball and Ashley Banjo co-hosted BBC One’s Saturday night game show Can’t Touch This in 2016. Additionally, she narrated The Country’s Favorite Carpenters Song.
She presented a Film 2016 episode as a guest host. Ball and Nadiya Hussain co-hosted BBC Two’s The Big Family Cooking Showdown in 2017. On Celebrity Gogglebox Series 2 and 3, Ball and her son Woody Fred Cook appeared together in 2020 and 2021. Ball donned a cloak as Llama for an appearance on The Masked Dancer in 2021. She was the sixth famous person to be revealed.
Zoe Ball TV Shows
♦ 1994–1996 – SMart
♦ 1995 – Fully Booked
♦ 1996–1998 – Top of the Pops
♦ 1996 – The Big Breakfast
♦ 1996–1999 – Live & Kicking
♦ 1999–2001 – The Priory
♦ 2002 – Brit Awards
♦ 2005 – Strictly Dance Fever
♦ 2005 – Strictly Come Dancing
♦ 2006 – Extinct – Co-presenter
♦ 2007 – Soapstar Superstar
♦ 2007 – Grease Is the Word
♦ 2009 – Britain’s Best Brain
♦ 2011–2020 – Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two
♦ 2012–2013, 2016–2017 – The One Show