Vanessa Jane Feltz (born 21 February 1962) is an English television presenter, broadcaster, and journalist. She has presented the chat shows Vanessa (1994–1998, 2025–present), The Vanessa Show (1999, 2011) and Vanessa's Real Lives (2006), as well as fronting segments on programmes including The Big Breakfast (1996–1998), The Wright Stuff (2003–2005) and This Morning (2006–2025).
Feltz presented an early morning radio show on BBC Radio 2 from 2011 to 2022 and also hosted the Breakfast Show on BBC Radio London. Between 2022 and 2024, she presented a weekday drivetime show on Talkradio and TalkTV. In 2024, Feltz joined LBC to present her own show. She also appeared as a housemate on the first series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2001 and Ultimate Big Brother in 2010, as well as appearing as a contestant on the eleventh series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2013.
Early life
Feltz was born on 21 February 1962 in a hospital on the Holloway Road in London, England to Valerie Joy (née Ohrenstein; 1938–1995) and Norman Harold Feltz (1936–2019), who worked in the lingerie business. Feltz was raised in Pine Grove in Totteridge. She has a younger sister, Julia, three years her junior. Feltz was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, an independent school in Elstree, Hertfordshire. She then read English at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree.
Career
1980–1999: Early career and talk shows
Feltz was the first female columnist for The Jewish Chronicle and later joined the Daily Mirror. She wrote her first book at this time entitled What Are These Strawberries Doing on My Nipples? I Need Them for the Fruit Salad. She also served as a magistrate from the age of 28, but was asked to stand down when she became recognisable by the defendants from her TV appearances. Feltz came to prominence whilst presenting the ITV daytime television chat show, Vanessa, made by Anglia Television between 1994 to 1998. The programme saw Feltz being joined by a series of guests, and would attempt to resolve their issues, often with the commentary of a studio audience. In August 1998, it was reported that Feltz had been sacked by Anglia due to her demands to have her wages doubled to £2.75 million. Feltz also wanted the show's production base moved from Ipswich to London and to front more prime-time shows. The programme aired its final episode in September 1998, with ITV replacing her show with Trisha.
From 1995 to 2001, Feltz presented the BBC consumer affairs programme Value for Money. In 1996, Feltz replaced Paula Yates on Channel 4's morning TV show The Big Breakfast, presenting a regular item where she interviewed celebrities whilst lying on a bed. Feltz assumed this role until 1998, and alleged that during her time on the show she was sexually assaulted by Rolf Harris while interviewing him on the programme. In 1997, Feltz was tricked by the spoof TV show Brass Eye.
In 1999, Feltz moved to the BBC to host a similar show, The Vanessa Show, which began in 1999, as part of a reported £2.7 million deal. The show received negative publicity after it was reported that several guests who appeared on the programme had been recruited from an acting agency, with the show being cancelled soon afterwards.
2000–2010: Radio and television appearances
In 2001, Feltz appeared as a housemate on the first series of Celebrity Big Brother for Comic Relief. During her time in the house, she refused to return a piece of a chalk used for a task to Big Brother, and began writing various synonyms meaning incarceration on the dining table. She became the second housemate to be evicted on Day 4. The same year, Feltz joined the local radio station BBC London 94.9 to present a mid-afternoon phone-in show and it continued to run since then at various times, from 2005 to 2015 at 09.00 to noon. From 2016 it was broadcast from 07.00 to 10.00 Monday to Friday. She hosted her last show for the station on 26 August 2022.
In 2002, she made a cameo appearance in the comedy film Once Upon a Time in the Midlands. In May 2003, she was voted 93rd on the list of worst Britons in Channel 4's poll of the 100 Worst Britons.
In 2004, she made a guest appearance in a Marjorie Dawes sketch in Little Britain. The same year, she appeared on the ITV series Celebrity Fit Club, and was team captain of her group, which ultimately won. In 2006, Feltz made a comeback to ITV as the host of a new daytime talk show. Vanessa's Real Lives was produced by Endemol's Brighter Pictures and ran for only one series.
Feltz returned to the Big Brother house in September 2010 as a housemate on Ultimate Big Brother, the last series to be broadcast on Channel 4. She entered the house as a late entrant on Day 11, and was evicted from the house five days later on 8 September, two days before the final.
2011–present: Talk show reboots and other work
thumb|250px|Feltz speaking at the [[Stonewall Awards where she received the award for Journalist of the Year in November 2011]]
Feltz took on a greater workload of radio and TV presenting in 2011. In January of that year, she began hosting the BBC Radio 2 Early Breakfast Show and a rebooted version of her programme The Vanessa Show on Channel 5. In March 2011, Channel 5 moved the topical daytime show to an afternoon slot at 14:15 following disappointing ratings for the morning slot. The move allowed Feltz to appear in live editions of her TV show after her morning radio commitments. The show featured a mix of celebrity interviews, news items and debate around a range of issues. Ratings eventually improved and a second series of the show was planned to commence in September 2011 but it never went ahead. The Guardians "Media Monkey" blog dubbed Feltz "officially the hardest working woman in broadcasting" due to her weekday broadcasting commitments.
Feltz hosted the Early Breakfast Show for the next decade, initially broadcasting from 05:00 until 06:30 each weekday in the slot formerly occupied by Sarah Kennedy. Writing of her Radio 2 debut, The Daily Telegraph radio critic, Gillian Reynolds described Feltz's voice as "like lemon tea with honey". From January 2021, her show was extended by an hour and began at the earlier time of 04:00. She often covered Jeremy Vine's news and current affairs show on Radio 2 when Vine was away. She was succeeded by weatherman Owain Wyn Evans permanently in February 2023.
Between September and October 2013, Feltz appeared as a contestant eleventh series of Strictly Come Dancing. She was partnered with James Jordan, and they became the second couple to be eliminated, after losing a dance-off to Julien Macdonald and Janette Manrara in the third week of the competition. In September 2013, she re-entered the Celebrity Big Brother house to take part in a task for the twelfth series. She left the house the same day. She also returned again in January 2016 and January 2017 respectively, for tasks in the seventeenth and nineteenth series, the former of which she held a press conference for the housemates, and latter of which she assumed the role of a court judge.
In July 2019, the BBC Annual Report recorded that Feltz was one of three women, along with Claudia Winkleman and Zoe Ball, amongst the ten highest paid BBC presenters, with a salary of £355,000.
In January 2024, it was reported that over 2,000 complaints had been made to Ofcom regarding Feltz's comments on coeliac disease during an episode of This Morning. After a caller said their mother-in-law did not allow them to serve anything but gluten-free food at Christmas dinner, Feltz responded "So she's treating coeliac disease as if it's a potentially fatal peanut allergy and they can't have anything with gluten in the house, which is completely unreasonable." In November of the same year, it was announced that Feltz would also present on Sundays from 3pm to 6pm on the same station.
In 2023, Feltz appeared on E4 reality series Celebs Go Dating, following her split from her partner of 17 years. In May 2024, she appeared on Late Night Lycett as a wrestling commentator for a Kamikaze Pro wrestling event. At the end of the show, she wrestled Man Like Dereiss, pinning him to win her debut match. In March 2025, Feltz began hosting a rebooted version of Vanessa on Channel 5, as a daytime talk show spin-off of Jeremy Vine, and was advertised as an alternative to ITV daytime talk show Loose Women.
Personal life
Feltz married surgeon Michael Kurer in March 1985; they divorced in 2000. Feltz has two daughters from her marriage to Kurer, and four grandchildren. Her elder daughter is Allegra Benitah, a former tax lawyer who worked as a television baker and chef. Her younger daughter is Saskia Joss, a child therapist with whom she co-hosts a podcast Help! My Child's Anxious and who regularly appears on her talk show.
In December 2006, Feltz became engaged to singer Ben Ofoedu at the Clarence Hotel in Dublin. They originally planned to marry the following year In February 2023, Feltz announced that she and Ofoedu had split after 17 years.
Feltz lives in St John's Wood, London, in a house which was previously owned by Charles Saatchi, and which was featured in Sir John Betjeman's documentary MetroLand (1973). In 2017, she bought a holiday home in Ballycotton in east Cork.
Throughout her career, Feltz has been the subject of tabloid scrutiny for her weight, and was referred to as the "woman who ate her audience" by the media. She underwent a gastric band operation in 2010, before having it removed in 2019 after it became embedded in her liver. The same year, she underwent gastric bypass surgery and lost a significant amount of weight.
Filmography
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+As herself
! Year
! Title
! Notes
!
|-
| 1994–1998, 2025–present
| Vanessa
| Presenter
| align="center"|
|-
| 1995–2001
| Value for Money
| Presenter
| align="center"|
|-
| 1996–1998
| The Big Breakfast
| Presenter
| align="center"|
|-
| 1999, 2011
| The Vanessa Show
| Presenter
| align="center"|
|-
| 2001
| Celebrity Big Brother
| Housemate; series 1
| align="center"|
|-
| 2003–2005
| The Wright Stuff
| Panellist; contributor
| align="center"|
|-
| 2004
| Celebrity Fit Club
| Participant
| align="center"|
|-
| 2006
| Vanessa's Real Lives
| Presenter
| align="center"|
|-
| 2006–2025
| This Morning
| Contributor; presenter; agony aunt
| align="center"|
|-
| 2010
| Ultimate Big Brother
| Housemate
| align="center"|
|-
| 2013
| Strictly Come Dancing
| Contestant; series 11
| align="center"|
|-
| 2023
| Celebs Go Dating
| Cast member
| align="center"|
|}
Radio
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Slot
! Station
!
|-
| 2001–2022
| Vanessa Feltz
| Presenter
| 09:00–12:00 <small>(2005–2015)</small><br>07:00–10:00 <small>(2016–2022)</small>
| BBC Radio 94.9
| align="center"|
|-
| 2011–2022
| Early Breakfast Show
| Presenter
| 05:00–06:30 <small>(2011–2021)</small><br>04:00–6:30 <small>(2021–2022)</small>
| BBC Radio 2
| align="center"|
|-
| 2022–2024
| Weekday Drivetime
| Presenter
| 16:00–19:00 weekdays
| Talkradio / TalkTV
| align="center"|
|-
| 2024–present
| Vanessa Feltz
| Presenter
| 15:00–18:00 Saturdays
| LBC
| align="center"|
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Ceremony
! Award
! Work
! Result
!
|-
| 1995
| 1st National Television Awards
| Most Popular Talk Show
| Vanessa
|
| style="text-align:center;" |
|-
| 2009
| Radio Academy Awards
| Speech Radio Personality of the Year
| BBC Radio 94.9
|
| align="center"|
|-
| 2011
| Stonewall Awards
| Journalist of the Year
|
|
| align="center"|
|-
| rowspan="3"|2025
| National Reality Television Awards
| Best Talk Show
| Vanessa
|
| align="center"|
|-
| Variety Legends of Industry Awards
| Legend of Broadcasting
|
|
| align="center"|
|-
| MBCC Awards
| Honorary Inspirational Women's Champion
|
|
| align="center"|
|}
References
External links
- Vanessa Feltz on LBC (LBC)
- P's and Q's (BBC Radio 4)