RADIO JOURNALIST
Vanessa Feltz
Since Winning the EMMA Award
Vanessa Feltz is a British radio personality, broadcaster, and journalist who returned to the Big Brother house on 3rd September, 2010, for Ultimate Big Brother, the last Big Brother series broadcast on Channel 4. In 2011, Vanessa took over the BBC Radio 2 Early Breakfast Show on 17th January from 5 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. each weekday. From January 2021, Vanessa’s show began at 4 a.m. and often covered Jeremy Vine’s news and current affairs show on Radio 2 when Vine was away. During those times, another presenter covered her early breakfast show. Vanessa announced on 28 July 2022 that she would leave her show and Radio 2 after two weeks of covering for Jeremy Vine on 26 August that same year.
From September 2022 to April 2024, Vanessa presented the weekday drivetime show on Talkradio and TalkTV. As of 2025, Vanessa currently presents the 3pm–6pm show on Saturday and Sunday afternoons on the radio station LBC, as well as her weekday daytime show Vanessa on Channel 5. Vanessa has also presented and taken part in multiple British TV shows, including Strictly Come Dancing, Celebs Go Dating, The Weakest Link, Cosmetic Surgery Live, and Value for Money, and she is a columnist at the Daily Express. The Guardian’s “Media Monkey” blog dubbed Vanessa Feltz “officially the hardest working woman in broadcasting” due to her weekday broadcasting commitments and long-standing career.
Background (Before 2004)
Vanessa Feltz was born in Islington, London, and she grew up in a Jewish family. Her father was in the lingerie business, while her mother had previously studied history at the London School of Economics. Vanessa was educated at Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls, in Elstree, Hertfordshire, and then read English at Trinity College, Cambridge, before graduating with a first-class degree. Vanessa was the first female columnist for The Jewish Chronicle and went on to join the Daily Mirror. During this time, she wrote her first book, “What Are These Strawberries Doing on My Nipples? I Need Them for the Fruit Salad.” Feltz replaced Paula Yates on Channel 4’s morning TV show The Big Breakfast from 1996 to 1998, presenting a regular segment where she interviewed celebrities while lying on a bed.
At 28 years old, Vanessa served as a magistrate but was asked to stand down when she became recognisable by the defendants due to her TV appearances. Vanessa went on to present the ITV daytime television chat show, Vanessa, which was one of the first shows in Britain to focus on the private lives of the public. In 1998, Vanessa moved to the BBC to host a similar show, The Vanessa Show, which ran from January to July 1999. In 2001, Vanessa joined the radio station BBC London 94.9 to present a mid-afternoon phone-in show. From 2005 to 2015, it was broadcast from 9am-12pm, and from 2016, it was broadcast from 7am-10am on weekdays. Vanessa also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2001 and became infamous for her breakdown in the house as well as a friendly confrontation with Chris Eubank, the former of which paved the way for similar moments on reality TV.
