Vanessa Jane Feltz (born 21 February 1962) is an English television presenter, broadcaster, and journalist. She has hosted numerous versions of her own chat shows and appeared on various television shows, includingVanessa (1994–1998, 2025),The Big Breakfast (1996–1998),The Vanessa Show (1999, 2011),Celebrity Big Brother (2001),The Wright Stuff (2003–2005),This Morning (2006–2025), andStrictly Come Dancing (2013).

Vanessa Feltz
Feltz in 2019
Born	Vanessa Jane Feltz (1962-02-21)21 February 1962 (age 63) London, England
Education	Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge (BA)
Occupations	Television presenter broadcaster journalist
Years active	1992–present
Employer(s)	BBC Radio (1989–2022) News UK (2022–2024) Global (2024–present) 5 (2025–present)
Television	The Big Breakfast Vanessa The Vanessa Show This Morning
Spouse	Michael Kurer ​ ​ (m. 1983;div. 2000)​ [1]
Partner(s)	Ben Ofoedu (2006–2023)
Children	2

Feltz presented an early morning radio show onBBC Radio 2 from 2011 to 2022 and also hosted theBreakfast Show onBBC Radio London. As of December 2024 Feltz works forLBC.^[2]

Vanessa Feltz was born in a hospital on theHolloway Road, and grew up in Pine Grove,Totteridge.^[3] She has a sister, Julia, who is 3 years her junior. During her broadcasting career, she frequently refers to Totteridge as "theBeverly Hills of North London" and her middle classJewish background as like "growing up inFiddler on the Roof". Her father, Norman, was in thelingerie business.^[1]

Feltz was educated atHaberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, an independent school inElstree,Hertfordshire. She then read English atTrinity College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree.^[4][5]

Feltz was the first female columnist forThe Jewish Chronicle and later joined theDaily Mirror. She wrote her first book at this time entitledWhat Are These Strawberries Doing on My Nipples? I Need Them for the Fruit Salad.^[6]

Feltz replacedPaula Yates onChannel 4's morning TV showThe Big Breakfast, presenting a regular item where she interviewed celebrities whilst lying on a bed. She has alleged that she was sexually assaulted byRolf Harris while interviewing him on the programme.^[7] In 1997, Feltz was tricked by the spoof TV showBrass Eye. 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.^[8]

She presented theITV daytime television chat show,Vanessa, made byAnglia Television. She moved to theBBC to host a similar show,The Vanessa Show, in 1998 in a reported £2.7 million deal.^[9] ITV replaced her show withTrisha.

In 1999,The Vanessa Show suffered from bad publicity as some guests were alleged to have been actors. Despite her having had no involvement in the booking of guests, Feltz was seen to be at fault, and the show was cancelled soon after.^[10]

In 2001, Feltz joined the local radio stationBBC 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.^[11]

In 2002, she made a cameo appearance in the comedy filmOnce Upon a Time in the Midlands. In May 2003, she was voted 93rd on the list of worst Britons inChannel 4's poll of the100 Worst Britons.^[1]

Feltz's other game show appearances include an episode ofRussian Roulette, hosted byRhona Cameron.^[12]

Feltz returned to the Big Brother house on 3 September 2010 duringUltimate Big Brother, the last series to be broadcast onChannel 4.^[13] She was evicted from the house on 8 September, two days before the final.

Feltz took on a greater workload of radio and TV presenting in 2011. She took over theBBC Radio 2Early Breakfast Show on 17 January 2011 broadcasting from 05:00 until 06:30 each weekday in the slot formerly occupied bySarah Kennedy. Writing of her Radio 2 debut,The Daily Telegraph radio critic,Gillian Reynolds described Feltz's voice as "like lemon tea with honey".^[14] From January 2021, her show was extended by an hour and began at the earlier time of 04:00. She often coveredJeremy Vine's news and current affairs show on Radio 2 when Vine was away.^[6] During this time her early breakfast show was covered by another presenter, usuallyNicki Chapman. Feltz announced on 28 July 2022 that she would leave the show the following day, and Radio 2 after 2 weeks of covering forJeremy Vine on 26 August.^[15]

In January 2011, she started hostingThe Vanessa Show on Channel 5. On 7 March 2011, Channel 5 moved the tropical 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.^[16] 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 Guardian's "Media Monkey" blog dubbed Feltz "officially the hardest working woman in broadcasting" due to her weekday broadcasting commitments.^[17]

On 7 September 2013, she re-entered theCelebrity Big Brother house to take part in a task. She left the house the same day.^[18]

In July 2019, the BBC Annual Report recorded that Feltz was one of three women, along withClaudia Winkleman andZoe Ball, amongst the ten highest paid BBC presenters, with a salary of £355,000.^[19]

In January 2024, it was reported that over 2,000 complaints had been made toOfcom regarding Feltz's comments oncoeliac disease during an episode ofThis Morning.^[20] After a caller said their mother-in-law did not allow them to serve anything butgluten-free food at Christmas dinner, Feltz responded "So she's treating coeliac disease as if it's a potentially fatalpeanut allergy and they can't have anything with gluten in the house, which is completely unreasonable."^[20] She later apologised for the comments.^[20]

From September 2022 to April 2024, she presented the weekday drivetime show onTalkradio andTalkTV.^[2] On 1 May 2024, it was announced Feltz had signed to present a 3pm–6pm show on Saturdays onLBC.^[2] In November of the same year, it was announced that Feltz would also present on Sundays from 3pm to 6pm on the same station.^[21]

In May 2024, she appeared onLate 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.^[22]Vanessa returned toChannel 5 in 2025 as a daytime talk show being advertised as an alternative to ITV daytime talk showLoose Women.^[23][24]

Feltz married surgeon^[25] Michael Kurer in 1983; they divorced in 2000.

In December 2006, Feltz became engaged to singerBen Ofoedu.^[26] They originally planned to marry the following year^[26] but they remained engaged for many years without marrying.^[27] Feltz announced in February 2023 that she and Ofoedu had recently separated.^[28][29]

She has two daughters from her marriage, and four grandchildren.^[30] Her elder daughter is Allegra Benitah, a former tax lawyer who is now a television baker and chef.^[31][32]

She lives inSt John's Wood, London, in a house which was previously owned byCharles Saatchi, and which was featured inSir John Betjeman's documentaryMetro‑Land (1973).^[33] In 2017, she bought a holiday home inBallycotton in east Cork.^[34]

• Vanessa Feltz atIMDb
• Vanessa Feltz on LBC (LBC)
• P's and Q's (BBC Radio 4)
• Vanessa at5
• Vanessa at theBritish Film Institute'sScreenonline