Zoe Ball facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Zoe Ball
Ball in 2014
Born	Zoe Louise Ball (1970-11-23) 23 November 1970 (age 54) Blackpool, Lancashire, England
Occupation	Presenter, broadcaster
Years active	1993–present
Employer	BBC
Spouse(s)	Fatboy Slim ​ ​ (m. 1999; Sep 2016)​
Children	2
Parent(s)	Johnny Ball (father)

Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a well-known British presenter and broadcaster. She made history as the first female host of the breakfast shows on both BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2. In 2024, she was one of the highest-paid presenters at the BBC.

In 2018, Zoe Ball was announced as the new host of The Radio 2 Breakfast Show. She took over from Chris Evans in January 2019. She then stepped down from the show in December 2024.

Zoe also presented the popular children's show Live & Kicking with Jamie Theakston from 1996 to 1999. In 2005, she was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing. Later, in 2011, she became the host of the spin-off show Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two on BBC Two, a role she held until 2021. She also hosted the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour in 2011 and 2015.

Early life and education

Zoe Louise Ball was born on 23 November 1970 in Blackpool, Lancashire. Her father is Johnny Ball, a famous children's TV presenter. Her mother is Julia Anderson. Zoe's parents divorced when she was two years old. She was raised by her father.

Zoe attended Heston Junior School from 1975 to 1978. Her family then moved to Farnham Common in Buckinghamshire. She went to Farnham Common First School and Middle School. Later, she studied at Holy Cross Convent School and Amersham College of Art and Technology. There, she earned a qualification in radio and journalism.

Zoe also trained as an actress at the Young Theatre in Beaconsfield. Her very first TV appearance was as a child in the audience of Saturday Superstore. Her father was a guest on that show.

Career highlights

Television work

Zoe Ball started her TV career presenting Playdays, a show for young children.

She then worked behind the scenes at Granada Television. She was a runner and researcher for Cool Cube, a children's Saturday afternoon show. This show was broadcast on the British Satellite Broadcasting channel Galaxy.

From 1994 to 1996, Zoe presented SMart with Mark Speight and Jay Burridge. In 1995, she hosted the first series of Fully Booked. She was also a regular presenter on Top of the Pops in 1997 and 1998. She often presented with other DJs like Jayne Middlemiss and Jo Whiley.

In 1996, Zoe co-hosted Live & Kicking on BBC One with Jamie Theakston. In 1998, Chris Evans was a guest on the show. He later hired Zoe and Jamie to co-host The Priory. This was a chat and music show on Channel 4.

Zoe has also hosted The Big Breakfast on Channel 4.

She co-hosted the 2002 Brit Awards with Frank Skinner. In 2005, she co-hosted the BBC reality show Strictly Dance Fever. In 2006, Zoe co-hosted Extinct on ITV with Trevor McDonald.

In January 2007, Zoe presented the second series of ITV's Soapstar Superstar. She took over from the previous hosts. In March 2007, she hosted the ITV talent search Grease Is the Word.

Alongside Jamie Theakston, Zoe presented Britain's Best Brain on Channel 5 in 2009. Zoe has also been a guest presenter for several episodes of The One Show. She filled in for Alex Jones.

On 4 August 2013, Zoe hosted a special show called Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor. On this show, she announced Peter Capaldi as the new Twelfth Doctor. She also hosted his first interview in this role.

In November 2013, Zoe co-hosted the BBC One Children in Need telethon. She presented alongside Sir Terry Wogan, Fearne Cotton, Nick Grimshaw, and Tess Daly. In 2014, Zoe presented The Voice: Louder on Two on BBC Two. This was a spin-off show from The Voice UK.

In 2015, Zoe hosted EastEnders: Backstage Live. This was a spin-off show during the EastEnders live week. She also co-presented the BBC Young Dancer competition with Darcey Bussell on BBC Two.

Zoe narrated two ITV specials: The Nation's Favourite '70s Number One and The Nation's Favourite '80s Number One. She also narrated the BBC One series Don't Tell the Bride. In 2016, Zoe co-presented Can't Touch This. This was a Saturday night game show for BBC One.

Zoe narrated The Nation's Favourite Carpenters Song. She also guest-presented an episode of Film 2016. In 2017, Zoe co-presented The Big Family Cooking Showdown with Nadiya Hussain on BBC Two.

Since 2020, Zoe has appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox with her son, Woody Fred Cook.

In 2021, Zoe appeared on The Masked Dancer as Llama. She was the sixth celebrity to be unmasked.

In 2023, Zoe appeared as herself in the BBC One comedy Queen of Oz. She was seen and heard on her radio show. She was questioning the actions of Princess Georgiana, played by Catherine Tate.

In 2024, Zoe was a panellist on the "New Year's Treat" episode of Taskmaster.

Strictly Come Dancing and It Takes Two

In October 2005, Zoe Ball became a contestant on the third series of Strictly Come Dancing. She was partnered with professional dancer Ian Waite. Zoe and Ian finished in third place. They scored very high marks for several of their dances.

In 2011, Zoe took over from Claudia Winkleman as the host of Strictly Come Dancing's sister show, It Takes Two. This show airs every weekday on BBC Two. In 2014, Zoe co-hosted the main Strictly Come Dancing show. This was when Claudia Winkleman was on leave. On 17 May 2021, Zoe announced she was leaving her role as presenter after 10 years.

Radio career

Zoe Ball first started her career in radio. She became a co-host of Radio 1 Breakfast on BBC Radio 1 in October 1997 with Kevin Greening. She later became the sole host, making her the first female DJ to host the show alone.

Zoe left BBC Radio 1 in March 2000. Her last show was on 10 March 2000. Sara Cox took over from her.

Zoe returned to radio in mid-2002. She joined London radio station Xfm. She presented the weekday drivetime show until December 2003. In January 2004, she hosted a Friday evening music show for the station. She also filled in for Ricky Gervais while he filmed The Office. She left Xfm at the end of 2004.

In September 2007, she returned to BBC Radio. She co-hosted a show with Sara Cox to celebrate 40 years of BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2.

From 2006, she often filled in as a presenter for BBC Radio 2. She presented special documentaries. She also co-presented a show with Danny Baker in 2008.

Zoe Ball in 2009

In 2009, Zoe became the regular relief presenter for Ken Bruce's weekday show on BBC Radio 2. She also began hosting the Saturday breakfast show from 6 am to 8 am on the network. Zoe left Radio 2 for a while, with her last show on Saturday 28 January 2012. Anneka Rice replaced her in that slot.

Zoe covered The Radio 2 Breakfast Show for Chris Evans many times.

From 4 March 2017 to 22 December 2018, Zoe returned to Radio 2 full-time. She presented the Saturday afternoon slot between 3 pm and 6 pm.

On 3 October 2018, Chris Evans announced Zoe as the new host of The Radio 2 Breakfast Show. She started this role on 14 January 2019. Rylan Clark took over her Saturday mid-afternoon slot.

In August 2024, the BBC confirmed Zoe Ball was the second-highest paid BBC presenter. Her salary was £950,000. She had earned more than this figure for the previous three years.

On 23 September 2024, Zoe announced she was returning to Radio 2. This was six weeks after she said she was taking a break. On 19 November, she announced on the show that she would stop presenting The Breakfast Show from 20 December. However, she would continue working for the station.

On 3 May 2025, Zoe's new Saturday show replaced Pick of the Pops. This show had been in the 1 pm to 3 pm slot for 16 years. Pick of the Pops moved to Sundays.

Personal life

While working at BBC Radio 1, Zoe Ball started a relationship with DJ and musician Norman Cook, also known as Fatboy Slim. They got married in August 1999. The couple have a son, Woody Fred Cook (born 2000), and a daughter, Nelly (born 2010). On 24 September 2016, Cook and Ball announced they were separating after 18 years together.

Between 2017 and 2023, Zoe was in a relationship with Michael Reed.

Charity work

In 2014, Zoe supported the "Love Mum" campaign by Marks & Spencer and Oxfam.

In March 2018, Zoe took part in the 'Hardest Ride Home' challenge. She cycled from Blackpool to Brighton to raise money for Sport Relief. This also helped raise awareness for mental health. She started on 5 March and cycled for five days. Highlights of her challenge were shown in a documentary on 21 March 2018 on BBC One. She raised £1,198,012 for charity.

Filmography

Radio

Television

See also

In Spanish: Zoe Ball para niños