Inside The Billionaire’s Wardrobe

Special BBC Brit (*120) 20:00 Lifestyle

Reggie Yates saw a lot of crazy things in his role as Leo Jones on cult sci-fi series Doctor Who (2005-current) in 2007, but “nothing could prepare me for my next big move,” laughs the 33-year-old Brit. He went from child star as Humphrey in iconic hairdresser sitcom Desmond’s (1989-1994) to investigative TV journo travelling the world for his documentaries, like Inside The Billionaire’s Wardrobe (2016). He even visited Mzansi…

“The craziest was in South Africa 1

[in 2013, for Reggie Yates’ Extreme South Africa]. We got caught in a gang fight and a guy pulled out his gun. I thought, ‘All bets are off!’” says Reggie. “Later we thought it had calmed down and I was doing interviews and these guys were all holding machetes.”

Reggie also appeared on Disney 2

Club (1989-1998; the UK’s version of The Mickey Mouse Club that made Britney Spears famous) as a presenter.

And he’s quite the singer too. In 3

2005, Reggie performed a number of songs – including Shaggy’s Boombastic (1995) – on the Comic Relief Does Fame Academy charity show.

Extreme SA was meant to be a 4

once-off but it was extended and season 2 (2015) was filmed in Russia.

For his other show, Special Forces: 5

Ultimate Hell Week (2017), Reggie returned to South Africa to put tough soldiers “though hell” training with the infamous South African Recce troops.

The Londoner’s parents Felicia and 6

Reginald are both from Ghana but Reggie jokes that “I’m fully British. My grandad was born in the UK”.