VERNON’S TALENT SHOW WITH A TWIST!
MISSING BGT THIS YEAR? DON’T FRET ... VERNON KAY’S GOT SOME BRILLIANTLY BONKERS ACTS LINED UP FOR HIS NEW SHOW. HERE HE TELLS JENNY JOHNSTON WHY IT’S UNIQUE – AND HOW HE LOST 2½ STONE AND STILL STRUGGLES TO EAT AFTER I’M A CELEBRITY
Vernon Kay was giddy when he emerged from the I’m A Celebrity camp. It was partly elation at reaching the final of perhaps the ultimate celebrity popularity contest, but also hunger. He dropped 2½st thanks to a diet of beans and rice (with the odd deer’s testicle thrown in), and it seems that, more than three months on, his insides still haven’t recovered.
‘I’m not right,’ he says. ‘You know when you eat a load of pasta and you feel bloated? I’m like that 24/7. We were on 800 calories a day maximum, and before that I was boshing 4,000, even 5,000, calories while getting ready to go in the castle. I think my stomach has shrunk to the point where I just can’t deal with food. Tess is into gut health, though. She’s got me on probiotics and sauerkraut.’
Tess, of course, is Strictly presenter Tess Daly, her husband’s biggest cheerleader. She was floored, he admits, when she saw him ‘without my belly’. ‘I’d been building myself up beforehand. In the summer I’d been trying to get fit – I’m quite obsessive once I get started, and the intensity was turned up when I realised I’d be showering semi-naked!’
His first call when he emerged in third place was to Tess. But it was a Friday night, and she was working at Strictly. ‘She didn’t pick up,’ he laughs. Showbiz, eh? In Hello!-land Tess might have been at home, stirring soup, to welcome him back, but she never gets home before midnight when she’s at Strictly. ‘The girls decorated the house,’ he says. ‘I’m smiling because I remember it so well. It was beautiful. They were waiting, then it was, “Yeah Daddy!” I’ll never forget it.’
Was there more leaping about when Tess returned? He laughs. ‘She was so excited to see me but I was asleep, absolutely knackered. She graciously slept in the spare room to not wake me up. But in the morning she snuck in, and when I woke I saw this big beaming smile. The kids made us breakfast and Phoebe had lined up every episode of the show with all my highlights. It took about four weeks to get through it all.’
He’s so chuffed, explaining that he did the show because Phoebe, 16, and Amber, 11, are huge fans, and while they’re very aware of their mother being a TV stalwart, that was less the case with their dad. A jolt to the ego? At one point, it was Vernon whose TV career seemed a dead cert, but events (not to mention some illadvised decisions off the TV) sent him in a different direction.
While he’s never stopped working (mainly in radio and sports presenting), he hasn’t had a primetime show for a huge chunk of his daughters’ lives. He noticed they were baffled when (older) strangers saluted him in the street. ‘When you think about it, they never saw Family Fortunes live. It’s six years since I was on that. Recently they’ve been getting into their music – oldschool to them, from the 90s. I’d say, “Oh yeah, I’ve interviewed Britney Spears. I’ve hung out with 50 Cent in Florida.” And they’d be like, “What? No way, Dad!”
‘I’m A Celebrity is one of the shows they watch most, and I thought, “Right, I will do this and see what happens.”’
What happened is Vernon was back in the limelight – for all the right reasons this time. He admits that the well-documented scandal in 2010, when he sent some very family-unfriendly texts to a glamour model, knocked his career off course. He publicly apologised to Tess at the time, but the fallout was difficult to navigate.
Is it fair to say that I’m A Celeb put it back on track? ‘That situation had a massive impact personally and professionally,’ he admits. ‘You can’t skirt around that. I’m A Celebrity reminded people of everything I’ve achieved on TV, but there’s a huge new audience as well. It’s made people realise, “I remember him. He’s a good lad.” It kind of hit the re-set button.’
He always came across as the ultimate good lad, which was part of the frustration. He was working in a DIY shop when he was scouted to be a model, but his best friends are all still, he says, ‘teachers or in construction. Proper jobs. I just talk.’
It’s that ease with people though that made his career, and it was very much in evidence during I’m A Celebrity , which was relocated to a crumbling castle in Wales because of Covid. He formed a close bond with Radio 1 DJ Jordan North and was hugely supportive of any struggling campmates. Far from appearing to be a bit of a rogue, Vernon’s natural northern charm shone through.
In broadcasting terms he has vast experience, although he’s had his fair share of programmes that didn’t live up to their promise. All Star Family Fortunes was a highlight, but he also hosted the 2016 ITV show Drive, the diving show Splash and Beat The Star, in which members of the public competed against celebrities.
His first TV break came with the youth show T4 in 2001 though, and he’s still got the air of a teenshow presenter, which might seem odd as he’s 46
(Tess is 51). But why not, he argues? ‘It’s good to have those endorphins that remind you of when you were younger, when you were a free spirit. Like why do I have to stop clubbing at 35? Being young and energetic shouldn’t be a cross to bear in your mature years. I think it’s a society thing where we have to start feeling old.
I’m not going to start walking around in a vest or getting tattoos, but it’s good to feel invigorated and youthful. I wouldn’t think twice about going to a nightclub.’
Well fire up the lights and the music, because now Vern is very much here to claim the crown that perhaps should have been his –
King of Saturday Night TV. Tess is already the Queen, but he’s now landed a big game show for ITV that will temporarily replace Britain’s Got Talent. Simon Cowell’s juggernaut proved too difficult to film under Covid restrictions, so in comes Game Of Talents,a hybrid delivering the best of game shows and talent shows.
It’s a guessing game really, where celebs form teams with members of the public to guess the ‘secret talent’ of mystery performers. The eight guests introduce themselves, then the teams decide what talent they have. ‘I’ll say, “OK, this person is a swordswallower, a ventriloquist, a magician or a trapeze artist”. They get clues and the celebs have to help them win cash prizes.’ The mystery entertainers then get to perform, which provides the talent show element. It’s proper family entertainment, says Vernon, of the sort that viewers have been craving in lockdown.
He admits his friends questioned his early career choices. ‘When I got Family Fortunes, people said, “Vern, you’ve just hosted the NME Awards. You used to be so underground, now you’ve gone mainstream.” My answer was, “Underground doesn’t pay the bills.”’ Besides, he always wanted to be Mr Shiny Floor. ‘If you’re entertainment-minded, it’s the Holy Grail. I’m old-school, from that era where you sat down to marvel at the dons of Saturday night TV, like Brucie.’
He had a personal relationship with the late Bruce Forsyth of course, through Strictly, but even before that he worshipped him. In 2003, Chris Evans convinced Vernon to take his first steps into the game show world hosting Boys And Girls. It was cancelled after one series, but he talks today about how much he studied the form. ‘Chris made me sit through every episode of The Generation Game and The Price Is Right. He thought Brucie had the best command of the floor of any game show host. He guided me in the theory of the art, because it is an art.’
Yes, but anyone can have a go now. Gordon Ramsay’s just had one. ‘And Gino D’Acampo’s on Family Fortunes!’ he laughs, referring to the chef who landed his old job. ‘Actually, Gino did a good job.’ Any thoughts on Gordon’s show? ‘Haven’t seen it,’ he says.
If Vernon’s show is a success, could it mean a Richard and Judystyle pairing for him and Tess? ‘I would like to,’ he says. ‘I have constant envy and admiration for her during the Strictly period because – and people won’t realise this – she learns Claudia’s script and all the camera directions too, so that if anything goes wrong she knows where to go next. I was more of an ad-lib person, but I realised you need that backstop of reassurance. I’ve learned that from Tess. She is unbelievable.’
How would he describe Tess and Claudia’s dynamic on Strictly? Ever the boy racer, he says, ‘Tess steers the whole thing and Claudia puts her foot on the accelerator.’
His home life follows a similar pattern, it seems. You get the impression Tess is the organiser. ‘Fair assessment,’ he says. ‘She’s the best mum ever – apart from Gladys and Sylvia [his mother and mother-in-law].’ He’s candid when talking about parenting and he’s been recording a podcast, Parenting Past The Pandemic. So does he have it all sussed? ‘Oh God, no,’ he laughs. ‘You relate parenting to how your own parents did it, what they did right or wrong. Tess and I have similar backgrounds and want to replicate that, to a degree. Since the kids were born we’ve approached it like a big adventure.’
For all his talk of staying young, he’s a traditional dad. They limit the girls’ screen time and have installed a tracker app on their phones so they can always see what they’re doing. ‘It sounds Big Brother, and maybe it is, but it’s for their security. I feel sorry for the boys who will come through our door. They will be rigorously checked out. There will be firm handshakes.’
Tess steers Strictly and Claudia is on the accelerator
Game Of Talents starts next month on ITV and ITV Hub.