Vernon Kay has addressed a “horrendous” hidden struggle as he presented The One Show. The 51-year-old presented the show on Wednesday alongside regular host Alex Jones.
The magazine show is presented live on BBC One from 7pm on weekdays. And the programme being a live show does pose some problems for the presenter. Vernon says that he and Alex faced an unfortunate moment after his stomach began gurgling just before they were set to on screen. It came as presenter Matt Allwright prepared to wrap up the Watchdog segment of the show.
Speaking to Ellie Brennan on BBC Radio 2, Vernon said: “Did you watch The One Show last night? Did you notice that Alex and I had the giggles? Just out the back of Watchdog.
“They take it very seriously, very seriously at The One Show. It’s a consumer rights programme so it’s very serious, and my tummy, because I hadn’t eaten lunch, decided to pop up and say hello.
“So Alex and I were sat on the sofa, Matthew Allwright is just about to wrap up a very serious and very important Watchdog and my tummy says, [grumbling noise] and Alex turned to me, and I turned to Alex at the same time, and that was it, both of us straightaway, gone, laughing, shoulders trembling, shuddering, as we introduced a really important film about evacuees from World War II who had gone up to Glossop.
“They were like, ‘Straight face’. I’m like, ‘No, you’ve ruined it now. You can’t say behave yourself when you’ve got the giggles because it makes it worse’.
“I literally, and it’s the first time in I’d say 25 years, since I was working with June Sarpong, that I’ve done a live television link biting my lip to try stop myself laughing as I’m introducing something really, really serious. It was horrendous.”
Vernon went on to say Alex is “used to it” now. It would appear the pair also managed to hide their laughter from viewers of the show.
Dad-of-two Vernon launched his television career over 25 years ago when he joined the youth-oriented show T4 on Channel 4. The programme helped launch the careers of a host of famous faces including Dermot O’Leary, Alexa Chung and Miquita Oliver.
Vernon subsequently joined BBC Radio 1 as well as presenting a string of TV shows such as Family Fortunes and Vernon Kay’s Gameshow Marathon. He left BBC radio in 2014, only to return nine years later as a stand-in for Rylan Clark.
Vernon eventually landed the mid-morning show in 2023, replacing legendary presenter Ken Bruce. He recently voiced his delight at still being employed by the broadcaster.
He said: “We've got the wonderful , the amazing Janice, Janine, and there she is....and....what's her name...Jennifer, happy Jennifer. We've got Janice Janine and Jen, who I have known for a very, very long time, since we were at Radio 1, 10...five...three years ago, it was a long time.
"To be honest, Jennifer and I are still happy that we're employed. Considering the very low bar that we raised ourselves when we started our careers in broadcasting, we've done really well Jennifer."
