Cat Deeley intends to enjoy every single minute of her time in her new job presenting This Morning
The hosts of This Morning are lucky enough to chat to an array of interesting guests, but there’s no hiding who is top of new presenter Cat Deeley’s interview wish list.
“Any guests that make me look ‘cool’ to my boys!” She laughs. “Milo and James are eight and five. They love David Attenborough, Bear Grylls, Marcus Rashford and Steve Backshall.
“Steve was on a show I was covering and he kindly helped me with a project Milo was doing about pink river dolphins. The excitement was on another level!”
We’re sure there was plenty more excitement in the Deeley household when Cat was unveiled as the new host of This Morning, ending months of speculation about who would land the most coveted job in TV.
Many names were in the frame, but it was Cat who won through – her sunny disposition and years of experience making her a natural for the job.
Although she is still only 47, Cat has spent the past 26 years on our screens, both in the UK and America.
After starting her working life at just 14 as a model, she moved into television, making her presenting debut at 21 on the MTV music show Hitlist UK. Then in 1998 she landed the job that was to make her name – co-hosting SMTV Live with none other than Ant and Dec.
In 2001 she won a BAFTA award for her work in children’s television, before moving on to host a plethora of other popular shows, including Fame Academy and Stars In Their Eyes.
But in 2006 there came a life-changing offer – to host the American reality show So You Think You Can Dance. After careful consideration Cat decided to take the plunge and moved lock, stock and barrel to California.
She spent 15 happy years in Los Angeles, but in 2020 – now with a husband (TV presenter Patrick Kielty) and two young children in tow – she returned to Britain. While Cat’s career is clearly important to her, she admits that one of the driving factors behind the return was missing their relatives.
“Our boys have grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins they adore and they adore them right back,” she explains. “It’s such a special moment in time and you don’t get those times back.”
On her return to Britain, Cat hit the ground running, guest presenting Lorraine for 12 episodes when Lorraine Kelly was on holiday.
She then guest presented on This Morning last year as the show tried out several potential new hosts, following the departure of Phill
