Vernon Charles Kay (born 28 April 1974) is an English broadcaster and former model. He presented Channel 4's T4 (2000–2005) and has presented various television shows for ITV and BBC, including All Star Family Fortunes (2006–2015), Just the Two of Us (2006–2007), Beat the Star (2008–2009), The Whole 19 Yards (2010), Splash! (2013–2014), and 1000 Heartbeats (2015–2016).
Kay presented his own BBC Radio 1 show between 2004 and 2012, and presented his own show on Radio X between 2015 and 2017. Since the start of the 2018–2019 season, he has been the main presenter for the live coverage of Formula E for English speaking territories/platforms around the world. In 2023, Kay was announced as the new mid-morning host on BBC Radio 2 from May 2023, taking over the slot from Ken Bruce.
In 2020, Kay appeared on the twentieth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, finishing in third place.
Vernon Charles Kay was born on 28 April 1974 and brought up in Horwich, the elder son of Norman, a lorry driver, and Gladys; he has a younger brother, Stephen, a primary school teacher. He attended St Joseph's RC High School in Horwich, near Bolton and then spent two years at St John Rigby College, Orrell. Aged 14, Kay had his first job, putting stickers on imported bananas at a factory, and upon leaving St John Rigby College, he had a job cleaning schools and covering for school caretakers across the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton. He then graduated in environmental science at Manchester Metropolitan University.
In 1996, while working at his cousin's DIY shop, Kay attended the BBC Clothes Show Live where he was scouted by a modelling agency. He appeared in a cinema advert for PlayStation and was later crowned 'Model of the Week' on Channel 4's The Big Breakfast.
Kay was able to use his success in modelling to launch a television career with co-hosting roles on teen-targeted entertainment shows T4 on Channel 4 and The Mag on Channel 5. Following this, Kay presented the summer CBBC weekend morning show Fully Booked (called FBI, Fully Booked Interactive) in 2000, as well as TOTP+ Plus and TOTP@Play. In 2003 he co-hosted the Channel 4 game show Boys and Girls, which was cancelled after one series. The following year Kay hosted the third series of Celebrities Under Pressure on ITV.
From 2006, Kay presented primetime game show All Star Family Fortunes. In June 2015, it was announced that ITV was to rest the show until 2017, but it did not return. In 2007, he presented Vernon Kay's Gameshow Marathon, after replacing Ant & Dec, who hosted the first series.
From 2008 until 2009, Kay presented two series of Beat the Star, a programme for ITV. The first series averaged 4.05 million viewers and the second averaged 3.46 million.
On 17 April 2010, Kay began co-presenting a game show for ITV called The Whole 19 Yards with Caroline Flack which lasted for eight episodes and was made at Pinewood Studios. The series averaged 4.1 million viewers. In 2010, Kay was the co-host of Skating with the Stars, a six-part series which was broadcast in the United States.
In 2011, Kay was originally going to present ITV game show Sing If You Can with Stacey Solomon but, after filming the pilot episode, he felt that it would be better hosted by a comedian, and was replaced by Keith Lemon.
In December 2011, Kay presented the Christmas Channel 4 show Home For the Holidays. In the summer of 2012, Kay presented ITV three episode mini-series Let's Get Gold, however the show received poor viewing figures and was cancelled.
In 2013 and 2014, Kay, Gabby Logan and Tom Daley co-presented the ITV diving show Splash! The programme was cancelled after two series.
In 2013, after Channel 4 regained the NFL rights from the BBC, Kay was announced as a presenter of The American Football Show, airing on Saturday mornings.
Since 2014, Kay has guest presented five episodes of The One Show. In 2015, Kay began presenting daytime quiz show, 1000 Heartbeats for ITV. The show returned for a second run in November 2015. In 2016, Kay presented Drive, a five-part entertainment show for ITV. He made regular appearances in the second series of The Keith Lemon Sketch Show on ITV2.
In July 2017, Kay co-presented The Hero Challenge with Kirsty Gallacher on Sky Sports.
Kay hosted the non-broadcast pilot for a revival of Play Your Cards Right, a game show formerly hosted by Bruce Forsyth, but was not commissioned for a series. In September 2015, he hosted a pilot for a new ITV game show Home Win, made at Fountain Studios in Wembley.
In November 2017, it was announced that Kay would host Channel 5's coverage of the 2017–18 Formula E motor racing season. He co-presented the FIA's coverage of the 2018–19 season.
In November 2020, it was announced that Kay would be taking part in the twentieth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here. Kay reached the final and finished in third place on 4 December 2020.