Davina McCall
Davina McCall (born
October 16,
1967 in
London) is an British
actress and
television presenter who works on
British television. She is probably best known for working as a presenter on
MTV and presenting the UK edition of
Big Brother.
Although she was originally born in
London, at the age of three Davina went to live with her grandparents in their
Surrey home after her parents' marriage dissolved. Her
French mother Florence â€" whom Davina has described as something of a "wild child" â€" returned to Paris, and Davina would see her only on holidays. She continued to see her father Andrew, a
graphic designer, at weekends before moving in with him and his new wife Gaby when she was 13.
McCall went to
Godolphin and Latymer Girls School in
Hammersmith, London, whose alumnae also include celebrity students
Nigella Lawson,
Sophie Ellis-Bextor and
Kate Beckinsale. During her teens Davina developed the
eating disorder anorexia, which she has attributed to her fractured childhood and a desperate need for attention. At the age of 15, while studying for her nine
O levels and later two
A levels, Davina sang professionally with a band. However when she was 19 she decided to go solo. During this time she dated old family friend
Eric Clapton, who also produced her demo music disc and helped her to try and crack the pop music world. Dissatisfied with her near misses in the record industry, she gave up singing and took a job at
Models One on the men's desk as a booker. She also appeared in a
Kylie Minogue pop video,
Word Is Out, in a striped sweater and
beret, in a nod to her
French ancestry.Later, she ran a restaurant for two years and later worked as a singing waitress in Paris. However, after a failed attempt at a
Moulin Rouge cabaret audition, she returned to London where she quickly became a fixture on the club scene, which eventually led to her becoming a nightclub hostess. It was at this time (during her early 20s) when Davina became addicted to drugs; heavily using
cocaine,
ecstacy and
heroin.
|
Davina on the ITV show 'Don't Try This At Home' |
Davina's old friend Eric Clapton helped turn things around for her though and with his help she landed a job presenting her own show on the music channel
MTV in
1992.
In
1995 she went on to host the
ITV gameshow
God's Gift and she later went onto present the
game show,
Streetmate (Channel 4) in
1998. After the show received modest success Davina was put forward as presenter of the UK version of the gameshow
Big Brother in
2000, which she has so far presented for 7 series and 4
Celebrity versions. She is currently presenting the 7th series of the show. Away from Big Brother she has also presented The
Brit Awards in 2000, as well as the
BBC charity show
Comic Relief on several occasions. She presented the ITV show
Don't Try This At Home in
2001,
Popstars: The Rivals (ITV1) in
2002,
The Vault (ITV1),
Oblivious (ITV1), the reality TV show
Reborn in the USA in
2003, as well as an entertainment show on the subject of love and dating called
Love on a Saturday Night (ITV1) in
2004. In 2004 she also presented the prestigious
BAFTA television awards. Her presenting style is marked by a slightly tomboyish gregariousness and an overtly sunny disposition.
Davina has also tried her hand at acting appearing in
Sam's Game in 2001, a
Friends-style TV
sitcom (also starring
Irish comedian
Ed Byrne), which was slammed by the critics and lasted only one series. She has also appeared in the
Leigh Francis comedy sketch shows
Bo Selecta and
A Bear's Tail. McCall also provided the voice of an android version of herself in a lethal version of
Big Brother in the
Doctor Who episode
Bad Wolf in 2005.
Although popular with many, McCall's presenting style is not without its critics and she was voted 95th worst Briton in
Channel 4's poll of the
100 Worst Britons in 2003.
In 2005, Davina caused controversy when she interviewed ex Big Brother housemate Sam in a bikini and was seen loosening it as the show faded out
Shortly after presenting
Big Brother series 6, Davina attracted some complaints for her hostile interviewing of housemate
Makosi Musambasi on the final night, which was much publicised in the British press. It was during this time that Davina started to present the BBC series,
He's Having A Baby in 2005, which received poor ratings. In December 2005 it was announced that she would be hosting her own
BBC One prime-time chat show called
Davina in early 2006. Early reviews were not kind to the show, and viewing figures flirted around the 3 million mark (at one point, dropping as low as 1 million), compared to over 6 million watching
The Bill on
ITV1 at the same time. In
April 2006,
BBC One axed the show due to the ratings not reaching expectations.
It was revealed in
March 2006 that
ITV1 have signed up Davina to host the prestigious
BAFTA television awards for the second time in May. In April 2006 Davina was confirmed as the main presenter on
Sport Relief on
BBC One in July of that year, alongside friend
Chris Evans.
McCall married Andrew Leggett in
1997, but quickly divorced. In
2000, she married
Matthew Robertson, presenter of
Pet Rescue, and they have two children: Holly (not Holly Willow as widely reported), who was born in September 2001, and Tilly in September 2003. In early April 2006 it was reported in
Heat magazine [
1] that she was four months pregnant with their third child. This means that she is due to give birth at around the same time as the final night of
Big Brother, causing widespread speculation that a substitute
presenter is being sought.
In order to get back in shape after the birth of her second child Davina enlisted the help of personal trainers Jackie and Mark Wren and after successful results and a revamped figure she has brought out two keep-fit
Power of 3 and
My three 30 minute workouts with them.
She and her family live in the upmarket village of
Woldingham in
Surrey,
England.
MTV Most Wanted (MTV Europe, 1992)
God's Gift (ITV1, 1995)
*Streetmate (Channel 4, 1998)
*Prickly Heat (Sky One, 1998-2000)
*Big Brother (Channel 4, 2000-)
*Don't Try This at Home! (ITV1, 2001)
*Celebrity Big Brother (Channel 4, 2001-)
*Sam's Game (2001)
*Big Brother's Little Brother (Channel 4, 2001-)
*Oblivious (ITV1, 2002)
*Popstars: The Rivals (ITV1, 2002)
*The Vault (ITV1, 2002)
*Reborn in the USA (ITV1, 2003)
*Love on a Saturday Night (ITV1, 2004)
*Red Nose Day: Comic Relief '05 (BBC One, 2005)
*A Bear's Tail (Channel 4, 2005)
*He's Having A Baby (BBC One, 2005)
*Davina (BBC One, 2006)
*Let's Talk Sex (Channel 4, 2006)
*Sport Relief 2006'' (BBC One, 2006)
