Melanie Sykes

Melanie Ann Sykes (born 7 August 1970) is an English television and radio presenter.

She is best known for co-hosting Today with Des and Mel with Des O'Connor and Let's Do Lunch with Gino D'Acampo.

Sykes was born in 1970 at Ashton-under-Lyne to an English father and a Catholic Anglo-Indian mother.

She attended Mossley Hollins High School and studied A-level Religious Studies at Ashton Sixth Form College.

Sykes was a member of the Ashtonian Brass Band, along with her father, mother and two sisters, playing the baritone horn.

In the mid-1990s Sykes first came to public attention as the face of the Boddingtons Bitter advertisements.

Sykes' TV presenting career started by hosting Sky One's Real TV UK series in the mid-90s.

After first reporting for The Big Breakfast, Sykes has continued her television career, including presenting stints on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and as presenter of EastEnders Revealed.

In 1999, Sykes presented Melanie Sykes' Southall Stories, a documentary for BBC Two on Asian culture in Great Britain.

She has also hosted a variety of awards ceremonies, including Miss World, the BAFTA Awards and the Q Awards.

Sykes' television career stalled for a period, although she made a successful comeback as host of Today with Des and Mel with Des O'Connor in 2002.

Sykes' other work for ITV has included hosting shows The Vault (2003–2004), Celebrities Under Pressure (2003–2004) and The British Soap Awards (2003).

Sykes appeared as a guest panellist on Loose Women in October and November 2005 and later returned as a guest anchor in October 2008 and May 2009.

On 12 May 2006, ITV announced that the show would be one of a number to be axed in a "painful, but utterly necessary" move.

From 2006 to 2009, Sykes regularly filled in for Paul O'Grady as presenter of The Paul O'Grady Show when O'Grady was unable to appear.

She presented the show on eleven occasions.

Sykes was the presenter of the daytime series Gene Detectives for BBC One.

She left the show towards the end of 2006 and was replaced by Gail Porter.

In 2008, Sykes was a judge on 'The Sofa Factor', an item for GMTV, where viewers sent in short clips and the winner got to present TV Pick of the Day and win a trip to Las Vegas.

Sykes was heard on BBC Radio 2 with Aled Jones sitting in for Steve Wright in the Afternoon on 22, 23 and 24 December 2008.

She also co-hosted Going Out with Alan Carr on BBC Radio 2 with Alan Carr from May 2010 until it ended in March 2012, and returned with him for Alan and Mel's Summer Escape from 2017.

Sykes currently co-presents Shop Well For Less alongside Joanna Page on BBC One.

In 2010, Sykes guest presented five episodes of The 5 O'Clock Show with Denise van Outen on Channel 4.

In May 2010, she began co-hosting the BBC Radio 2 show Going Out with Alan Carr after Emma Forbes' resignation.

In August 2011, Sykes returned to daytime television, co-hosting Let's Do Lunch with Gino & Mel and Let's Do Christmas with Gino & Mel with Gino D'Acampo on ITV.

On 13 September 2011, Sykes co-hosted the three-part series Missing Millions with Paul Heiney on ITV.

The show was cancelled in 2014.

In February 2014, BT Sport announced that Sykes would become part of their MotoGP team.

Due to other work commitments, she left the channel in May 2014.

In 2014, Sykes took part in the fourteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! where she finished in third place, behind runner-up Jake Quickenden and winner Carl Fogarty.

In 2015, Sykes co-presented Humble Pie, a cookery series for Watch, alongside Marco Pierre White.

On 4 April 2017, Sykes was confirmed as the new voice of Blind Date, taking over the role most famously held by Graham Skidmore in the original series.

The show is broadcast on Saturday nights on Channel 5.

In 2017, Sykes appeared on a "celebrity" charity edition of TV quiz show, The Chase. She departed early and did not make the final round.

In March 2018, Sykes won Star Baker in Channel 4's The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off.

In 2021 Sykes alongside Joanna Page were the new presenters of BBC One's consumer series Shop Well for Less.

In August 2021 it was announced that Sykes would be a competitor on BBC's Celebrity MasterChef.

She progressed to the semi-final where she won Star Chef on the fourth day.

During this period, Sykes revealed a comment from Celebrity MasterChef judge, Gregg Wallace, led her to consider her career in the entertainment industry.

Sykes presented The A List, a national radio chart show based on total sales, produced by Unique the Production Company at the studios of London's Heart 106.2.