Dermot O'Leary


Sean Dermot O'Leary is a British and Irish broadcaster. He currently co-presents ITV's This Morning on Fridays, school holidays and bank holidays alongside Alison Hammond. He presented the talent show competition The X Factor on ITV from 2007 until its final series in 2018, with the exception of 2015.
O'Leary began his radio career working as a disc jockey at Essex Radio. From 2001 to 2003, he was a presenter for London's indie rock station XFM. O'Leary joined BBC Radio 2 in 2004 and currently presents the Saturday morning breakfast show and since April 2022 Alternative Sounds of the 90's.

Early life

Sean Dermot O'Leary was born on 24 May 1973 in Colchester, Essex, the son of Irish parents Maria and Seán, both from County Wexford. He spent many of his childhood summers in County Wexford and has always had an Irish passport. He attended primary school in Marks Tey in Essex and later joined St Benedict's Catholic College in Colchester. His complacent attitude at school caused him to fail all but two of his GCSEs. Following that, O'Leary re-took his school-leaving qualifications. This allowed him to later start his A-Level courses at Colchester Sixth Form College. He eventually studied for a degree in Media Studies with Politics at Middlesex University.
Growing up, he was a member of The Boys' Brigade Christian youth organisation. When he was in his late teens, he played American football for the Colchester Gladiators and the Ipswich Cardinals, where he wore the number 32.

Career

Early career

O'Leary started as a disc jockey at BBC Essex, before becoming a runner on the TV show Light Lunch with Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, and then a presenter at Channel 4 as part of the original presenting line-up of the channel's T4 strand. He moved on to present Big Brother's Little Brother on E4 from 2001 onwards. Also in 2001, O'Leary appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank. In 2004, O'Leary hosted the reality television series Shattered.

ITV

On 29 March 2007, it was announced that O'Leary would replace Kate Thornton as the new host of ITV's The X Factor for at least two series. On 27 March 2015, O'Leary confirmed that he had quit The X Factor after eight years to pursue other projects. Via his Twitter account, he said:
O'Leary was replaced by Olly Murs and Caroline Flack, who previously co-hosted The Xtra Factor, the behind-the-scenes companion programme, together in 2011 and 2012.
On 29 March 2016, O'Leary returned to The X Factor as a presenter, replacing Murs and Flack, for the show's 13th series. In a statement, he said:
From 2010 to 2019, O'Leary presented the National Television Awards for ITV. Since 2010, O'Leary has hosted Soccer Aid on ITV, a celebrity football match in aid of the charity Unicef. In 2011, O'Leary hosted the Saturday night entertainment show The Marriage Ref on ITV. In September 2013, O'Leary hosted BRITs Icon: Elton John, a one-off music celebration for ITV.
In 2013, O'Leary presented the ITV campaign From the Heart, which encouraged viewers to consider organ donation. In January 2014, O'Leary filled in for Phillip Schofield for a week when he guest presented This Morning opposite Holly Willoughby.
In 2017, O'Leary co-presented the 37th BRIT Awards with Emma Willis. In March 2017, O'Leary guest-presented nine episodes of The Nightly Show on ITV.
In November 2020, it was announced that Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford had been dropped from their Friday slot on This Morning after 14 years. Alison Hammond and O'Leary were announced to takeover the slot later that month. They presented their first show in January 2021.

Channel 4

On 27 November 2007, it was announced that Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack was to be O'Leary's last series of Big Brother. After seven years, he made his final Big Brother appearance on 28 January 2008.
In March 2007, O'Leary signed a year-long contract with Channel 4 to appear on Hollyoaks. However, this was shortened after a series of disputes on set. Jim Rowe, a series writer at the time, said, "He couldn't follow even the simplest commands. It goes to show how vastly different presenting is to acting". O'Leary hasn't acted since. In 2009, O'Leary presented an episode of The Paul O'Grady Show, standing in for Paul O'Grady.
In March 2014, O'Leary made a return to Channel 4, where he presented the Live From Space season for three consecutive nights.

BBC

O'Leary was a presenter for Comic Relief in 2005, 2011 and 2013. He also presented Sport Relief in 2012. In August 2006, O'Leary signed a deal to present the game show 1 vs. 100, which aired on Saturday nights on BBC One in combination with The National Lottery Draws.
In May 2009, O'Leary became the presenter of Matt Lucas and David Walliams's show Rock Profile on BBC.
In March 2010, O'Leary hosted a spin-off edition of the BBC One show Question Time aimed at first time voters, which aired on BBC Three. He also presented Dermot Meets..., a series which saw him interview the likes of David Cameron, Gordon Brown, and Nick Clegg.
In November 2015, O'Leary replaced Terry Wogan on Children in Need due to Wogan's cancer-related ill health, from which he died a couple of months later.
In 2016, O'Leary presented the BBC One Saturday night game show The Getaway Car. The series was filmed in November 2015 and began airing in January 2016. He has also guest-presented two episodes of The One Show with Alex Jones.

Radio

O'Leary joined London's indie rock station XFM in 2001, firstly presenting weekday mid-mornings from 10am to 1pm, before moving to a Saturday evening show in mid-2002, where he remained until late 2003.
O'Leary joined BBC Radio 2 in September 2004, presenting a Saturday afternoon show titled Dermot's Saturday Club, which ran from 2pm to 4pm. Following a number of changes to the length and timing of O'Leary's programme, due in part to the arrival of Chris Evans to Radio 2 and his role as presenter of The X Factor, his show was broadcast between 3pm and 6pm from April 2009 until its end on 21 January 2017. It focused on new music and had featured live sessions. O'Leary also hosted Radio 2's coverage of the BRIT Awards and South by Southwest. He won Sony Gold Awards for Music Programme of the Year in 2008, 2010, and 2013.
Since March 2017, O'Leary has presented the Saturday morning breakfast show on BBC Radio 2 between 8am and 10am, taking over the slot from Brian Matthew and Sounds of the 60s, which moved to an earlier time of 6am with Tony Blackburn as presenter. Since April 2022 he has presented the weekly show Alternative Sounds of the 90s with Dermot O'Leary.

Other work

In March 2009, O'Leary introduced Michael Jackson to an audience of fans at The O2 in what turned out to be Jackson's final public appearance before his death.
In 2015, he was named one of GQ's 50 Best Dressed Men in Britain.
He has voiced television advertisements for Amazon Prime. In 2017, he released a children's book called Toto the Ninja Cat and the Great Snake Escape. In 2024, he released another children's book called Wings of Glory.

Charity work

O'Leary opened The Rodillian Academy in 2001. He is one of nine presidents of Better Planet Education and is a patron of the international children's film festival CineMagic, a registered charity for young people based in Belfast. He has campaigned on behalf of Make Poverty History, and visited Sierra Leone with CAFOD accompanied by his father. He is also a patron of the male cancer awareness campaign Everyman. In 2003, he played in a charity match for the Colchester Gladiators as a punt returner, helping to raise £2,500 for the Barnardo's children's fund.
In 2005, O'Leary ran the London Marathon for the third time, completing it for his first time under four hours.
In March 2014, along with Jeremy Kyle, Bill Bailey, John Prescott, Richard Osman, Rizzle Kicks, Louis Smith, Levi Roots, and Ricky Wilson, O'Leary went commando for charity to raise awareness of testicular cancer. The promo was released on 24 February 2014.
For Red Nose Day 2015, O'Leary participated in a 24-hour dance to raise money for Comic Relief.

Personal life

O'Leary married his long-term girlfriend, Dee Koppang, in Chiddingstone in September 2012. They have one son, Kasper, who was born in June 2020.
In a 2003 interview, O'Leary praised the Socialist Workers Party but quipped that they would "take all of money", so he instead supported the Labour Party. He supports Arsenal F.C., Celtic F.C. and London Irish RFC. He can be heard on the Footballistically Arsenal podcast with his friends and fellow Arsenal fans Dan Baldwin and Boyd Hilton; on the show, it was mentioned that he owns shares in the club. He supports Wexford GAA in Gaelic games. During a studio guest appearance on Fantasy Football Euro 2004, he spoke of his support for the Republic of Ireland national football team and the national rugby union team.
In 2007, O'Leary was an usher at the wedding of Holly Willoughby. He is a practising Roman Catholic. In an interview with Peter Stanford of the Daily Telegraph in February 2008, he "cheerfully" admitted using contraception while living with his future wife: "I do get it in the neck from some Catholics who say I am a buffet Catholic, picking and choosing the bits I like or don't like."
O'Leary co-owned the Fishy Fishy restaurants in Brighton and Poole. The Poole restaurant closed in 2013, and the Brighton restaurant closed in 2016.

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1998–2001T4Presenter
1999The Dog's BalearicsPresenter
2000The Barfly SessionsPresenter
2000, 2008, 2009Never Mind the BuzzcocksGuest Team Captain / Guest Presenter3 episodes
2001–2008Big Brother's Little BrotherPresenter
2002Top of the PopsPresenter2 episodes
2002–2003Re:coveredPresenter
2002–2004SAS: Are You Tough Enough?Presenter3 series
2003Teen Big Brother: The ExperimentPresenter
2004ShatteredPresenter7 episodes
2005, 2011–2013Comic ReliefCo-presenterAnnually; 3 episodes
2006Morning GloryPresenter
2006–20071 vs. 100Presenter2 series
2007–2014, 2016–2018The X FactorPresenter11 series
2008Big Brother: Celebrity HijackPresenter
2009Rock ProfilePresenterSeries 3
2010Question Time: First Time VotersPresenterOne-off episode
2010Dermot Meets...Presenter1 series
2010A League of Their OwnGuest Team Captain2 episodes
2010–presentSoccer AidCo-presenterAnnually; 7 episodes with Kirsty Gallacher
2010–2019The National Television AwardsPresenter10 ceremonies
2011Live from the Royal WeddingPresenterOne–off episode
2011The Marriage RefPresenter1 series
2012Sport ReliefCo–presenter1 episode, with Davina McCall
2013From the HeartPresenterOne–off episode
2013BRITs Icon: Elton JohnPresenterOne–off episode
2014Live From SpacePresenter3 episodes
2014, 2020This MorningStand–in Co–presenter9 episodes
2015Children in NeedCo-presenterMain role, with Tess Daly and Fearne Cotton
2016The Getaway CarPresenter1 series
2016The One ShowGuest Presenter2 episodes
2017BRIT AwardsCo-presenter37th event with Emma Willis
2017The Nightly ShowGuest Presenter9 episodes
2018The Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan MarkleCommentator2 episodes
2018Reel Stories: Kylie MinogueHostBBC Two programme
2019Icons: The Greatest Person of the 20th CenturyCategory Presenter 2 episodes
2019Small FortunePresenter1 series
2019The X Factor: CelebrityPresenter1 series
2019The X Factor: The BandPresenter1 series
2020One World: Together at HomeCo–presenterOne–off special
2020Goodwood SpeedWeekPresenter
2021British Academy Film AwardsCo–presenterWith Edith Bowman
2021The Pet ShowCo–presenterWith Joanna Page
2021An Audience with Arsène Wenger and David DeinPresenterOne–off special
202148 Hours to VictoryCo-presenterThree-part Channel 4 series
2021Reel Stories: StingPresenterBBC Two programme
2021–presentThis MorningCo-presenterFridays; with Alison Hammond
2022Reel Stories: Robbie WilliamsPresenterBBC Two programme
2023Inside No. 9Himself1 episode; “Paraskevidekatriaphobia”
2023The Chase for Soccer AidContestantSoccer Aid celebrity special
2023Reel Stories: Noel GallagherHostBBC Two programme
2023Remarkable Places to EatHimselfGuest; one episode
2024Saving Lives at Sea in World War IIPresenter
2024The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To CancerContestant
2024Reel Stories: Jon Bon JoviHostBBC Two programme
2024Reel Stories: Shania TwainHostBBC Two programme
2024Dermot O'Leary's Taste of IrelandPresenterFood and travel series; second series commissioned
2025Silence is GoldenHostComedy game show
2025NFL Big Game NightHostWith Sam Quek and Osi Umenyiora
2025The Masked SingerMistletoeChristmas Special
2026Reel Stories: Rick AstleyHostBBC Two programme