Alexis Conran

Alexis Conran is a British actor, writer and presenter on TV and radio, who currently hosts the weekend afternoon show on Times Radio and as of 2023 the afternoon segment of the Jeremy Vine Show on Channel 5 which follows Storm Huntley’s slot. He is also known for co-hosting the BBC Three show The Real Hustle from 2006 until 2012. He was born in south Paris, France, and moved to Greece when he was a child. Conran won Celebrity Masterchef 2016 on 29 July, beating Louise Minchin and Jimmy Osmond in the final.[2][5]

Alexis Conran
Born
Paris, France[1][2][3]
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Actor, writer, TV and radio presenter
SpouseCosima Shaw (?–present)[4]
Websitewww.alexisconran.com

Early life

Conran was born in Paris to a father who was a gambling addict and started to get into debt. He turned to crime and became a thief and conman, eventually getting arrested. When Conran was 7 years old, his parents got divorced. He was then raised by his mother with the help of her parents.[6][1][2][3] He is of Greek heritage.[7]

Aged 16, he moved to London to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.[1][2][3]

Career

In 2000, Conran starred in the music video for Blockhead's "Insomniac Olympics", directed by Sam Arthur.. Later that year he had a minor role in the TV miniseries Arabian Nights, playing Prince Ali.[8]

His stage work includes Excuses! in 2003. In 2003, he was a member of a team of experts advising the writers and actors of the hit BBC series Hustle,[3] which he later co-wrote and presented (confidence trickster) on the follow-up 2006-2012 hit series The Real Hustle on BBC Three.[9] In 2015 he starred in the show Man v Expert on the Discovery Channel, in which he used various tricks to try to beat experts in their own field of expertise.[2] In 2013 Conran wrote and presented Hustling America for Channel 5 and National Geographic, which was similar to The Real Hustle.[9][10]

He has helped the Office of Fair Trading show consumers how to avoid becoming the victim of a fraud.[11][2]

His other television roles include 2 episodes he starred in season 5 of the show Waking the Dead, as Michael Sherman.[12][13] He appeared in the TV show Wire in the Blood. He also starred in a TV advert for Zovirax cold sore cream.[14] In 2013 he appeared in the Channel 4 show Eye Spy and in August 2015 he presented the Channel 5 morning show The Wright Stuff whilst the host was on holiday.

Conran played the role of Dr Petridis in ITV's The Durrells.

In 2016, he co-presented The Joy of Techs with his best friend, Marcus Brigstocke.[15]

He was Celebrity MasterChef Champion 2016.

Conran presented Radio Hustles on Talkradio, a consumer affairs based talk show which aired from 1pm to 3pm on Saturday afternoons. From 20 January 2018 to June 2020, the show changed from being consumer affairs based to being a news phone-in discussion programme, still presented by Conran, with the new airtime of 4pm to 7pm on Saturdays. He also presented a Sunday morning political programme until June 2020, when he left the station for Times Radio.

Since July 2020, he has presented a show on Times Radio between 1-4pm on Saturday and Sunday.[16]

Personal life

Conran is a technophile.[15] He is a collector of playing cards, owning over 5 060 decks and spends an hour each day practising card tricks.[3]

References
  1. "The Real Hustle - Alexis Conran". BBC. 6 October 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  2. "Alexis Conran profile". Curtis Brown. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  3. "About Alexis Conran | Man v Expert | Shows". Discovery UK. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  4. Conran, Alexis (30 July 2016). "This looks great!!! .... and the Mrs is in it! @CosimaShaw". Twitter. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  5. McAloon, Jonathan (30 July 2016). "Celebrity MasterChef 2016: Alexis Conran is the champion, Jimmy Osmond became cool and everything that happened in the final". The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  6. "Gambling and Me: The Real Hustler – Alexis Conran". Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  7. Celebrity Masterchef champion Alexis Conran dismisses clean eating 'trend'
  8. Alexis Conran at IMDb Last accessed 22 March 2012.
  9. "Who is on Celebrity MasterChef 2016? The full line-up and verdict so far". The Telegraph. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  10. "Presenter". www.alexisconran.com. Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  11. "How to stay off the suckers' list". BBC News Online. 7 February 2006. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  12. "Waking the Dead: Season 5, Episode 5". IMDb. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  13. "Waking the Dead: Season 5, Episode 6". IMDb. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  14. Mikhailova, Anna. "I had a reckless spell — and my cash vanished". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  15. "Alexis Conran teaches Marcus Brigstocke the Joy of Techs | News". UKTV Corporate. 6 September 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  16. Lerone, Toby (2 June 2020). "Launch date and schedule revealed for Times Radio". RadioToday. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
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