Jenny Powell

Jennifer "Jenny" Powell (born 8 April 1968 in Ilford, London) is an English television presenter.

Powell's parents are of Cape Coloured descent from South Africa, she attended Woodford County High School for Girls in Woodford Green and the Italia Conti school in London.

Powell began her career in 1985 being the TV ad voiceover for the 6th and 7th volumes of the UK Now That's What I Call Music series. In 1986 she went on to present the BBC2 music programme No Limits and then moved to Saturday morning television for children, first co-presenting UP2U for BBC1 during the summers of 1988 and 1989, ITV's Ghost Train and then Gimme 5, again on ITV. She was also a presenter of Top of the Pops in 1989. In the mid-1990s, she became the hostess on ITV's version of Wheel of Fortune.

In 1997 she appeared on Channel 4's Brass Eye, a satirical spoof documentary show produced by Chris Morris. She talked earnestly about the perils of 'heavy electricity' and warned that the South of England could be catapulted towards Finland if people did not bang on wires with hammers.

More recently, she has presented Soap Fever, Live Talk, Getaway and Our House for UKTV Style. She tried to make it as a stand-up comedian in Granada Television's Stand Up Jenny, and was a regular on ITV's Loose Women. In 2005, she was one of the competitors in the ITV reality TV show Celebrity Wrestling, competing under the name The Avenger.

Powell has remained on television since 2000. She was a presenter on BBC One's To Buy or Not to Buy, and presented on ITV's Bingo Night Live in June 2008. From 23 March 2009, she presented a quiz show, Wordplay on Five in the old Going for Gold slots. In summer 2010, Powell was a contestant on Channel 4's Celebrity Come Dine with Me and BBC One's Celebrity Masterchef. In 2012 and 2013, she appeared in two episodes of ITV2's Lemon La Vida Loca. In 2017 she joined ITV's Bigheads as a commentator.

Powell married millionaire Toby Baxendale and they had two daughters, Constance and Pollyanna. In 2009 Powell announced she had split up with her husband. She lives with her daughters in Cheshire.