Dermot O'Leary

Sean Dermot Fintan O'Leary Jr. (born 24 May 1973), better known as Dermot O'Leary, is an British-Irish television presenter for ITV and a radio presenter for BBC Radio 2.

O'Leary's radio career began when he worked as a disc jockey at Essex Radio, but he is best known for being the presenter of The X Factor on ITV, a position he has held every year since 2007 with the exception of 2015, when he stepped down to pursue other ventures. He was then briefly replaced by Olly Murs and Caroline Flack.

O'Leary was born in Colchester, North Essex, England to parents Seán and Maria, who had moved to the United Kingdom from Ireland. He is "extremely proud" of his Irish roots and holds dual British and Irish citizenship. O'Leary attended primary school in Marks Tey and later St Benedict's Catholic College in Colchester. He admits that his relaxed attitude at school caused him to fail all but two of his GCSEs. Following that, O'Leary re-took his school leaving qualifications, allowing 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, O'Leary was a member of The Boys' Brigade Christian youth organisation.

Early career

O'Leary started as a disc jockey at BBC Essex, based in Southend-on-Sea, 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, before moving on to present Big Brother's Little Brother (the companion show to Big Brother) on E4 from 2001 onwards. Also in 2001, O'Leary appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank.

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. While presenting the show, he reportedly upset Celine Dion, later saying that he "literally had to shut her up."

On 27 March 2015, O'Leary confirmed that he had quit The X Factor after 8 years to pursue other projects. Via his Twitter account, he said:

Good afternoon. After eight wonderful years on The X Factor it's time for me to move on. I'd like to thank ITV, Simon, The X Factor family and particularly the viewers, all of whom have been a big part of my life for so long. I'd like to wish the team all the best for the future, especially whoever takes over from me.

It was announced on 16 April 2015, that O'Leary's replacements would be Olly Murs and Caroline Flack, who previously co-hosted The Xtra Factor, the X Factor's behind-the-scenes companion programme, together in 2011 and 2012.

On 29 March 2016, O'Leary returned to The X Factor as a presenter to replace Olly Murs and Caroline Flack for the show's 13th series. In a statement, he said:

“I’m very flattered to be asked back to The X Factor, and am currently dusting off my dancing shoes. There is nothing more exciting than hosting live TV on a Saturday night. The show is naturally very close to my heart, after having hosted it for 8 years. I’m really looking forward to it, and excited to be back."

From 2010 to 2019, O'Leary presented the National Television Awards for ITV. In 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016, O'Leary 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.

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, and that he would not return in summer 2008. 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 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 10 amto 1 pm, 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 2 pm to 4 pm. 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 3 pm and 6 pm from April 2009 until its end on 21 January 2017. It focused on new music and had featured live sessions from the likes of Oasis, Supergrass, the Raconteurs, Massive Attack, Kasabian, the Guillemots, Beck, Lily Allen, Foo Fighters, Bloc Party, and Kate Nash. 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 8 am and 10 am, 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.

O'Leary sits in for Zoe Ball's Radio 2 breakfast show when she's off for a holiday or on a break.

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.

O'Leary supports Arsenal, Celtic and London Irish RUFC. 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, having attended matches in the past. During a studio guest appearance on Fantasy Football Euro 2004, O'Leary spoke of his support for the Republic of Ireland football team and Ireland Rugby Union team.

When O'Leary was in his late teens, he played American football for his local team, the Colchester Gladiators, and the Ipswich Cardinals, where he wore the number 32.

In 2005, O'Leary ran the London Marathon for the third time, completing it for his first time under four hours. In 2007, he was an usher at the wedding of Holly Willoughby.

O'Leary is a practising Roman Catholic. In an interview with Peter Stanford in the Daily Telegraph on 11 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".

He has expressed political support for the Labour Party, identifying himself as a socialist.

On 19 November 2011 during an episode of The Xtra Factor, it was announced that O'Leary was engaged to his long-term girlfriend Dee Koppang. They married at St Mary the Virgin, Anglican Church, Chiddingstone, Kent on 14 September 2012, arriving at the church in a Mercedes-Benz Pagoda. With reference to starting a family, O'Leary has stated that he would like to have children, but that his career was "hectic." On 1st February 2020 he announced that he was expecting his first child with wife Dee Koppang.

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.

Charity

O'Leary is one of nine presidents of the Young People's Trust for the Environment.

Dermot is a patron of the international children's film festival CineMagic, a registered charity for young people, based in Belfast.

O'Leary has campaigned on behalf of Make Poverty History, and has 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.

On 7 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.