Zoe Ball is a British broadcaster and presenter, best known for hosting BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2 Breakfast shows. She was born in Blackpool on 23 November 1970 and spent her childhood living with her TV presenter father.
Zoe started her career hosting children’s TV shows and has since hosted shows such as The Big Breakfast on Channel 4, Strictly Dance Fever, Grease Is The Word, Britain’s Best Brain, and the BBC One Children in Need telethon.
She has also appeared on various TV shows, more recently Celebrity Gogglebox with her son Woody.
In December 2025, she made headlines for quitting her £950,000 job at BBC Radio 2 to be there for her daughter Nelly, who is taking her GCSE’s.
She is currently dating 49-year-old Mat Weekes, a top TV production designer.
Ahead of her appearance on Who Do You Think You Are? on 26 May 2026, here's five things you didn't know about Zoe Ball...
1. Female game changer
Zoe was the first female host of both BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 Breakfast shows. She was also the second-highest paid BBC presenter in 2024 after Gary Lineker.
2. Family genes
She is the daughter of the famous children’s TV presenter Johnny Ball. He appeared on TV shows such as Play School, Think of a Number, and Play Away.
3. Deck-spinning husband
She was married to Norman Cook, better known as DJ Fatboy Slim, and had two children with him. She married him at Babington House in Somerset in 1999, where weddings have been hosted for the likes of Amanda Holden, Eddie Redmayne, and James Corden. The couple separated in 2016.
4. Dancing llama
In 2021, Zoe appeared on The Masked Dancer, where she was dressed disguised as a llama. She chose a llama as she saw herself as a “country girl at heart”.
5. Potty mouth
She was warned twice by the BBC when working on the radio in the 90s for her swearing.