Alexander James Brooker (born 15 May 1984) is an English

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and presenter best known for his television work with

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. Since 2012, Brooker has co-hosted ''

The Last Leg ''The Last Leg'' (known during its first series as ''The Last Leg with Adam Hills'' and in Australia as ''Adam Hills: The Last Leg'') is a British late-night television humorous talk/sketch show that originally ran alongside the 2012 Summer Par ...

'', a

panel show with

Adam Hills Adam Christopher Hills (born 10 July 1970) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. In Australia, he hosted the music quiz show '' Spicks and Specks'' from 2005 to 2011, and again in 2021 onwards, and the talk show '' Adam Hi ...

and Josh Widdicombe as well as co-presenting

ski jumping show '' The Jump'' with

Davina McCall Davina Lucy Pascale McCall (born 16 October 1967) is an English television presenter. She has presented various television shows for Channel 4, including ''Streetmate'' (1998–2001, 2016), ''Big Brother (British TV series), Big Brother'' (2 ...

in 2014. In 2016, he began presenting ''The Superhumans Show'' for

daytime. In February 2018 Brooker signed with

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

' Foundation PDRL (Physical Disability Rugby League) team.

Career

Brooker went to the Norton Knatchbull School in

Ashford, Kent Ashford is a town in the Borough of Ashford, Ashford district, in the county of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Great Stour at the southern or Escarpment, scarp edge of the North Downs, about by road southeast of centr ...

, before graduating from

Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This ...

in 2006 and working as a sports reporter on the ''

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St. Paul's Square, Liverpool, England. It is published Monday through Sunday, and is Liverpool's da ...

''. He now works for the

Press Association PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and ...

. Brooker entered

's ''Half a Million Quid Talent Search'' in 2012, which aimed to find disabled talent for coverage of the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games and beyond. He first appeared as a trackside reporter on Channel 4's coverage of the 2011 BT Paralympic World Cup. Brooker interviewed the likes of

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

and

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

during the 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony and was a co-host on '' The Last Leg with Adam Hills'', a nightly alternative look at the Games. Brooker was also on ''The Last Leg of the Year'', an end of year special with

and Josh Widdicombe. Since 25 January 2013, Brooker has been a co-host on ''

'' on

. In February 2015 Brooker interviewed

Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British retired politician and media executive who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 and as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015. H ...

for the programme: his performance was described by political journalist

Hugo Rifkind Hugo James Rifkind (born 30 March 1977) is a British journalist. He has been a columnist for ''The Times'' since 2005. He also presents a mid-morning show on Times Radio, Mondays to Thursdays (from Sept 2024.) From July 2020 (the station's laun ...

as "a model of how to talk normally to a politician – and make them talk normally back". On 1 August 2013, Brooker hosted a one-off documentary about

body image Body image is a person's thoughts, feelings and perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body. The concept of body image is used in several disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, psycho ...

on Channel 4, titled ''Alex Brooker: My Perfect Body''. In January and February 2014, Brooker co-presented the first series of celebrity reality show '' The Jump'' on

opposite

. The series was broadcast live over 10 nights from a mountainside in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. However, Brooker did not return for the second series in 2015. In 2016, he presented ''The Superhumans Show'' on

. From 2020 to 2021, he co-presented ''One Night In'' with Josh Widdicombe. In May 2022, the BBC announced that Brooker would be one of the guest presenters to take over

Richard Osman Richard Osman (born 28 November 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, and novelist. He is the creator and former co-presenter of the BBC One television quiz show ''Pointless''. He has presented the BBC Two quiz shows ''Two Tribes ( ...

's role on ''

Pointless ''Pointless'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British television quiz show produced by Banijay Entertainment subsidiary Remarkable Entertainment for the BBC and hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode, four teams of two contestan ...

''. In 2024, Brooker participated as "Bigfoot" on the fifth series of '' The Masked Singer'' and finished in second place.

Personal life

Brooker was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

. He was born with

congenital abnormalities A birth defect is an abnormal condition that is present at birth, regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities can range from mild to severe. Birth de ...

of his hands and arm, and a twisted right leg which had to be amputated when he was a baby. He now wears a

prosthetic leg In medicine, a prosthesis (: prostheses; from ), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through physical trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth (congenital disorder). Prosthe ...

. In 2014 Brooker married

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

Lynsey, and the couple have two daughters. Brooker is a supporter of

Arsenal F.C. The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. In domestic football, Arsenal h ...

, appearing regularly on the ''Footballistically Arsenal'' podcast.

Charity

In May 2014, Brooker fronted a campaign called "End The Awkward" by disability charity Scope, which used comedy to shine a light on the awkwardness that many people feel about disability. Brooker appeared in three advertisements guiding viewers through awkward situations that they may encounter with a disabled person. In September 2012, Brooker won ''

The Million Pound Drop Live ''The Million Pound Drop'' (also ''The Million Pound Drop Live'' and briefly ''The £100K Drop'') is a British quiz show which was broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. The show was first aired on 24 May 2010 and was presented by Davin ...

'' with Josh Widdicombe playing for Echoes Foundation, Scope Joseph's Goal. Brooker is the official ambassador of UK-based charity Legs4Africa.

Filmography

Television *''Half a Million Quid Talent Search'' (2012) *''

'' (2012–present) *''Alex Brooker: My Perfect Body'' (2013) *'' The Jump'' (2014) *''The Superhumans Show'' (2016) *''The NHS: A People's History'' (2018) *''Very British Problems'' (2018) *''Alex Brooker: Disability and Me'' (2020) *''One Night In'' (2020–21) *''Hobby Man'' (2022) Guest appearances *''

'' (September 2012) – Contestant with Josh Widdicombe *'' Alan Carr's Grand National Specstacular'' (19 March 2013) – Guest *'' Sunday Brunch'' (28 July 2013) – Guest *'' Celebrity Fifteen to One'' (20 September 2013, 13 June 2014) – Contestant *''

8 Out of 10 Cats ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' (stylised as ''8 out of 10 CATS'') is a British comedy panel show that aired from 3 June 2005 to 17 January 2021. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 from 2005 to 2015, then More4 from 2016 to 2017, and finally E4 from ...

'' (18 October 2013, 8 November 2013, 14 April 2014, 4 November 2014, 27 June 2017, 15 April 2019) – Panellist *''

Never Mind the Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first host ...

'' (18 November 2013, 14 October 2014) – Guest *'' Fake Reaction'' (23 January 2014) – Panellist *''

Virtually Famous ''Virtually Famous'' is a British comedy panel game show most recently presented by Chris Ramsey. In each episode, two teams of three panelists compete. The teams were, in the final series, captained by Vicky Pattison and Seann Walsh. The que ...

'' (4 August 2014) – Panellist *''

Celebrity Juice ''Celebrity Juice'' is a British television comedy panel game broadcast on ITV2 between 24 September 2008 and 15 December 2022. The show was written and presented by Leigh Francis in the role of his alter ego Keith Lemon. The format for th ...

'' (11 September 2014) – Guest *'' The Chase: Celebrity Special'' (20 September 2014) – Contestant *'' Celebrity Squares'' (15 October 2014) – Guest *'' The Apprentice: You're Fired!'' (5 November 2014) – Panellist *'' Britain's Got More Talent'' (28 May 2015) – Panellist *''

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' is a British comedy panel show on Channel 4. The show follows the game of '' Countdown'', but presented in a comedy panel show format seen on ''8 Out of 10 Cats'', with the show being a crossover of the two. ...

'' (28 August 2015) – Panellist *'' Celebrity Benchmark'' (23 October 2015) – Contestant, won £6,000 for charity *''

All Star Mr & Mrs ''All Star Mr & Mrs'' is a British television show which first began airing on 12 April 2008 on ITV. It is a celebrity revival of the original '' Mr and Mrs'' that aired on ITV from 1968 to 1988 with two separate revivals in 1995–1996 and 1 ...

'' (25 November 2015) – Contestant *'' Would I Lie to You?'' (13 January 2016) – Contestant *'' Sunday Brunch'' (6 March 2016) *'' Duck Quacks Don't Echo'' *'' Very British Problems'' (2015–2016) – Interviewee *'' John Bishop: In Conversation With...'' (2016) – Interviewee (Series 1 Episode 4) * ''Alex Brooker: Disability and Me'' (2020) – Presenter *'' Tipping Point: Lucky Stars'' (11 October 2020) – Contestant *'' Richard Osman's House of Games'' (11–15 January 2021, 12–16 February 2024) – Contestant *''Redknapp's Big Night Out'' (27 May 2021) – Guest *'' Big Zuu's Big Eats'' (25 July 2022) – Guest *''

'' (7–21 February 2023) – Guest co-host *'' The Masked Singer'' (December 2023 - February 2024) – Bigfoot, runner up *'' Bluey'' (December 2024) - Chef Harlow (minisode "Butlers")

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooker, Alex 1984 births Living people Alumni of Liverpool John Moores University Channel 4 people Comedians from the London Borough of Croydon Congenital amputees Television presenters with disabilities English amputees English journalists English male comedians English writers with disabilities English satirists English television presenters People educated at The Norton Knatchbull School People from Croydon