James Robin Grant Laing ( /ˈleɪŋ/ ; born 3 November 1988) is an English presenter, television personality and investor. He is the founder of the confectionery company Candy Kittens and best known for appearing on the reality television series '' Made in Chelsea'' since the second series in 2011. He runs and hosts two podcasts, ''Private Parts'' and a

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance ...

podcast, ''6 Degrees from Jamie and Spencer''. As an actor, he has appeared in shows such as ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera '' Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on sister channel E4 a ...

'', ''

Murder In Successville ''Murder in Successville'' is a British sitcom with improvisational elements created by Andy Brereton and Avril Spary. The series aired on BBC Three from 6 May 2015 to 24 May 2017. ''Murder in Successville'' stars Tom Davis as DI Desmond Sleet ...

'' and ''

Drunk History ''Drunk History'' is an American educational comedy television series produced by Comedy Central, based on the Funny or Die web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner in 2007. They and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the show's ...

''.

Early life

Laing was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1988. His parents are named Penny and Nicholas. He has an older brother, Alexander and a younger sister, Emily. He attended

Summer Fields School Summer Fields is a fee-paying boys' independent day and boarding preparatory school in Summertown, Oxford. It was originally called Summerfield and used to have a subsidiary school, Summerfields, St Leonards-on-Sea (known as "Summers mi"). H ...

(1997–2002),

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, an ...

and, later, the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

, where he studied Theatre and Performance. Laing is a great-great-grandson of

Sir Alexander Grant, 1st Baronet Sir Alexander Grant, 1st Baronet (1 October 1864 – 21 May 1937) was a Scottish businessman, biscuit manufacturer and philanthropist. He is best known for being managing director of McVitie's, developing the recipe of the McVitie's digestive bis ...

, who created the

McVitie's McVitie's () is a British snack food brand owned by United Biscuits. The name derives from the original Scottish biscuit maker, McVitie & Price, Ltd., established in 1830 on Rose Street in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company moved to various sites ...

digestive biscuit A digestive biscuit, sometimes described as a sweet-meal biscuit, is a semi- sweet biscuit that originated in Scotland. The digestive was first developed in 1839 by two Scottish doctors to aid digestion. The term ''digestive'' is derived from th ...

in 1892, and a great-nephew of the Lord Laing of Dunphail.

Career

In 2011, Laing rose to fame through the E4 reality show '' Made in Chelsea'', joining the show in the second series. He launched his own confectionery company, Candy Kittens, in 2012, which specialises in vegan and vegetarian sweets. Laing's acting credits include playing a fashion show attendee in 2016's '' Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie'' and a doctor in a 2017 episode of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

soap opera ''

''. He also beat the previous world record in ‘amount of jelly beans thrown in mouth per 30 seconds’ on Series 12 Episode 3 of ''

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 comedic panel show format seen on ''8 Out of 10 Cats'', with the show being a crossover of the two. ...

'' with a groundbreaking 18 jellybeans; beating the previous record by 3. In 2017, he appeared on the first series of ''

Celebrity Hunted ''Hunted'' is a British reality series that began airing on Channel 4 on 10 September 2015. The series features contestants who are instructed to go on the run for a period of 25 (originally 28) days in mainland Great Britain, whilst avoiding a ...

'' alongside his ''Made in Chelsea'' co-star Spencer Matthews. In 2018, he appeared in the third episode of the first season of '' The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off''. Laing was named as one of the celebrities to star in the seventeenth series of ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 j ...

'' in August 2019; however a foot injury led him to withdraw on 5 September, two days before the launch show was aired, where he was paired with professional dancer Oti Mabuse. He was replaced by Kelvin Fletcher, who went on to win the series. The following year, he was announced as a contestant on the eighteenth series, where he was re-partnered with

Karen Hauer Karen Hauer Wyn-Jones (formerly Clifton; born 20 April 1982) is a Venezuelan-American professional Latin dance specialist and World Mambo Champion, best known for her appearances on the British television series ''Strictly Come Dancing.'' She is ...

, making the final and finishing as one of the runners-up. In 2018, he filmed a Channel 4 documentary called ''Famous and Fighting Crime'', in which he became a volunteer

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...

. Since early 2017, he has hosted a podcast, ''Private Parts'', with his friend Francis Boulle, as well as starting a podcast on

BBC Sounds BBC Sounds is a walled garden streaming media and audio download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tabl ...

in May 2020, ''6 Degrees from Jamie and Spencer'', with Spencer Matthews. From 28 October 2022, Laing provided maternity cover for

Mollie King Mollie Elizabeth King (born 4 June 1987) is an English pop singer, radio presenter and a member of girl group The Saturdays. As part of the Saturdays, King has had 13 Top 10 and eight Top 5 singles, including the UK number-one hit "What About U ...

on BBC Radio 1.

Personal life

Laing lives with his girlfriend, Sophie Habboo, whom he has been with since April 2019, in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

. Laing and Habboo announced their engagement on Instagram on 18 December 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laing, Jamie 1988 births Living people People from Oxford 21st-century English male actors English male actors People educated at Summer Fields School People educated at Radley College Alumni of the University of Leeds British television personalities Made in Chelsea English television personalities