Alexis Conran is a British actor, writer and presenter on TV and radio, who currently hosts the weekend afternoon show on

Times Radio Times Radio is a British digital radio station owned by News UK, part of the Murdoch family, Murdoch media empire. It is jointly operated by News Broadcasting (which News UK acquired in 2016, when it was known as ''Wireless Group''), ''The Tim ...

and a number of consumer advice programmes for 5. He is also known for co-hosting the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

show '' The Real Hustle'' from 2006 until 2012. He was born in south Paris, France, and moved to Greece when he was a child. Conran won '' Celebrity Masterchef'' 2016 on 29 July, beating

Louise Minchin Louise Mary Minchin (née Grayson; born 8 September 1968) is a British television presenter, journalist and former news presenter who currently works freelance within the BBC. Beginning in 2012, Minchin was a regular anchor on the BBC One pro ...

and

Jimmy Osmond James Arthur Osmond (born April 16, 1963) is an American singer and businessman. He is the youngest member of the sibling musical group the Osmonds. As a solo artist, Osmond has accumulated six RIAA certification, gold records, one RIAA certific ...

in the final.

Early life

Conran was born in Paris to a father who was a gambling addict and started to get into debt. He turned to crime and became a thief and conman, eventually getting arrested. When Conran was seven years old, his parents divorced. He was then raised by his mother with the help of her parents. He is of Greek heritage. Aged 16, he moved to London to study at the

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. In ...

Career

In 2000, Conran starred in the music video for Blockhead's "Insomniac Olympics", directed by Sam Arthur.. Later that year he had a minor role in the TV miniseries ''

Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition () ...

'', playing Prince Ali. His stage work includes ''Excuses!'' in 2003. In 2003, he was a member of a team of experts advising the writers and actors of the hit

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

series '' Hustle'', which he later co-wrote and presented ( confidence trickster) on the follow-up 2006–2012 hit series '' The Real Hustle'' on

. In 2015 he starred in the show '' Man v Expert'' on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

, in which he used various tricks to try to beat experts in their own field of expertise. In 2013 Conran wrote and presented '' Hustling America'' for Channel 5 and

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

, which was similar to '' The Real Hustle''. He has helped the

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economi ...

show consumers how to avoid becoming the victim of a fraud, and is a regular presenter of consumer advice shows for Channel 5, with titles such as ''Scams: Don't Get Caught Out'' and ''Electric Cars: Which One Should You Buy?''. His other television roles include 2 episodes he starred in season 5 of the show '' Waking the Dead'', as Michael Sherman. He appeared in the TV show '' Wire in the Blood''. He also starred in a TV advert for Zovirax cold sore cream. In 2013 he appeared in the Channel 4 show
Eye Spy
' and in August 2015 he presented the Channel 5 morning show '' The Wright Stuff'' whilst the host was on holiday. Conran played the role of Dr Petridis in ITV's '' The Durrells''. In 2016, he co-presented ''The Joy of Techs'' with his best friend,

Marcus Brigstocke Marcus Alexander Brigstocke (born 8 May 1973) is a British comedian and actor. He has worked in stand-up comedy, television, radio and musical theatre. He has appeared on many BBC television and radio shows. Early life Brigstocke is the son of N ...

. He was '' Celebrity MasterChef'' Champion 2016. Conran presented Radio Hustles on Talkradio, a consumer affairs based talk show which aired from 1 pm to 3 pm on Saturdays. From 20 January 2018 to June 2020, the show changed from being consumer affairs based to being a news phone-in discussion programme, still presented by Conran, with the new airtime of 4pm to 7pm on Saturdays. He also presented a Sunday morning political programme until June 2020, when he left the station for

. Since July 2020, he has presented a show on

between 1-4pm on Saturday and Sunday. In 2023, he became the regular presenter of ''Alexis Conran and Friends'', a programme on Channel 5 which followed on from similar programmes in the morning with

Jeremy Vine Jeremy Guy Vine (born 17 May 1965) is an English television and radio presenter and journalist. He is best known as the host of his BBC Radio 2 lunchtime programme which presents news, views, interviews with live guests, consumer issues and popu ...

and Storm Huntley. In 2025, when ''Vanessa'' with Vanessa Feltz took over the slot where ''Alexis Conran and Friends'' was, Conran could be still seen on 5 as one of the regular cover presenters for these shows, along with Matt Allwright.https://www.atvtoday.co.uk/252681-ch4/

Personal life

Conran is a technophile. He is a collector of playing cards, owning over 5,060 decks and spends an hour each day practising card tricks.

References

External links

Alexis Conran
Official site.

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Conran, Alexis Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art British male television actors British magicians British television presenters British writers English people of French descent English people of Greek descent French people of Greek descent Greek people of French descent British gamblers French gamblers Greek gamblers Living people Reality cooking competition winners Year of birth missing (living people)