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. It is jointly operated by Wireless Group (which News UK acquired in 2016), ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''. As of September 2022, the station broadcasts to a weekly audienc ...

. He is perhaps best 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 targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

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 ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. In the UK, it is produced by the BBC. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 2 ...

'' 2016 on 29 July, beating

Louise Minchin Louise Mary Minchin (born 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 programme '' Breakfa ...

and

Jimmy Osmond James Arthur Osmond (born April 16, 1963), also known as Little Jimmy Osmond, is an American singer, actor, and businessman. He is the youngest member of the sibling musical group the Osmonds. As a solo artist, Osmond has accumulated six gold re ...

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 7 years old, his parents got 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. It is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. LAMDA's Principal i ...

Career

In 2000, Conran starred in the music video for

Blockhead Blockhead(s) may refer to: Films * '' The Blockhead'', a 1921 German silent film * '' Block-Heads'', a 1938 film starring Laurel and Hardy * ''Blockhead'' (film), a 1966 Italian film Music * Blockhead (music producer) (born 1976), American hi ...

'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'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

'', 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 #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

series ''

Hustle Hustle or The Hustle may refer to: Film * ''Hustle'' (1975 film), an American crime film starring Burt Reynolds * ''Hustle'' (2004 film), an American television film about Pete Rose * ''Hustle'' (2008 film), a film starring Bai Ling * ''The H ...

'', 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 owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

, 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, 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 economic r ...

show consumers how to avoid becoming the victim of a fraud. 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 ''Wire in the Blood'' is a British crime drama television series, created and produced by Coastal Productions for Tyne Tees Television and broadcast on ITV from 14 November 2002 to 31 October 2008. The series is based on characters created by ...

''. 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 ''The Wright Stuff'' is a British television chat show which was hosted by former tabloid journalist Matthew Wright from 2000 until 2018. It aired on Channel 5 on weekday mornings from 9:15 to 11:15am. The series characterised itself as "Bri ...

'' whilst the host was on holiday. Conran played the role of Dr Petridis in ITV's ''

The Durrells ''The Durrells'' (known in North America as ''The Durrells in Corfu'') is a British comedy-drama television series loosely based on Gerald Durrell's three autobiographical books about his family's four years (1935–1939) on the Greek island of ...

''. 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, actor and satirist. 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 ...

. He was ''

Celebrity MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. In the UK, it is produced by the BBC. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 2 ...

'' Champion 2016. Conran presented Radio Hustles on

Talkradio TalkRadio (previously styled as talkRADIO) is a talk radio station broadcasting nationally in the United Kingdom, which was relaunched on 21 March 2016. Based in London and owned by Wireless Group, a subsidiary of News Corp., it is the sist ...

, a consumer affairs based talk show which aired from 1pm to 3pm on Saturday afternoons. 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.

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 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)