Grace Eleanor Keeling (born 12 August 1999), known professionally as GK Barry, is an English internet personality, social media influencer and presenter. Keeling began posting on video-sharing platform

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

in 2020 whilst completing a film studies degree at

Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university located in Nottingham, England. Its origins date back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham School of Design, Nottingham Government School of Design, which still opera ...

, during which she worked on the

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 ...

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

''. After one year of posting lifestyle videos on the app, she surpassed 1 million followers. She began presenting a podcast, ''Saving Grace'', in April 2022, which sees her interviewing various celebrities. She has since gone on to tour the ''Saving Grace'' podcast around the UK. In 2024, Keeling joined the cast of ''

Loose Women ''Loose Women'' (known as ''Live Talk'' from 2000 to 2001) is a British talk show that broadcasts on ITV weekdays from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. The show focuses on a panel of four female presenters who interview celebrities, talk about aspects of ...

'' as a panellist, making her the youngest regular panellist in the show's 25-year history. She went on to appear in the twenty-fourth series of ''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' later that year. In 2025, she made her acting debut, with a cameo as Vanessa in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

original series '' Missing You''.

Early life and education

Grace Eleanor Keeling was born on 12 August 1999 in

Cambridge, England Cambridge ( ) is a city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of ...

. When she was two her family moved to the

British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...

, returning to the United Kingdom six years later. GK studied film at

(NTU), obtaining a master's in digital marketing. Whilst at NTU, she worked with the

soap opera ''

'', creating videos for ShawMind and Nottinghamshire Police, helped the Nottingham Women's Centre rebrand their business and assisted on the set of the

film ''

Hood Hood may refer to: Covering Apparel * Hood (headgear), type of head covering ** Article of academic dress ** Bondage hood, sex toy * Hoodie, hooded sweatshirt Anatomy * Clitoral hood, a hood of skin surrounding the clitoris * Hood, a flap of ...

''.

Career

Keeling came to attention on

in 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. She chose the username ''@gkbarry'' due to initially not wanting her real name to become public and has explained that the username comes from her initials, GK, and the surname of her friend, Tatiana Barry. She admitted that in her final year of university, she prioritised TikTok over her work and felt that she could have achieved a better grade. In late 2021, she appeared on the ''Fellas''

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

, which led to Keeling starting her own podcast under The Fellas Studios, ''Saving Grace'', in April 2022, which is also uploaded as a vodcast to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. In November 2022, Keeling participated in Footasylum's "''Locked In"'' online reality series in which she finished as the 2nd runner-up. In February 2023, Keeling toured the UK as part of her ''Saving Grace'' podcast. Later that month, she also appeared in an episode of '' Love Island: Aftersun'' to discuss the ninth series with presenter

Maya Jama Maya Indea Jama ( ; born 14 August 1994) is a British television presenter and radio DJ. She co-presented BBC One's '' Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer'' alongside Peter Crouch and Alex Horne and was the presenter of the BBC Three competition '' ...

. She also fronted an advertisement campaign for

KFC KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...

in July 2023. Keeling has also appeared on the

ITV2 ITV2 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the fiv ...

game show '' CelebAbility'' in July 2023, as well as appearing as a contestant in episodes of '' The Wheel'' and ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which The Weakest Link (British game show), first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host ...

'' on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

. In September 2023, Keeling was announced as one of the celebrities participating in ''Don't Look Down'' for

Stand Up to Cancer Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) is a charitable organization that was established as a division of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF). In 2022, SU2C was separately incorporated and was recognized by the IRS as a Section 501(c)(3) public charit ...

, which aired on

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 ...

in October 2023. In October 2023, Keeling appeared as a guest panellist on the '' Big Brother'' companion show, '' Big Brother: Late & Live'', to discuss the twentieth series with presenters

Will Best William Trevorian Stuart Best (born 21 February 1985) is an English television presenter and entrepreneur. Best has presented numerous shows for Channel 4, ITV and the BBC including T4 on the Beach and '' Dance Dance Dance''. He has also written ...

and

AJ Odudu Onatejiro "AJ" Odudu (born 12 February 1988) is a British television presenter. She co-presents the ITV2 reality shows '' Big Brother'' (since 2023) and ''Celebrity Big Brother'' (since 2024) alongside Will Best, and previously the spin-off sh ...

. From February to March 2024, Keeling completed a sold-out UK tour for a second time as part of the ''Saving Grace'' podcast. Guests for the second tour included Charity Shop Sue, Gemma Collins, Hannah Elizabeth,

Chloe Ferry Chloe Ferry (born Chloe West Etherington; 31 August 1995) is an English television personality from Newcastle, known for being a cast member in the MTV reality series ''Geordie Shore''. She also took part in the nineteenth series of ''Celebrity ...

Chris Hughes Christopher Hughes (born November 26, 1983) is an American entrepreneur and author who co-founded and served as spokesman for the online social directory and networking site Facebook until 2007. He was the publisher and editor-in-chief of ''The ...

Katie Price Katrina Amy Alexandra Alexis Price (''née'' Infield; born 22 May 1978) is an English media personality and model. She gained recognition in the late 1990s for her glamour modelling work, including on Page 3 of the tabloid newspaper ''The Su ...

Louie Spence Louie Spence (born 6 April 1969) is an English dancing, dancer, choreographer and television presenter, best known for the TV show ''Pineapple Dance Studios (TV series), Pineapple Dance Studios''. He was a professional dancer in his youth, perfo ...

, and Scott van-der-Sluis. The same year, she confirmed she was in a relationship with Ipswich Town footballer Ella Rutherford. Since August 2024, Keeling has appeared as a panellist on the ITV daytime

talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...

'', making her the youngest panellist ever on the show at the age of 25. In November 2024, Keeling was a contestant in the twenty-fourth series of the

survival Survival or survivorship, the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things ...

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

show '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' and was the eighth contestant to be eliminated, finishing in fifth place. Keeling grew close to Reverend Richard Coles during the show, a relationship that fans referred to as a 'bromance', and he later appeared as a guest in an episode of ''Saving Grace''. Over a week after leaving ''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'', Keeling took over

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena () (originally the Empire Pool, currently known as OVO Energy, OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, Greater London, England. The 12,500-seat facility is Greater Lond ...

for her ''Saving Grace: XXX-Mas Special'' on 15 December 2024. In January 2025, Keeling appeared as a guest panellist on the Channel 4 comedy talk show, ''

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 ...

''. She is expected to tour the UK for a third time in September 2025, as part of the ''Saving Grace: Jungle Fever'' Tour. In May, she was revealed to be a judge on Jimmy Carr's new comedy show ''Am I The A******?'' airing on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

later in the year as well as being a host on

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 Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

on the weekend afternoon show in July of the same year.

Filmography

Television

Podcast

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, GK 1999 births 21st-century English women 21st-century English LGBTQ people Alumni of Nottingham Trent University British women podcasters English lesbian entertainers English LGBTQ broadcasters English podcasters English TikTokers LGBTQ podcasters LGBTQ TikTokers Living people Mass media people from Cambridge