James 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 is best known for appearing on the reality television series ''

Made in Chelsea ''Made in Chelsea'' (abbreviated ''MIC'') is a British Scripted reality, structured-reality television series broadcast by E4 (TV channel), E4. ''Made in Chelsea'' chronicles the lives of affluent young people in the West London and South West a ...

'' since the second series in 2011. He runs and hosts three podcasts - "Newly Weds" with his wife, ''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 Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

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 originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...

'', '' Murder In Successville'' 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. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the show's executive p ...

''. He is now a regular radio presenter on BBC Radio 1.

Early life

Laing was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in 1988. His parents are Penny and Nicholas. He has an older brother, Alexander, a younger brother, George, and a younger sister, Emily. He was privately educated at both

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"). ...

(1997–2002) and

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley or the College of St. Peter at Radley, is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (independent boarding school) for boys near the village of Radley, in Oxfordshire, in the United Kingd ...

, before attending the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

, where he studied Theatre and Performance. Laing is the 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 was managing director of McVitie's, McVitie and Price Ltd., developed the recipe of the McVitie's digestive ...

, who created the

McVitie's McVitie's () is a British snack food brand owned by United Biscuits. The name is derived from the original Economy of Scotland, Scottish biscuit maker, McVitie & Price, Private company limited by shares, Ltd., established in 1830 on Rose Street ...

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 doctors to aid digestion. The term ''digestive'' is derived from the belief ...

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

Career

In 2011, Laing rose to fame through the E4 reality show ''

'', 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 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 ...

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

'' with 18 jellybeans; beating the previous record by 3. In 2017, he appeared on the first series of '' Celebrity Hunted'' alongside his ''Made in Chelsea'' co-star

Spencer Matthews Spencer George Matthews (born 6 August 1988) is a British television personality and entrepreneur, known for his appearances on ''Made in Chelsea''. He has also appeared on other television shows such as '' Celebrity MasterChef'' and '' The Ju ...

. In 2018, he appeared in the third episode of the first season of ''

The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off ''The Great British Bake Off'' (often abbreviated to ''Bake Off'' or ''GBBO'') is a British television Cooking show, baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of ...

''. In August 2019, Laing was named as one of the celebrities to star in the seventeenth series of ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

''; 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 Otlile "Oti" Mabuse (born 8 August 1990) is a South African talent show judge, presenter, dancer and Latin dance champion currently based in the United Kingdom. She is best known for being a professional dancer on the British television serie ...

. He was replaced by

Kelvin Fletcher Kelvin Warren Fletcher (born 17 January 1984) is an English actor, model, racing driver, presenter and farmer. He played Andy Sugden in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'', a role he played from 1996 until 2016. In 2019, Fletcher won the sevent ...

, 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 (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 currently ...

, making the final and finishing as one of the runners-up. Laing is the only person to appear on two different series of ''Strictly''. 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 policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

. 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 an Over-the-top media service, over-the-top audio streaming media, streaming and download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, Streaming media, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide ...

in May 2020, ''6 Degrees from Jamie and Spencer'', with Spencer Matthews. In 2021, Laing appeared on ''

Richard Osman's House of Games ''Richard Osman's House of Games'' is a British quiz show hosted by Richard Osman and produced by Banijay UK Productions subsidiary Remarkable Entertainment for the BBC. The show is played on a weekly basis, with four celebrities playing on f ...

''. From 28 October 2022, Laing replaced

Mollie King Mollie Elizabeth King (born 4 June 1987) is an English pop singer, songwriter, 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 ...

while she was on

maternity leave Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" and "paternity leave ...

. In March 2024, he replaced

Jordan North Jordan Levi North (born 14 February 1990) is a British radio DJ and television presenter from York, England. Since April 2024, he has been the host of ''Capital Breakfast'', and formerly hosted lunchtime and drivetime shows on BBC Radio 1. In ...

on Radio 1's Going Home show.

Personal life

Laing lives with his wife, Sophie Charlotte Habboo (born 19 October 1994), in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. They have been together since April 2019, and announced their engagement on Instagram on 18 December 2021. They married on 14 April 2023 in London, before heading to

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the re ...

a month later for a second wedding in front of friends and family. In June 2025, the couple announced that they are expecting their first child. In 2025, he ran five

ultramarathon An ultramarathon is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon distance of . The sport of running ultramarathons is called ultra running or ultra distance running. Various distances, surfaces, and formats are raced competitively, from the ...

s (more than ) in five days for charity.

References

External links

*
''Going Home on Radio 1''
(BBC Radio 1) {{DEFAULTSORT:Laing, Jamie 1988 births Living people Mass media people from Oxford 21st-century English male actors BBC Radio 1 presenters English male actors English people of Scottish descent 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 Participants in British reality television series