Saira Khan (born 15 May 1970) is an English television personality. She was a contestant on the

first series First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

of '' The Apprentice'' in 2005, in which she finished as the runner-up. In 2012, Khan competed in the first series of ''

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off ''The Great British Bake Off'' (often abbreviated to ''Bake Off'' or ''GBBO'') is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, attem ...

''. From 2012 to 2017, Khan co-presented '' The Martin Lewis Money Show,'' and in 2015, she presented the ITV series ''

Guess This House ''Guess This House'' is a British game show that has aired on ITV from 27 July to 28 August 2015 and is presented by Saira Khan. Format Two teams of two evaluate houses and contents from the same county. The houses are evaluated by an estat ...

''. From 2015 to 2020, she was a regular panelist on the ITV talk show ''

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 ...

.'' Khan has also competed in the eighteenth series of ''

Celebrity Big Brother ''Celebrity Big Brother'' or ''Big Brother VIP'' is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, t ...

'' in 2016, and in 2019, she competed in the eleventh series of ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series broadcast from 2006 to 2014 and then from 2018 to 2025. It was presented by Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern. Other previous hosts include Phillip Schofield and Christine Lampard. The series ...

''.

Early life

Khan was born in

Long Eaton Long Eaton is a town in the Borough of Erewash, Erewash district of Derbyshire, England, just north of the River Trent, about south-west of Nottingham and south-east of Derby. The town population was 37,760 at the 2011 census. It has been part ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

immigrants from

Mirpur, Azad Kashmir Mirpur ( ; ), officially known as New Mirpur City (), is the capital of Mirpur district located in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir ...

on 15 May 1970. She had a difficult childhood; her father was violent and died when she was 28.

Career

In 2005, she was a contestant on the first series of the business-reality show, '' The Apprentice'', finishing as the runner-up behind Tim Campbell. In 2006, Khan presented ''Temper Your Temper'', a programme dealing with anger management. She has presented several documentaries for the BBC including ''Saira Khan's Pakistan Adventure'' in 2007 and ''Adopting Abroad, Saira's Story'' in 2011, as well as appearing as a guest on a variety of BBC and ITV shows such as ''

Ready Steady Cook ''Ready Steady Cook'' is a BBC daytime TV cooking game show. It debuted on 24 October 1994 and the last original edition was broadcast on 2 February 2010. The programme was hosted by Fern Britton from 1994 until 2000 when celebrity chef Ainsley ...

'' and ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

''. She presented the

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

show '' Trade Your Way to the USA'' and previously presented ''

Beat the Boss ''Beat the Boss'' is a business game show broadcast in the United Kingdom as part of the BBC's children-oriented programming, CBBC. It was presented by Saira Khan and later by Cameron Johnson. The format features two teams, one team of children ...

''. She presented an edition of the BBC's '' Money Programme'' about entrepreneurial mothers. Khan has also contributed to radio notably to Radio 4's ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History The first BBC programme for women was the programme cal ...

'' and Radio 2's ''The Jeremy Vine Show'' as well as Radio 4's ''Any Questions?''. Khan also runs her own baby-products business called Miamoo. She has also written a

self-help book A self-help book is one that is written with the intention to instruct its readers on solving personal problems. The books take their name from ''Self-Help'', an 1859 best-seller by Samuel Smiles, but are also known and classified under "self-i ...

, ''P.U.S.H. For Success''. From 2012 until 2017, she co-hosted '' The Martin Lewis Money Show'' alongside Martin Lewis but was replaced by

Ranvir Singh Ranvir Singh (born 11 August 1977) is a British journalist and television presenter. She is a newsreader and presenter for '' Good Morning Britain'', presenter of '' Riddiculous'' and a relief presenter of ''Lorraine'' (alongside Christine Lamp ...

. In 2015, she appeared with her son on ''

Big Star's Little Star ''Big Star's Little Star'' is a British game show that began on ITV on 4 September 2013 and is presented by Stephen Mulhern. The show sees three celebrity contestants and their children or grandchildren answering questions about each other to ...

'' where they won £14,000 for charity. In 2015, she hosted ''

'', a daytime game show for ITV. In September 2015, she became a regular panelist on ''

'', in which she appeared until 2020. In 2015, she appeared on an episode of ''

Pointless Celebrities ''Pointless'' is a British television quiz show produced by Banijay Entertainment subsidiary Remarkable Entertainment for the BBC and hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode, four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but ob ...

''. In July 2016, Khan entered the ''

'' house and took part in the show's eighteenth series. On 9 August, she became the second housemate to be voted out of the Big Brother house. Khan took part in a celebrity edition of '' The Chase'', aired in July 2017, being knocked out in the first round by

Mark Labbett Mark Andrew Labbett (born 15 August 1965), also known by his professional nickname "The Beast", is an English professional quizzer and television personality. Since 2009 he has been one of the "chasers" on the ITV game show '' The Chase''. He ...

. On 6 January 2018, Khan took part in ''

And They're Off! ''And They're Off!'' (also known as ''And They're Off!... for Sport Relief'') is a British television programme hosted by Ore Oduba with commentary from Dave Lamb and demonstrations from Daryll Neita and is shown on BBC One, featuring contestants ...

'', where she placed fifth. In 2019, Khan took part in the eleventh series of ''

'', and finished in ninth place, alongside her professional partner Mark Hanretty. In January 2021, she announced her imminent departure from ''Loose Women'', so she could "focus on her skincare business, SairaSkin, and other media projects". Khan has stated that she wanted her place on the panel to go to a gay, transgender, or non-binary person. She competed in the third series of '' Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins''.

Personal life

Khan married her husband, fellow business person Steven Hyde, in December 2004, and had son, Zach, in 2008 through IVF. In 2011, following a miscarriage and difficulties in trying to conceive a second child, Khan traveled to the Edhi Foundation Orphanage in

Karachi, Pakistan Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, where she adopted her daughter Amara when she was 4 days old. Khan described her experience on ''

'' in 2018, and also documented the adoption process in a documentary on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

, ''Adopting Abroad: Saira’s Story''. In March 2017, Khan appeared on 'This Morning', where she argued for businesses to have the ability to deny people jobs or request their workers to take off religious dress like a headscarf etc. In February 2021, Khan said of her faith in a ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' column that "As a 50-year-old educated, independent woman with my own family and life experiences, I now have the courage to say that I’m no longer a practising Muslim".

Awards and nominations

In January 2013 and 2015, Khan was nominated for the Services to Media award at the

British Muslim Awards The British Muslim Awards are an annual award ceremony that honours the success and achievements of British Muslim individuals, groups and businesses. It was established in 2013. Overview The British Muslim Awards was founded by Oceanic Consult ...

References

External links