Ulrika Jonsson

Ulrika Eva Jonsson (born 16 August 1967)[1] is a Swedish-British television presenter and model. She became known as a TV-am weather presenter, moved on to present the ITV show Gladiators, and as a team captain of the BBC Two show Shooting Stars.

Ulrika Jonsson
Born	Eva Jonsson[1] 16 August 1967[1] Sollentuna, Sweden
Nationality	Swedish, British
Occupation	Actress, television presenter, journalist, novelist
Years active	1988–present
Television	TV-am (1989–1992) Gladiators (1992–2000) Shooting Stars (1995–2002, 2009–2011) Eurovision Song Contest 1998 Miss World 1999 Dancing on Ice (2007) Celebrity Big Brother (2009) Ultimate Big Brother (2010)
Spouse(s)	John Turnbull ​ ​ (m. 1990; div. 1995)​ Lance Gerrard-Wright ​ ​ (m. 2003; div. 2006)​ Brian Monet ​ ​ (m. 2008; div. 2019)​
Children	4

Career

After working as a secretary, Jonsson began her television career on TV-am in 1989, as a weather presenter on Good Morning Britain. From 12 September 1989, she was also the weather presenter for Swedish TV3, broadcasting from London. In 1991, she co-presented BBC One's short-lived daytime quiz show Who's Bluffing Who? with Richard Cartridge, and starred in the French film, The Annunciation of Marie (1991). In 1992, she moved into mainstream presenting and played host to numerous shows including ITV's Gladiators, The National Lottery Draws – plus two major international broadcasts in 1998 and 1999, the Eurovision Song Contest and Miss World respectively. She also modelled for Playtex Lingerie during this period and was a team captain on the BBC TV quiz show Shooting Stars.

In 1997, she interviewed the then British Prime Minister John Major for the BBC 2 programme, The Enormous Election.[2] In 1998, she interviewed the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, for her programme Ulrika in Euroland.[3]

She presented Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 when it was hosted in Birmingham, alongside Sir Terry Wogan; later that year she co-hosted the Royal Variety Performance alongside Ronan Keating at the Lyceum Theatre in London.[4] Following this, she co-hosted Miss World 1999 with Melanie Sykes at the Olympia Hall in London. Jonsson was booked to host Channel 5's reality game show Jailbreak in Autumn 2000 but had to pull out of the project due to health concerns over her newborn child. She was replaced as main host by Craig Charles.[5] Jonsson later presented BBC One game show Dog Eat Dog, broadcast from April 2001 to November 2002, and The Joy of Text in June 2001 alongside Terry Alderton.

In 2002, Jonsson presented the first series of ITV makeover show Home on Their Own, a show where children made alterations to their house (how they wanted the house to be) during the course of a weekend, while their parents went on holiday. Some of the home improvements included an Austin Powers room, individual doorbells for the children and a cinema living room. Johnsson did not return for the second series, which was hosted by Tess Daly the following year.

In 2002, she was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary, Ulrika Jonsson: the Truth About Men. The programme featured a candid interview with Jonsson, received heavy press attention and attracted 2.8 million viewers.[6]

After intense media attention relating to events in her personal life, Jonsson decided to return to Sweden. The Swedish television network TV3 offered her the role as hostess of the Miss Sweden beauty pageant. She accepted the invitation. In March 2003, Jonsson was a contestant on the BBC's Comic Relief Does Fame Academy. In 2005, she appeared with four other celebrities on Channel 4's daytime show Come Dine with Me. On 20 January 2007, she joined 10 other celebrities to take part in the ITV reality TV show Dancing on Ice, where she was partnered with Pavel Aubrecht. With previous skating experience in her native Sweden, Jonsson was expected to go far in the event but finished 9th after being beaten in the skate-off by Kay Burley during week 3.

On 20 March 2007, she appeared in the confessional TV show, Ulrika: Am I a Sex Addict?, broadcast on Channel 4. The show charted Jonsson's personal journey to uncover the truth about sex addiction. She has appeared on BBC One's Would I Lie To You? (2007). In March 2009, she appeared in the new ITV series Piers Morgan's Life Stories, each episode of which included a celebrity figure and a one-to-one interview with Morgan about their lives.[7]

In April 2009, it was confirmed that Jonsson would return to Shooting Stars as team captain for a full series airing later that year.[8] She presented the new series of BingoLotto, on Virgin 1 every Sunday night at 7 pm which started on 13 September 2009.[9]

Her debut novel, The Importance of Being Myrtle, which focuses on relationships[10] was published by the Penguin Group on 1 September 2011.

In 2017, she reached the final of Celebrity MasterChef.

Big Brother

In January 2009, Jonsson took part in Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother.[11] She eventually won with 57% of the final vote during the final on 23 January.[12][13] As results were announced to the contestants, Jonsson said "Oh my god, that's bonkers."[14]

She had been nominated by housemates for eviction on each occasion, firstly by 'head of house' Terry Christian and then by other housemates, but survived the public vote on five occasions. Jonsson eventually progressed to the finals night, as the only woman left, after La Toya Jackson was evicted by public vote on Day 20.[15] Before her entry into the house, various newspapers had reported that Jonsson had negotiated a £175,000 payment, nearly eight times as much as some of the other celebrities. Jonsson commented "It is singularly the weirdest experience of my entire life and I've had quite a weird life."[16]

Jonsson once again entered the Big Brother house on 24 August 2010 for Ultimate Big Brother, reaching the final and finishing seventh.

Autobiography and John Leslie scandal

Jonsson wrote in her autobiography[17] that an unnamed television presenter had raped her earlier in her television career. Matthew Wright named (apparently accidentally) John Leslie as the alleged perpetrator on his television show The Wright Stuff. Jonsson made no public comment on Leslie's naming and did not cooperate with police over the matter. Police investigated Leslie but never charged him with the alleged offence.[18] Leslie's career never recovered from the rape allegation.[19]

Personal life

Jonsson lives in South Moreton, Oxfordshire She has been married three times and has four children. She is a Manchester United fan.[20]

She married cameraman John Turnbull in 1990. They moved to Cookham Dean in Berkshire the following year.[21] They have one son (b.1994). They divorced in 1995.[22]

Jonsson subsequently dated footballer Stan Collymore.[23] In June 1998, during the 1998 World Cup, Collymore issued a public apology after he was violent towards Jonsson during an argument in a Paris bar.[23] Soon after the end of her relationship with Collymore, she began dating German hotel manager Marcus Kempen.[24] They have one daughter (b. 2000).[24] Jonsson's relationship with Kempen ended soon after the birth.[22]

In April 2002, Jonsson confirmed reports that she had had an affair with Sven-Göran Eriksson, then manager of England's football team, who had a long-time girlfriend. She stated that her relationship with Eriksson had recently ended.[25][26] Partly as a result of her involvement with Eriksson, she was given the job as a columnist for the News of the World newspaper in 2003, in which she regularly commented on Eriksson's personal life. Her column was dropped in 2007,[27] a year after Eriksson resigned as England manager. It was announced in 2011 that she had taken legal proceedings against the newspaper over allegations that an investigator had hacked into her mobile phone.[28]

While presenting Mr. Right in 2002, Jonsson met Lance Gerrard-Wright, a contestant on the show. They subsequently began a relationship.[29] They married in August 2003. They have one daughter (b.2004).[22] They divorced in October 2006.[29]

Jonsson married her third husband, American advertising executive Brian Monet, in March 2008. They have one son (b.2008). In April 2019, it was announced that they had divorced. She told Best magazine that they had tried to salvage their relationship with counselling but failed.[30]

In 2019, she went on the dating show First Dates Hotel and began dating her match on the show, Paul.[31]

Filmography

Television

Year	Programme	Role
1989–1992	Good Morning, Britain (TV-am)	Weather presenter
1992–2000	Gladiators	Presenter
1995–2002, 2009–2011	Shooting Stars	Team captain
1998	Eurovision Song Contest	Co-presenter
	Royal Variety Performance
1999	Miss World 1999
2000	Techno Games	Presenter
2001–2002	Dog Eat Dog
2001	The Joy of Text
2002	Miss Sweden
2007	Dancing on Ice	Contestant
2009	Celebrity Big Brother	Housemate
2010	Ultimate Big Brother
2017	Celebrity MasterChef	Contestant
2019	First Dates Hotel

Film

Year	Film	Role
1991	The Annunciation of Marie	Violaine Vercors
2004	Bob the Builder: Snowed Under	Jana von Strudel (voice)

Bibliography

• Jonsson, Ulrika (2003). Honest. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-330-41174-5.

See also

• List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters

References

1. Jonsson 2003, p. 1
2. Does he mean me? The Guardian. 10 July 2007
3. Cast-ULRIKA IN EUROLAND British Film Industry (BFI)
4. "Spicy Royal Variety Performance". BBC News. 8 December 1998. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
5. "Craig Charles to host Jailbreak". BBC News. 6 September 2000. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
6. Ulrika confesses to 2.8 million The Guardian. 18 October 2002
7. Piers Morgan's Life Stories ITV (Press release). 9 February 2009
8. Shooting Stars back for fresh run BBC. 3 April 2009
9. ULRIKA IS BINGOLOTTO!!!. Web.archive.org, February 2016
10. Ulrika 'fascinated' by relationships Daily Telegraph. 29 March 2009
11. "Celebrity Big Brother Cast Page". Channel4.com. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
12. "Ulrika in Celeb Big Brother pay row - News - Celebrity Big Brother - What's on TV". Whatsontv.co.uk. 28 December 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
13. Ulrika Jonsson wins Celebrity Big Brother 2009 The Telegraph. 24 January 2009
14. Ulrika Wins Celebrity Big Brother. Web.archive.org, February 2016
15. Ulrika Jonsson is last woman in Celebrity Big Brother house Archived 15 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
16. "upon winning Celebrity Big Brother 2009". Channel4.com. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
17. Jonsson 2003
18. "Leslie sex charges dropped". News.bbc.co.uk. 31 July 2003. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
19. "John Leslie: 'I went from £350,000 a year to nothing overnight'". The Daily Telegraph. 4 October 2015.
20. Thorpe, Vanessa (14 June 1998). "Profile: Almost one of the lads; Ulrika Jonsson". The Independent. London.
21. The Evening Standard: A New Low
22. Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian, 27 August 2011, Ulrika Jonsson: 'I'm a walking dichotomy'
23. BBC News, 10 June 1998, Sorry for attacking Ulrika - Collymore '
24. Hugh Davies, The Guardian, 11 November 2000, Ulrika's baby needs open-heart surgery'
25. Vivek Chaudhary, 20 April 2002, Sven 'playing away' with Ulrika, The Guardian
26. BBC News, 24 April 2002, Ulrika admits Sven 'relationship'
27. Full stop for Ulrika's column. The Guardian, 19 September 2007.
28. Ulrika Jonsson to sue News of the World over alleged phone hacking. The Guardian, 17 May 2011.
29. BBC News, 23 October 2005, Ulrika splits from her Mr Right'
30. Singh, Anita (17 June 2008). "Ulrika Jonsson introduces baby Malcolm". The Telegraph. London.
31. "First Dates Hotel viewers thrilled with Ulrika Jonsson's match". Entertainment Daily UK. 11 October 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2019.

External links

• Ulrika Jonsson at IMDb