Helen Marie Chamberlain (born 2 April 1967 in
StreetStreet is a village and civil parish in the county of Somerset, England, situated on a dry spot in the Somerset Levels, at the end of the Polden Hills, two miles south-west of Glastonbury...
,
SomersetSomerset is a county in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The ceremonial county of Somerset borders the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west...
) is an English television presenter.
Biography
Chamberlain started her career as a Blue Coat at Pontins holiday camp, before becoming a club
Disc JockeyA disc jockey is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, dis
k referred to phonograph records, while dis
c referred to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling...
. In 1993 Chamberlain worked at
Chessington World of AdventuresChessington World of Adventures is a theme park and zoo in south-west London, England. It lies 12 miles from Central London, close to the A3 and M25...
feeding
sea lionSea lions are any of seven species in seven genera of modern pinnipeds including one extinct species . Sea lions are characterized by the presence of external ear pinnae , long front flippers, and the ability to walk on all four flippers on land...
s.
She was discovered at Chessington by a producer for Nickelodeon, where she began presenting in 1994. She began presenting on
Sky SportsSky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
's popular British Saturday morning sports show
Soccer AMSoccer AM is a British Saturday-morning football show, predominately based around the Premier League. Presented by Helen Chamberlain and Max Rushden, it has been aired on Sky Sports 1 each Saturday morning of the football season since 1995 between 9am and 12pm...
from 1995. She also guest presented on two former
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
breakfast shows -
The Big BreakfastThe Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002. 2,482 shows were produced The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former Boomtown Rats and Live Aid...
alongside
Johnny VaughanJohnny Vaughan is an English broadcaster and journalist. Vaughan has become well-known as a television and radio personality and has also built a reputation as a film critic...
, and
RI:SERI:SE was a breakfast television show made by Princess Productions in collaboration with BSkyB for Channel 4 in the UK. It was scheduled to replace The Big Breakfast after declining ratings. It launched on 29 April 2002...
.
Chamberlain is still a presenter on
Soccer AMSoccer AM is a British Saturday-morning football show, predominately based around the Premier League. Presented by Helen Chamberlain and Max Rushden, it has been aired on Sky Sports 1 each Saturday morning of the football season since 1995 between 9am and 12pm...
and has also presented on Sky TV's dedicated Poker channel Sky Poker.
She appeared in a raunchy photoshoot for the May 2004 edition of
PenthousePenthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and soft-core pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by Penthouse Media Group, Inc. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse...
. She also modelled in underwear for Euro 2004 in
Trafalgar SquareTrafalgar Square is a square in central London, England. With its position in the heart of London, it is a tourist attraction; and one of the most famous squares in the United Kingdom and the world. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base...
, and during the photoshoot caused the driver of a double decker bus to run into the back of another bus because he was staring at her.
Sports
A pub-league level
dartsDarts is a form of sport where darts are thrown at a circular target hung on a wall. Though various different boards and games have been used in the past, the term 'darts' usually now refers to a standardized game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
player when she was younger, Chamberlain beat
Eric BristowEric Bristow MBE is a British darts player, whose skill at the game in the 1980s helped turn it into a worldwide spectator sport.- Early career :...
in a game of darts-cricket during a celebrity challenge, where the winner is the first player to go round the board while trying to gain trebles.
Chamberlain finished second in the 2005
Poker MillionThe Poker Million is a major European poker tournament started in 2000 on the Isle of Man. Its is now sponsored by Full Tilt Poker and held annually in England and televised live on Sky Sports...
tournament winning $400,000. She spent her winnings on buying a
Range RoverThe Range Rover is a four-wheel drive luxury sport utility vehicle produced by Land Rover in the United Kingdom, owned by the India-based Tata Motors. It was first introduced in 1970 and is still in production today. There have so far been three major generations...
for her boyfriend, and the racehorse Birkspiel. The horse is trained by
Simon Dowwas born 13 June 1961. He is a first generation racehorse trainer and is based on the Epsom Downs. He has had several horses that have enjoyed fan club status...
at Clear Height Stables in
EpsomEpsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. The town is located south-south-west of Charing Cross, within the Greater London Urban Area. The town lies on the chalk downland of Epsom Downs.-History:...
. On his first outing for the presenter, in April 2006, he won a €50,000 Group 3 race in
Baden-BadenBaden-Baden is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe.- History :The German word 'Baden' translates as 'to bath/bathe'...
, Germany. One month later, he finished third in a Group 2 race in
CologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants...
, Germany. She now also owns the flat racer
Napoletano, related to
Northern DancerNorthern Dancer was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and the most successful sire of the 20th Century. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association calls him "one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history"....
.
A keen football player, she is also a
Torquay UnitedTorquay United Football Club, nicknamed the Gulls, is an English association football club based in the seaside resort town of Torquay, Devon. They played in the Conference National in 2008–09, but were promoted to Football League Two after a 2–0 win over Cambridge United on 17 May 2009. The return...
fan and has a tattoo of the club crest on her left buttock.
Personal life
Chamberlain was engaged to
Nathan KingNathan King is a guitarist, bass player and vocalist, and has been a member of Level 42 since 1998. He is also currently working with Frost* and It Bites....
from
Level 42Level 42 is an English pop rock and jazz-funk band which had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s and 1990s.The band gained fame for its high-calibre musicianship — in particular that of Mark King, whose percussive slap-bass guitar technique provided the driving groove of many of the...
. However the two have since broken up and Chamberlain is now dating
dartsDarts is a form of sport where darts are thrown at a circular target hung on a wall. Though various different boards and games have been used in the past, the term 'darts' usually now refers to a standardized game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
player
James WadeJames Wade is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation . He became the youngest player ever to win a major PDC title at the World Matchplay in July 2007...
.
She is
tee-totalTeetotalism is the practice and promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. A person who practices teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller or is simply said to be teetotal.Some common reasons for choosing teetotalism are religious, health, family, philosophical, fear of...
and a vegetarian. She has also learned to fire eat and has done so on
Soccer AM on various occasions. Her current car collection, revealed on
Sky TVSky TV may refer to:*British Sky Broadcasting, a television network and media company in the United Kingdom**Sky Digital , a brand name of BSkyB's digital satellite television and radio service in the UK and the Ireland...
show
Vroom VroomSee also Vrooom Vrooom, a live album by King CrimsonVroom Vroom is a British entertainment TV show. It's produced by Granada media and shows in the UK on Sky1...
, is:
- Range Rover Vogue SE
The Range Rover is a four-wheel drive luxury sport utility vehicle produced by Land Rover in the United Kingdom, owned by the India-based Tata Motors. It was first introduced in 1970 and is still in production today. There have so far been three major generations...
- Jaguar XKR Convertible
- Austin Frog Eyed Sprite
The Austin-Healey Sprite is a small open sports car which was announced to the press in Monte Carlo by the British Motor Corporation on 20 May 1958, just before that year's Monaco Grand Prix. It was intended to be a low-cost model that 'a chap could keep in his bike shed', yet be the successor to...
- Fred Pontin
Sir Frederick William Pontin was born in West Ham, London, and was knighted in 1976. He died in Blackpool aged 93. He had a successful career in the city's Stock Exchange. He attended Sir George Monoux Grammar School in Walthamstow...
's own Mercedes Benz 280 SEThe Mercedes-Benz W108/W109 model series was a large luxury car line built by Mercedes-Benz from 1965 through 1972. The W108/W109 was a replacement for the higher end of the "Fintail" sedan range, with three-box styling similar to the W111/W112 coupes...
- Aston Martin DB9
The Aston Martin DB9 is a grand tourer launched by Aston Martin in 2004.The DB9 is the first new car to be built at Aston's Gaydon facility. The name "DB" stems from David Brown, the owner of Aston Martin for a significant part of its history...
External links