Background and career
Fearne Cotton (born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author. She began her career in the late 1990s as a children’s television presenter for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. She went on to present various television shows, including Top of the Pops (2004–2020), Love Island (2006), The Xtra Factor (2007), and Interior Design Masters (2019). Cotton was a regular co-presenter of the Children in Need annual telethons from 2005 to 2015, with the exception of 2009. From 2008 to 2018, she was a team captain on the ITV2 comedy panel show Celebrity Juice. In 2007, Cotton became the first regular female presenter of the Radio 1 Chart Show, which she co-presented with Reggie Yates for two years. She was later given her own Radio 1 show, airing every weekday morning from 2009 to 2015. She joined BBC Radio 2 in 2016. In 2018, Cotton began presenting Happy Place, a podcast focusing on wellbeing and mental health. She has also released eight self-help books, two children's books, and four books on healthy eating.
Cotton was born in Northwood, London Borough of Hillingdon, to Mick and Lyn Cotton; she has a younger brother, Jamie Cotton. Her father was a signwriter for events such as Live Aid, and her mother worked in alternative therapy. She grew up in nearby Eastcote, and was educated at Haydon School. She is vegan; she says she is an animal lover. She has participated in several half marathons for charity. Former BBC executive Bill Cotton (1928–2008) was her paternal grandfather's cousin. He was the son of the well-known entertainer and band leader Billy Cotton. In August 2017, Cotton's ancestry was explored in the BBC TV series Who Do You Think You Are? Cotton studied art at A-level, a skill she used whilst presenting the series Draw Your Own Toons.
Cotton began her presenting career in 1996, at the age of 15, with early-morning GMTV children's programme The Disney Club, after winning a competition for young talent to present the show. Cotton later continued with the show and with its replacement Diggit. She left in 2000, to concentrate on her other projects with CITV, including Draw Your Own Toons and Mouse, aimed at encouraging children to use computers. Cotton joined CBBC in 2001 to present children's science programme Eureka TV. From 2001 until 2003, she presented Finger Tips, an arts and crafts programme for children, which she co-presented with Stephen Mulhern. She later co-presented on CBBC's Sunday morning show, Smile and on The Saturday Show. She has also made appearances in the CBBC show Only in America, alongside her good friend and fellow presenter Reggie Yates. Cotton returned to children's television in 2015 by voicing one of the Voice Trumpets in the reboot of the classic British children's television series Teletubbies.
In 2006, Cotton presented the second series of ITV's Love Island with Patrick Kielty. In 2007, she took over from Ben Shephard as host of The X Factor spin-off programme The Xtra Factor on ITV2, presenting the programme for one series before resigning to work in America; she was replaced in the following series by Holly Willoughby. Starting on 5 September 2007, Cotton co-hosted with Holly Willoughby the ITV2 dating programme Holly & Fearne Go Dating, which saw the pair try to find dates for lonely singletons. Beginning in 2008, Cotton appeared as a team captain on the ITV2 comedy panel show Celebrity Juice alongside host Keith Lemon and fellow team captain Holly Willoughby. Cotton took a short break from the programme in 2013 whilst on maternity leave, and Kelly Brook stood in for her during the ninth series. She quit the series in 2018. Cotton has also presented the Isle of Wight Festival 2009 on ITV2 alongside Rufus Hound. Since 2009, Cotton has hosted Fearne and... on ITV2. In 2012, Cotton hosted The Nation's Favourite Number One Single, a three-part series, revealing Britain's Favourite No. 1 single. Since 2016, Cotton has co-presented Fearne & Gok: Off The Rails, alongside Gok Wan for ITVBe. In March 2017, Cotton guest presented five episodes of ITV Breakfast's Lorraine programme.
In 2003, Cotton moved over to mainstream broadcasting. She along with Simon Grant (her co-presenter from The Saturday Show) presented the spin-off show Top of the Pops: Saturday (later renamed Top of the Pops: Reloaded) that year. In 2004, she moved up to work alongside Reggie Yates on the main programme, Top of the Pops (the then flagship chartshow for the BBC) becoming one of the last regular presenters for that programme, which ended in July 2006. Due to other commitments, she was unable to present the final show itself, appearing instead in a short film shown at the head of that show, in which she made her personal farewells. Cotton and Yates presented the one-off Christmas and New Year specials in both 2008 and 2009, as well as the Comic Relief special in 2009. She has hosted parts of the Red Nose Day telethon for Comic Relief (2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011) presenting several strands alongside Jonathan Ross and Lenny Henry. Cotton has also presented many charity telethons for both Comic Relief and Children in Need on BBC One and BBC Two. In July 2005 she co-presented the BBC's coverage of Live 8 in Hyde Park. During the event, British pop star and former Take That member Robbie Williams flirted with her in front of the cameras, causing much speculation in the media at the time, which was later repudiated by the pair. In 2008, she hosted a Strictly Come Dancing special as part of Children in Need. In June 2012, Cotton was one of the BBC's presenters for its coverage of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. Following more than 4,000 complaints made about the BBC's coverage of the Diamond Jubilee in 2012 and in particular criticism of Cotton's role, she responded on Twitter by stating, "Grown men who slag me off in articles/online are huge bullies. I love my job and wouldn't be doing it if I wasn't any good at it." Cotton guest presented The One Show on BBC One for two nights in November 2013, two nights in February 2014, one night in March 2014 and one night in March 2016.
She also presented the Friday night live eviction programme that year for the Channel 5 reality television series Make Me a Supermodel. Cotton hosted Sky One's talent search Must Be The Music for one series in 2010.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
