Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British broadcaster and presenter. She was the first female host of the Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows for the BBC, and in 2024 was confirmed as the second-highest paid BBC presenter after Gary Lineker.
In 2018, Ball was announced as the new host of The Radio 2 Breakfast Show and took over from Chris Evans in January 2019, before stepping down from the programme in December 2024.
Ball presented the children's show Live & Kicking, alongside Jamie Theakston, from 1996 to 1999. In 2005, she was a contestant in the third series of Strictly Come Dancing. Following this, in 2011 she replaced Claudia Winkleman as host of the BBC Two spin-off show Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two until her departure in 2021. Ball also hosted the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour in 2011 and 2015.
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Early life and education
Zoe Louise Ball was born on 23 November 1970 in Blackpool, Lancashire. She is the daughter of the children's TV presenter Johnny Ball and his wife Julia (née Anderson). The couple divorced when Ball was two and she was raised with her father.
Ball was educated at Heston Junior School in the district of Hounslow between 1975 and 1978. Her family then moved to Farnham Common in Buckinghamshire. She attended Farnham Common First School and Farnham Common Middle School, before moving to Holy Cross Convent School in Chalfont St Peter and Amersham College of Art and Technology for a "City & Guilds in radio and journalism". When she was in her teens, she seriously considered trying to find work as a magician's assistant.
Career
Television
Ball began her television career as a presenter on the pre-school programme Playdays.
From 1993–1995 she was also a presenter on Children's BBC.
Ball became a runner at Granada Television and researcher for Cool Cube (1990–1994), a children's Saturday afternoon magazine show, produced at Granada's studio in Manchester, by Clear Idea Television, and broadcast on the British Satellite Broadcasting channel Galaxy.
From 1994–1996, Ball presented SMart with Mark Speight and Jay Burridge. In 1995, Ball hosted Fully Booked for the first series. In 1997 and 1998, she was a regular presenter on Top of the Pops, usually alternating with fellow presenters and DJs Jayne Middlemiss and Jo Whiley.
In 1996, Ball was a co-host with Jamie Theakston in BBC One's Saturday morning children's programme Live & Kicking. In 1998, television personality Chris Evans was a guest of the show, and later employed both Ball and Theakston to co-host the Channel 4 Wednesday night chat/music show The Priory, under Ginger Productions.
Ball’s presenting jobs have also included hosting The Big Breakfast on Channel 4,
Ball co-hosted the 2002 Brit Awards with Frank Skinner, In 2005, she co-hosted the BBC reality show Strictly Dance Fever. In 2006, Ball co-hosted the ITV programme Extinct, alongside Trevor McDonald.
In January 2007, Ball presented the second series of ITV's Soapstar Superstar, taking over from Fern Britton and Ben Shephard, who hosted the first series. In March 2007, she hosted the ITV talent search Grease Is the Word.
Alongside Jamie Theakston, Ball presented Channel 5's quiz series Britain's Best Brain in 2009. Ball has guest presented several episodes of The One Show as a stand-in for Alex Jones.
Radio
Although known primarily for her television work, Ball first worked in radio, after she became co-host of Radio 1 Breakfast on BBC Radio 1 in October 1997 with Kevin Greening. She became the sole host, the first female DJ to do so. At this time, her hard-drinking, hard-partying lifestyle contributed to the identification of the so-called "ladette culture" of the late 1990s. She was twice warned by the BBC for swearing on the radio.
Ball left BBC Radio 1 in March 2000. Her final show was on 10 March 2000; she was succeeded by Sara Cox.
Ball returned to radio in mid-2002 when she joined London radio station Xfm, where she presented the weekday drivetime show until December 2003. In January 2004, she took over a Friday evening music show for the station. She also stood in for Ricky Gervais while he filmed the second series of The Office. She left Xfm at the end of 2004.
In September 2007, she returned to BBC Radio and co-hosted a show with Sara Cox, celebrating 40 years of BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2.
From 2006, she provided relief presenting duties for BBC Radio 2, fronted specialist documentaries, sat in for Dermot O'Leary for three weeks in February 2006, and co-presented (with Danny Baker) the hastily conceived replacement for Jonathan Ross' Saturday morning show, in the wake of Ross's suspension due to Sachsgate in 2008.
In 2009, Ball became the usual relief presenter for Ken Bruce's weekday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2. She also began hosting the Saturday breakfast show from 6 am to 8 am on the network from 6 June 2009 as part of a shake-up of weekend programming at Radio 2. Ball left Radio 2 for a while as her last show was broadcast on Saturday 28 January 2012. Her replacement in that slot was Anneka Rice.
Ball covered The Radio 2 Breakfast Show for Chris Evans on several occasions.
From 4 March 2017 to 22 December 2018, Ball returned to Radio 2 on permanent basis where she presented the Saturday afternoon slot on BBC Radio 2 between 3 pm and 6 pm, taking over from Dermot O'Leary.
Personal life
Whilst at BBC Radio 1, Ball began a relationship with the DJ and musician Norman Cook, known as Fatboy Slim. The couple married at Babington House in Somerset in August 1999. In 2003, Ball and Cook separated when Ball revealed that she had had an affair with Dan Peppe; they later reconciled. The couple have a son and a daughter. On 24 September 2016, Cook and Ball announced their separation after 18 years together. The couple finalised their divorce in 2020.
Between 2017 and 2023, Ball was in a relationship with fashion model and carpenter Michael Reed.
Since June 2025, Ball has been in a relationship with TV production designer Mathieu Weekes.