Emma Louise Willis is an English television presenter, radio presenter, and former model. She is known for her television and radio work with Channel 5, BBC, ITV, and Heart FM. Willis has presented Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother, as well as the spin-off series Big Brother’s Bit on the Side.
Emma Louise Willis was born on 18 March 1976. Willis has presented Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother (2013–2018), as well as the spin-off series Big Brother’s Bit on the Side (2011–2015). Since 2014, she has presented The Voice UK. In 2019, Willis presented the second series of The Circle.
Early Life.
Emma Willis was born in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, West Midlands, attending Wylde Green Primary School and then John Willmott School in Sutton Coldfield. She began modelling at the age of 17 and during her career worked for a range of magazines, retailers and companies including Marie Claire, Elle, Vogue, GAP and Chanel.
Career.
Willis got her first big break presenting on MTV in 2002 before presenting various other shows, including guest-hosting shows such as CD:UK, This Morning and Loose Women.
ITV
In 2007, Willis presented ITV2 spin-off series I’m a celebrity Get me out of here! NOW! with her husband Matt before departing in 2008. She presented numerous episodes of The Hot Desk on ITV2 between 2008 and 2014. In September 2012, Willis became a permanent presenter on This Morning, presenting segments in The Hub, taking over from Coleen Nolan. The feature was axed in 2014. She was also a stand-in presenter on the main show when Holly Willoughby or Ruth Langsford were absent and returned to guest present the show with Rylan Clark-Neal in 2018. Willis hosted two series of the ITV2 reality show Girlfriends in 2012 and 2013.
On 16 November 2012, Willis was drafted in to guest anchor Loose Women and has since presented on several occasions as a stand-in presenter. In 2013, Willis guest presented an episode of The Paul O’Grady Show, while O’Grady was away.
On 3 March 2018, Willis made a surprise appearance on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, as she presented Win the Ads while the main hosts playing the game as part of the show’s 100th episode.
Chanel 4 and 5
In 2007, Willis guest hosted the tenth week of Big Brother’s Big Mouth. In 2010, Willis began presenting a Celebrity Big Brother online spin-off show entitled Celebrity Big Brother’s Big I. While presenting the online spin-off in the same series, Willis also presented another edition of Big Mouth when Davina McCall entered the Big Brother house as part of a task. She was then later announced as the new co-presenter on the final series of Big Brother’s Little Brother, hosting opposite George Lamb.
In 2019, Willis replaced Alice Levine and Maya Jama as host of The Circle.
In 2010, it was announced that Willis would replace Melinda Messenger on the Chanel 5 series Live From Studio 5, but after only two months, Willis announced she would be departing in order to co-present Big Brother’s Little Brother.
On 13 March 2013, it was reported that Brian Dowling would be axed from Big Brother and be replaced by Willis with a source saying, ‘Brian has been a great host but Emma is seen by channel chiefs as a true successor to Davina. They’re talking to her now about taking over the role from the summer.’ It was later confirmed, on 2 April 2013 by Channel 5 that Willis would be replacing Dowling as the new host of Big Brother. On 13 June 2013, she began presenting the fourteenth series of Big Brother.
Even though Willis presents the main Big Brother and celebrity series, she still continued to host the spin-off show Bit on the Side, sharing the presenting duties with Rylan Clark. On 2 February 2015, it was announced that Willis was to present her final edition of Bit on the Side that night, and Clark would take over as the main presenter of the spin off show.
Willis infamously interrogated Weston McKenzie during his exit interview on Celebrity Big Brother over his controversial opinions. Willis has expressed personal pride on this moment in her career.
On 30 March 2014, Willis presented the Mum of the Year Awards, with the highlights being shown on Channel 5 that same evening.
BBC
In 2013, Willis was confirmed as the replacement for Holly Willoughby on the BBC One talent show The Voice UK. On 11 January 2014, she began co-presenting the third series.
In March 2014, it was announced that The Voice UK had been renewed for two future series. Both Willis and Humes returned to the show for the fourth series in 2015 and fifth series in 2016. The show was axed by the BBC after series 5 and moved to ITV in 2017.
Willis, and Reggie Yates co-hosted the Saturday night game show Prized Parts on BBC One. The series began on 13 June 2015 and was axed after the first series, due to poor ratings.
Personal Life.
On 5 July 2008, Emma Griffiths married Busted member Matt Willis at Rushton Hall, Northamptonshire, after three years of dating.
The wedding was featured in OK magazine. She gave birth to their first child, Isabelle, in June 2009. In November 2011, the couple had a second child, Ace, and in May 2016, Willis gave birth to her third child, Trixie.
Willis is a supporter of Aston Villa F.C.
In 2019, Willis obtained a qualification as a maternity care assistant following her experience on the W series Delivering Babies.
