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Suzi Perry

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SuziPerry GadgetShowLive

Gadget Show Live

Suzi Perry (born Suzanne Perry, May 3, 1970, Cosford, Shropshire, England) is a British television presenter. A former model and motor sports correspondent, she is best known for covering MotoGP for the BBC for 13 years, The Gadget Show on Channel 5 for 9 years and the BBC's Formula One coverage from 2013.

Early life

Suzi was born in an RAF hospital in Cosford, Shropshire. She is the daughter of a music promoter and her godfather was guitarist Mel Galley.[1] Brought up in Finchfield,[1] she attended Smestow school in Wolverhampton, and had a school job as a lighting technician at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.[1] She went on to study business studies and finance at Wolverhampton Polytechnic (now the University of Wolverhampton).[2]

After graduation, Suzi spent 12 months in Japan working as a model and occasional magician's assistant, then as an advertising model following her return to Britain.[3]

Suzi's television career is best known for the years spent as a presenter for BBC coverage of MotoGP motorcycle racing. She was also a co-host of The Gadget Show until 2011.[3]

Broadcasting career

BBC Sport

Suzi is mainly known as a motor sports correspondent, reporting on motorbike racing for BBC News as well as presenting other sports-related programmes, including Wimbledon, the Boat Race, the London Marathon, Royal Ascot and the Great North Run. She also helped to present the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Suzi presented coverage of MotoGP for BBC Sport for 13 years, commencing with the 1997 season.[4] In February 2010, following a year in which she suffered a number of health issues including viral meningitis and an ectopic pregnancy, it was announced that she was stepping down from presenting MotoGP coverage.[5] She stated that the extensive travelling involved combined with her other TV commitments was having a detrimental effect on her work-life balance.[5]

Following her departure from MotoGP, Suzi was part of the BBC presenting team at the 2010 Epsom Derby[6] and Royal Ascot[7] and was due to be part of the 2011 Grand National coverage but was replaced at the last moment by Dan Walker who happened to be at Aintree presenting Football Focus on the same day. No explanation was offered by the BBC as to the need for the change.

On 21 December 2012 the BBC announced that she would replace Jake Humphrey as presenter of the BBC's Formula One coverage from the 2013 season, covering 10 live races and 10 highlight shows.[8] She would also write regular blogs for BBC Sport to give a behind the scenes look at F1. This was the first time a female had taken on the full-time main anchor role in Formula One on British TV.

In 2015 it was announced Suzi would present a new F1 show for BBC Two with Murray Walker. The show called Formula 1 Rewind involves Walker looking back at some of the BBC's archives.[9][10]

BT Sport

In March 2016 it was announced that Perry would join BT Sport,[11] presenting the channel's motorsport content, including the MotoGP World Championship, FIM Speedway and the World Rally Championship. The announcement coincided with the news that UK terrestrial TV coverage of Formula 1 was moving from the BBC to Channel 4.[12]

Other television work

Suzi was the original presenter of Live Elite League Speedway on Sky Sports. She also appeared on the 2002-03 revival of Treasure Hunt, where she took the "skyrunner" role made famous by Anneka Rice.

Since 2004, Suzi had been a co-presenter for Channel 5's The Gadget Show, a hi-tech weekly programme, alongside Jason Bradbury, Jon Bentley, Ortis Deley and Pollyanna Woodward. Suzi was temporarily replaced by Gail Porter whilst she recovered from an ectopic pregnancy, and returned to The Gadget Show in August 2009. she also created the current theme music for the Gadget Show in 2011 as part of a Gadget Show challenge. In February 2012 it was announced that the show's format was changing, it was then known as The Gadget Show: World Tour and features only two of the previous presenting team Jason Bradbury and Pollyanna Woodward.[13]

In 2010, Suzi appeared on ITV's All Star Mr & Mrs with husband Bastien Boosten.[14]

Her other shows include Housecall, Superstars, City Hospital, How to take Stunning Pictures and Holiday.

On 10 March 2012, Suzi danced to "Livin' the Vida Loca" with fellow ex-Gadget Show presenter Ortis Deley for the BBC's Let's Dance for Comic Relief.[15][16]

Charity

In 2006, Suzi appeared as a celebrity showjumper in the BBC's Sport Relief event Only Fools on Horses. On 12 July, after being voted off the show, she revealed that she had fallen off her horse 12 times.[17][18]

Suzi is a patron of Promise Dreams,[1] a charity based in her home town of Wolverhampton that was launched in 2001. Promise Dreams raise money for children who are seriously or terminally ill and provide treatment, help and support for both them and their families.[19] She is also a patron of the National Association for Bikers with a Disability.[20]

Magic

Suzi Perry and Simon Drake

Suzi Perry gets used to being a disembodied head after being guillotined by Simon Drake.

While working as a model in Japan, Suzi made several appearances on Japanese TV as a magician's assistant in a number of different illusions.

In 2001, she hosted a motorcycle show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, UK. While there, she also appeared as a special guest assistant in a horror-themed magic act that formed part of the entertainment at the show. Her part of the magic show was the "Buzz Saw" illusion, in which she was sawed in half by a 36-inch diameter circular saw without any boxes covering her. As the saw sliced through Suzi's exposed waist, blood sprayed out over the audience and Suzi screamed before appearing to faint. Having sawed through Suzi, the magician inserted a metal blade into the cut in her waist to prove that she was now in two pieces, revived her with some smelling salts, and then invited audience members up onto the stage for a closer look. He then removed the blade, covered Suzi's waist with a cloth, made a few "magical gestures" over her, removed the cloth, and helped her up off of the sawing table with no mark on her waist where she had been sawed through.

While filming the "Gadget Magic" episode of The Gadget Show, she was beheaded by her magic mentor, Simon Drake, using his very realistic looking full-sized guillotine.

In 2006, she appeared at the National Rally for the National Association for Bikers with A Disability, and participated in a magic show performed by erotic magician Lynx. At the end of the show, Suzi led the bikini-clad magician to a metal frame, chained her in place, covered her with a set of translucent paper screens, and rode a motorcycle through them. As Suzi burst through the screens, the audience could see that Lynx had vanished, only to reappear riding a second motorcycle onto the stage.

In 2017, the BT Sport TV coverage of the MotoGP championship included a number of promo slots in which Suzi took part in various illusions. These included her acting as the target girl in both a knife-throwing act and Shooting Through A Woman, and being sawed in half in a performance of Clearly Impossible.


Personal life

Suzi Perry and daughter 2014

Suzi Perry in 2014 with her daughter Laurien (then aged 18).

Suzi was married to Steve Bullock, a model from Sheffield, from 1995 until 2002[1]. They first met in February 1994 on a photoshoot in Tenerife, became engaged ten months later in November 1994, and married on December 6, 1995. In 1996, Suzi gave birth to a daughter, Laurien. After her divorce from Bullock, she had a three-year relationship with fellow TV presenter Nick Knowles.

By the start of 2009, Suzi was engaged to her Dutch boyfriend, Bastien Boosten (whom she met while filming The Gadget Show whilst driving a personal submarine).[1] In February 2009, she was rushed to hospital after collapsing while filming an episode of The Gadget Show. After losing four pints of blood, she received emergency surgery for a ruptured ectopic pregnancy - She was two and a half months pregnant at the time. While she recovered from her surgery, she was temporarily replaced on The Gadget Show by Gail Porter, and did not return to the show until late August 2009.

The couple married in Las Vegas on 6 August 2009, and Suzi was the first celebrity bride to post her wedding pictures on social networking website Twitter.[21] The 30-minute ceremony was conducted by an Elvis impersonator. Following the wedding ceremony, rather than having a conventional reception, Suzi, her husband and their friends and families went to see Lance Burton's magic show at the Monte Carlo Casino. During the show, Suzi was picked out by Lance to be invited up on stage with him, where she was then sawed in half in his Audience Dismember illusion.[22]


Trivia

  • She's 5ft 6.5ins tall.
  • She loves motorbikes, and rides a 700cc Ducati superbike.
  • She is a supporter of Wolverhampton Wanderers.[1]
  • She enjoys scuba diving and horse riding.
  • Her favourite actors include Anthony Hopkins, Russell Crowe and Kevin Spacey.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "TV’s Suzi: The day I thought I might die". Express & Star. 15 April 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-04-18. http://web.archive.org/web/20090418191609/http://www.expressandstar.com/2009/04/15/tvs-suzi-the-day-i-thought-i-might-die/. Retrieved 2009-05-03. 
  2. ↑ Famous Alumni, University of Wolverhampton
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Peck, Emily. "Gadget Show’s Suzi Perry talks tech - ACHICA Living". achica.com. http://www.achica.com/achicaliving/2010/04/gadget-shows-suzi-perry-tech-low-down/. Retrieved 18 December 2012. 
  4. ↑ Downes, Andy (2010-02-17). "Suzi Perry Quits MotoGP on BBC". Motorcycle News. http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/General-news/2010/February/feb1710-suzi-perry-quits/. Retrieved 2013-01-18. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Roz Laws (2010-04-11). "Suzi Perry on coming down with meningitis and missing her motorbikes". Birmingham Mail. http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/tv/suzi-perry-on-coming-down-with-meningitis-246860. Retrieved 2013-01-18. 
  6. ↑ BBC Sport to broadcast the 2010 Derby BBC Press Office, 2 June 2010
  7. ↑ Royal Ascot on BBC Sport BBC Press Office, 14 June 2010
  8. ↑ GMT (2012-12-21). "BBC Sport - F1: Suzi Perry replaces Jake Humphrey as BBC presenter". bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/20812990. Retrieved 2013-01-18. 
  9. ↑ "Formula 1: BBC offers extensive coverage of the 2015 season". BBC Sport. 5 March 2015. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/31735303. Retrieved 8 March 2015. 
  10. ↑ "2015 Formula 1 on the BBC". BBC. 5 March 2015. http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/formula-1-on-the-BBC. Retrieved 8 March 2015. 
  11. ↑ "BT Sport signs TV presenter Suzi Perry". BT Sport. http://sport.bt.com/more-sport-hub/more-sport/bt-sport-signs-tv-presenter-suzi-perry-S11364044894448. Retrieved 9 March 2016. 
  12. ↑ "F1 snapped up by Channel 4 as BBC exits deal early". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/dec/21/formula-one-channel-4-bbc-deal. 
  13. ↑ "The Gadget Show | The Gadget Show rebooted for 2012 by The Gadget Show". Fwd.channel5.com. http://fwd.channel5.com/gadget-show/gadget-news/the-gadget-show-rebooted-for-2012. Retrieved 2013-01-18. 
  14. ↑ All Star Mr and Mrs - Barry McGuigan, Suzi Perry, Simon Gregson Reviews TV.com
  15. ↑ "Let's Dance for Sport Relief - Suzi and Ortis". bbc.co.uk. 1970-01-01. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cmkgt/dancers/suzi-ortis. Retrieved 2013-01-18. 
  16. ↑ "Suzi Perry & Ortis Deley dance to Livin' La Vida Loca - Let's Dance for Sport Relief 2012 - BBC One". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0agK_vTpZs. Retrieved 2014-05-10. 
  17. ↑ Anna Tyzack (9 June 2006). ""Only Fools on Horses" stars named – Equestrian news, equine news, horse news – Horse & Hound". Horse & Hound. http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/86371.html. Retrieved 19 April 2009. 
  18. ↑ It's saddle sore Suzi The Sun, 17 June 2006Template:Dead link
  19. ↑ Promise Dreams – Wolverhampton's Children Charity
  20. ↑ NABD Supporters National Association for Bikers with a Disability, accessed 27 May 2009
  21. ↑ To have and to Tweet: Forget the traditional wedding album... Suzi Perry shares her big day online Mail Online, 9 August 2009
  22. ↑ To Halve And To Hold: TV's Suzi Sliced In Two By Magician Following Elvis-Themed Vegas Wedding, Reveal, 15 August 2009.
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