Matt Baker hounded the BBC to star in Blue Peter

Matt Baker hounded the BBC to land his first TV job on ‘Blue Peter’.
The 41-year-old presenter has admitted he hassled the children’s show team with constant phone calls after graduating from University, until he was able to get an audition.
In an interview with the Daily Express newspaper, Matt explained: "It was my wife, Nicola, who was then my girlfriend, who suggested it. She heard they were looking for a new presenter and told me to give it a go. I rang directory inquiries and got the BBC number. I phoned them up and I asked to be put through to the editor of ‘Blue Peter’.
"Not surprisingly, the editor’s assistant told me he was busy. I told her not to worry and I would ring back in 10 minutes."
The former ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ contestant continued to irritate the BBC, but his consistency eventually paid off.
He added: "I duly did and then kept ringing her back every time she told me he was busy. Eventually she asked why I was ringing and I told her I could be the next ‘Blue Peter’ presenter!
"She told me if I could get a show reel in by the next day, they would have a look at it. So I put the phone down and shouted to my dad to get the video camera out quick – we were making a show reel. As ridiculous as it seems, that is what happened!"
Matt went on to present the longest-running children’s TV show for six years after his first appearance in 2000, and claims it was the best times ever.
He said: "Foreign reporting was so much cheaper back then and I filled three passports up while I was on the programme. I did so many things and I even took part in a hang-gliding world record! I still talk to Simon Thomas, my co-presenter, a lot. We experienced so many things together and I love taking my children travelling now. ‘Blue Peter’ was a recce for where to take the children in the future."
Now, Matt stays incredibly busy with presenting a host of shows – including ‘The One Show’ – as well as raising his two children with wife Nicola, whom he wed in 2004.
But the star is more content than ever with his career, as he expressed: "People say, ‘What do you want to move on to?’ But I have a chat show on BBC One at 7pm, I have ‘Countryfile’, which I joined in 2009, and I do the Olympics too. Life is totally complete.
"All the things I am incredibly passionate about, I get to broadcast about on telly. I love what I do and I love the fact that I am out in the wilds too. I wouldn’t change anything."