Louise Minchin is a well-known and respected broadcaster, journalist and TV presenter. She presented the UK’s most watched Breakfast programme BBC Breakfast on BBC One for 20 years. Louise currently co-presents the BBC’s flagship consumer series, Rip Off Britain.
She was chair of the 2023 judging panel for the prestigious literary award, the Women’s Prize for Fiction and is a successful author and podcaster.
Before joining BBC Breakfast, Louise was one of BBC News 24’s main anchors and one of BBC Radio 5 Live’s main presenters. She also guest presented The One Show and presented the BBC One daytime series Real Rescues, Missing Live and Crime and Punishment. Louise competed in Celebrity MasterChef, finishing as runner-up. She also took part in the Channel 4 series Time Crashers.
In Autumn 2021 she starred in ITV’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. In March 2022 she presented Louise Minchin: The Truth About Stalking for ITV Tonight, investigating how dangerous stalking can be and what help is being offered to support victims, along with her daughter Mia.
Louise also guest presents ITV’s Lorraine programme.
Louise’s passion is endurance sport. Having given up competitive sport as a teenager, after a BBC Breakfast Christmas cycling challenge she was inspired to attempt her first triathlon in 2013 and went on to qualify for the GB age-group team to race in Chicago in 2015. Since then, she has raced in five World and European Championships and has gone on to compete in extreme triathlons including one of the toughest triathlons in the world, Norseman in 2019.
In February 2020 Louise took part in a 100 mile hike across the Namibian desert for Sport Relief – The Heat is On – raising awareness of mental health.
In 2022 she hosted the top-rated podcast, Push Your Peak. In this podcast series, Louise interviews first class athletes who have done extraordinary things, to learn what it takes mentally and physically to get to the top of their game.
Louise’s first book, Dare to Tri, was released in 2019 by Bloomsbury and charted her journey from the BBC Breakfast sofa to competing internationally in triathlon.
Her second book Fearless, Adventures with Extraordinary Women, was published in 2023 by Bloomsbury and reflects her passion for celebrating women’s sporting success. In each chapter Louise takes on a difficult challenge with a different courageous woman to tell their incredible stories; such challenges as swimming from Alcatraz, free diving under ice in the dark in Finland, wild caving, and walking across Dartmoor. Fearless won the People’s Book Prize for Non Fiction in 2024.
Louise’s third book Isolation Island is her first work of fiction. The novel tells the story of ten celebrities competing in a reality show on a remote Scottish island that takes a deadly
turn. Isolation Island released in September 2024 and was a Sunday Times Pick of the Month.
