Former host of The X Factor Dermot O’Leary has slightly different life goals at the age of 51
Dermot O’Leary has a new TV series where the audience can win big money
Dermot O’Leary has admitted he has turned down jobs because his family comes first saying “You’ve only got one life”. In his younger days when he was The X Factor host, Dermot would travel the world for weeks and be working weekends for huge chunks of the year, but now his priorities have shifted.
He lives in London with wife Dee Koppang O’Leary and their four-year-old son Kasper. Launching his new TV series Silence Is Golden, Dermot said: “I’m at stage now, a very happy, comfortable stage. You don’t necessarily always have the luxury of it, but I feel like I want to do things now that interest me,. And I want to do things that fit around my life.
Dermot and Dee are both incredibly successful in the TV World(Image: Getty Images)
“It wasn’t necessarily I wanted to do a comedy game show. I mean, I’m desperate for it to succeed. I’m passionate about it and I want to do another one, but so many things have to align for that to happen. So this was more about that it felt like it was something different.”
He added: “There’s a couple of jobs I’ve turned down since we’ve had Kasper that I would love to have done, but I’m not going to go away for the amount of time. Not unless he was with me. You’ve only got one life.”
Dermot’s wife Dee was a director on Disney+ hit drama Rivals and also worked on Netflix’s The Crown. They split their workloads and try to make sure one of them is off or they aren’t both on big projects at the same time for the sake of their son. “It’s 50-50 now(with wife) she’s flying, she really is,” Dermot added.
His new gameshow sees a chance for the audience to win a split of £250,000 – if they can just stay silent. Comedy captains Katherine Ryan, Seann Walsh and Fatiha El-Ghorri try to make them laugh and there are other guests, stunts and tricks designed to make them scream or shout.
“It’s a combination of practical jokes, bribes, surprises. It’s really fun,” Dermot explained.
Looking ahead he insisted he wouldn’t look at the reaction to the show on social media as it was “the wild west”.
After decades in the business, Dermot is more relaxed about his career and his aim is to stay on screen into old age, which would make his career similar to one of his heroes, Terry Wogan.
Dermot, 51, said: “I want to present as long as I’m really enjoying it, and as long as people want me to do it. I’m thrilled that I’m still doing it.
“My younger self would have probably questioned a couple of the choices. I would say to him don’t fret too much, but it’s easy for me to say that because actually, it was probably part of that work ethic that got you where you are in the first place.”
Dermot hosted The X Factor for eight years, from 2007 to 2014, returning in 2015 for the final three series.
He currently hosts This Morning on ITV on Fridays with Alison Hammond and also has his own Radio 2 weekend show.
