Adele Claire Roberts (born 9 March 1979) is a British broadcaster, DJ and television personality from Southport, Merseyside, best known for her years presenting on BBC Radio 1 — and, before that, for appearing in the third series of Big Brother in 2002.
Her story reaches well beyond broadcasting. In October 2021 she announced that she was being treated for bowel cancer; she has since spoken openly about chemotherapy, life with a stoma and recovery, and in 2023 she became the fastest woman to run the London Marathon with a stoma — a Guinness World Record.
This article follows the documented record: a pharmacology graduate who found student radio, became a Big Brother housemate, worked her way from Lancashire local radio to Radio 1 breakfast shows, survived cancer, and finished third on Dancing on Ice.
Early Life and Background
Roberts was born in Southport, Merseyside, on 9 March 1979, the eldest of six siblings, of mixed Barbadian and British descent.
She was privately educated at Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ School in Crosby, Merseyside. She went on to study pharmacology at the University of Leeds — a degree unrelated to broadcasting, but one that put her in the right place at the right time.
At Leeds she joined Leeds Student Radio and presented a weekly mix show. It was the start of the DJ career that would carry her — via a detour through the Big Brother house — to national radio.
Adele Roberts’ Career Journey in Broadcasting
Breakthrough in Media
Her first professional radio job came in 2002 at Rock FM in Lancashire, where she presented and self-produced the Friday-night urban specialist show Smooth Grooves (10pm–2am). She also presented on The Hits Radio in Manchester.
In 2006 she joined Galaxy in Leeds (now Capital). The defining move came in 2012, when she joined BBC Radio 1Xtra — a station she had aspired to work for since attending one of its development events a decade earlier, in 2002.
Success with BBC Radio 1
In 2015 Roberts became the host of Radio 1’s Early Breakfast show (4:00–6:30am), following in the footsteps of presenters such as Greg James, Scott Mills and Chris Moyles, and she also became a regular cover presenter for the Live Lounge.
In 2020 she became the first Black woman to host the Radio 1 Breakfast Show, covering as part of a stunt in which the regular host, Greg James, had gone missing after the BRIT Awards. From January 2021 she hosted Radio 1’s Weekend Breakfast, before confirming her departure from the station in June 2023; her last programme had aired that May, ending eight years with Radio 1. She has also presented cover shows on BBC Radio 2.
Television Appearances and Reality TV Fame
Big Break Through Reality Television
Before the radio career took off, Roberts was a housemate on Big Brother 3 in 2002. She finished in seventh place, evicted on 5 July 2002 in an episode watched by 7.1 million viewers, during one of the most-watched series in the show’s history.
Reality television gave her a national profile but could have pigeonholed her; it is notable that her broadcasting career was then built largely on radio craft rather than Big Brother fame, and she returned to the show only once, for a task in Big Brother 8 in 2007, alongside fellow series-3 housemate Alex Sibley.
Appearance on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!
In November 2019 Roberts joined the nineteenth series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!. She was the first campmate voted off, on 29 November — an eviction surrounded by controversy after problems with the show’s voting app led ITV to discount app votes entirely and count only phone votes.
The jungle was one stop in a busy spell of television: in January 2020 she won the sixth series of E4’s Celebrity Coach Trip alongside her partner Kate Holderness; she is a regular BBC Sport presenter who joined the London Marathon commentary team in 2019; and in 2024 she reached the final of Dancing on Ice, finishing third with professional partner Mark Hanretty.
Health Journey and Cancer Battle
On 24 October 2021, Roberts announced that she was undergoing treatment for bowel cancer, having been diagnosed earlier that month. She shared the news publicly herself, on her own terms — as she would share everything that followed.
In January 2022 she confirmed that the tumour had been removed, that she had undergone chemotherapy and had been fitted with a stoma, and that she believed the surgery had removed all of the tumour. On 27 June 2022 she announced that she had been given the all-clear and was cancer-free.
Her openness — posting about stoma life, treatment and recovery to a large following — made her one of the most prominent British voices on bowel cancer in her age group, and in June 2022 she was named Role Model of the Year at the British LGBT Awards in recognition of that openness.
Fitness Journey and Marathon Achievements
Running has been a thread through Roberts’ adult life. She has completed three London Marathons, every one in a time fast enough to qualify for the following year: 3:36:31 in 2017 and 3:30:38 in 2018.
Her third marathon, in April 2023, made history: finishing in 3:30:22, she became the fastest woman ever to run a marathon with a stoma bag — a Guinness World Record achieved less than two years after her cancer diagnosis. She ran her first two marathons for the mental-health charity Heads Together and the 2023 race for the Attitude Magazine Foundation.
An avid Liverpool FC supporter, she also played in the winning team, captained by Oti Mabuse, in the 2019 Sport Relief charity netball match. For Roberts, fitness is advocacy as much as sport: public proof of what a body can still do after cancer treatment.
Personal Life and Relationships
Roberts is bisexual and has campaigned for LGBTQ rights throughout her career. In 2013 she presented Coming Out, a Radio 1 and 1Xtra documentary sharing her own and others’ coming-out stories. Her partner is Kate Holderness, with whom she won Celebrity Coach Trip in 2020.
She was nominated for Broadcaster of the Year at the DIVA Awards in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, and at the LGBT Awards in 2018 and 2020 — recognition of visibility as much as of broadcasting skill.
That balance — open about identity, illness and advocacy, private about the everyday detail of home life — has defined how she manages fame, and it is a deliberate one: what she shares publicly is almost always in the service of a cause.
Public Image, Influence, and Social Impact
Roberts’ public image rests on candour: about sexuality, about heritage — she is of mixed Barbadian and British descent, and was the first Black woman to host the Radio 1 Breakfast Show — and about illness. Each ‘first’ has been handled as an opportunity to normalise rather than to boast.
As a broadcaster she built a reputation for warmth and musical knowledge across two decades, moving from specialist urban shows to the biggest youth station in the country without losing the enthusiast’s tone of her student-radio days.
Her influence now spans audiences that rarely overlap: Radio 1 listeners, reality-TV viewers, runners, and the bowel-cancer and stoma communities, for whom her marathon world record became a symbol of life after treatment.
Conclusion: Adele Roberts’ Inspiring Life and Continuing Influence
Adele Roberts’ career is a study in second acts: a Big Brother housemate who became a serious broadcaster; a breakfast presenter who became, through illness, one of Britain’s most effective health advocates.
The milestones are verifiable and remarkable: eight years on Radio 1, a Dancing on Ice podium finish, three London Marathons, and a world record set with a stoma bag less than two years after a cancer diagnosis.
She remains what her career has made her: a broadcaster, a campaigner and — by the evidence of April 2023 — one of the toughest runners ever to pin on a race number.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Who is Adele Roberts?
Adele Claire Roberts (born 9 March 1979, Southport) is a British broadcaster, DJ and TV personality. She presented on BBC Radio 1 for eight years, appeared on Big Brother (2002), I’m a Celebrity (2019) and Dancing on Ice (2024), and is a prominent bowel-cancer awareness campaigner.
What is Adele Roberts famous for?
Her broadcasting career — Radio 1Xtra, Radio 1 Early Breakfast and Weekend Breakfast — and her reality-TV appearances. She is also known for marathon running: in 2023 she set a Guinness World Record as the fastest woman to run the London Marathon with a stoma.
What shows has Adele Roberts appeared on?
Big Brother 3 (2002, seventh place), I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! (2019), Celebrity Coach Trip (2020, which she won with her partner Kate Holderness), Dancing on Ice (2024, third place), and BBC Sport coverage including the London Marathon, whose presenting team she joined in 2019.
What happened during Adele Roberts’ cancer journey?
She was diagnosed with bowel cancer in October 2021 and announced it on 24 October that year. The tumour was removed, she had chemotherapy and a stoma fitted, and on 27 June 2022 she announced she had been given the all-clear. She has spoken openly about stoma life ever since.
Is Adele Roberts a marathon runner?
Yes — a serious one. She has run three London Marathons (2017: 3:36:31; 2018: 3:30:38; 2023: 3:30:22). The 2023 run made her the fastest woman in history to complete a marathon with a stoma bag, a Guinness World Record, and she ran it for the Attitude Magazine Foundation.
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