Clare Balding

Gabby Logan has been a mainstay of the BBC Sport presenting team for many years, but she was given a reality check by her daughter when she tried to push her into certain sports

Few individuals could be better suited to front BBC Sport than self-proclaimed sports fanatic Gabby Logan.

Gabby, who competed for Wales in rhythmic gymnastics at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, has remained a familiar face for decades through her contributions to ITV and BBC, presenting World Cups, Olympic Games, Six Nations and countless other sporting occasions.

Following Gary Lineker’s exit from the corporation’s premier football programme, Match of the Day, she has joined the presenting roster tipped to succeed him. However, Gabby was decisively “put in her place” by her daughter Lois when she tried to guide her towards the sports she herself was most passionate about.

She explained to The Telegraph: “I always used to say to Lois, when she first got into horses at the age of nine: ‘Oh, if you played golf, I would play with you every night. If you played tennis, I’d play with you all the time.’

“And she’s like: ‘Mummy, those are your dreams, not mine.’ So I was very much put in my place… I used to tell Clare Balding that I’d had her love child.”

Gabby’s Clare Balding reference proved rather fitting.

Now aged 20, Lois works as a show jumper and recently took part in her first horse race as a jockey.

Lois’s twin brother Reuben has also inherited the family’s athletic streak, featuring as a back-row forward for Sale Sharks.

As a mum, Gabby admits she finds it challenging watching both her children pursue physically demanding and potentially dangerous sports. “They’ve not made it easy for me, have they?” she quipped.

“Or for Kenny, in terms of a nice, sedate sport – something a little less frenetic and potentially fraught with danger.

“Still, for me it was important that they had a passion and did something they wanted to do in life, and they both love sport.”

Reuben may have regretted his choice to go into professional rugby on one particular occasion, though.

One of his regular gym sessions at the club turned into a toe-curlingly embarrassing experience when one of his mum’s podcasts was played over the PA system.

It happened to be the episode in which Gabby, 50, was discussing changes in her sex life since her husband – former rugby international Kenny Logan – had his prostate removed following a cancer diagnosis in 2022.

Gabby has been outspoken about reconnecting with intimacy after menopause. She told The Sun: “Taking HRT saw my libido returning. I started with a very small dose of oestrogen and testosterone gels, and progesterone in tablet form. I noticed massive changes within a few weeks. It was a lovely feeling – like myself again.

“My libido came back within about a week. I felt a massive improvement there, and that was important to me and also to Kenny. Once I was on HRT and my libido returned, our sex life was back on track – even to the extent of having daytime sex. There are plus points to becoming empty nesters!”

The BBC Sport presenter joins the likes of Tom Daley, Jonathan Ross and Alan Carr in taking part in the first series of The Celebrity Traitors

The inaugural series of The Celebrity Traitors hits our screens on Wednesday night, with a star-studded cast taking part in the spin-off of the popular BBC programme.

Following the same format as the regular version, the series will see 19 celebs becoming either ‘Faithfuls’ or, in the case of some, ‘Traitors’. The task for the Traitors is to work together to ‘murder’ their fellow contestants without being detected, while the Faithfuls are charged with successfully identifying and ‘banishing’ the Traitors by voting them out.

The celebrity line-up includes singer-songwriter Cat Burns, telly host Jonathan Ross, actress Celia Imrie and former Olympic diver Tom Daley. However, one contestant who’s been tipped to go the distance and bag the £100,000 charity prize is BBC Sport legend Clare Balding.

Over her 30-year career, the presenter has become one of Britain’s most esteemed broadcasters, having fronted massive sporting events such as the Grand National, Olympic Games and Wimbledon for channels like the BBC and Channel 4.

Balding will be hoping her authority, popularity and affability to take her far in the iconic Traitors castle, while she has grown used to the spotlight being cast over her, and particularly her life away from the cameras. As her stock has risen, particular attention has been paid her personal life, from her relationship with another presenter to her recent weight loss. Here’s what you need to know.

Ex-BBC presenter wife

Balding first met her wife, broadcaster Alice Arnold, in 1999 while they were both working for the BBC. While they were simply good friends at first, they began dating in 2002, after a national newspaper publicly revealed Balding’s sexuality.

The pair entered into a civil partnership in 2006 before getting married in a private ceremony in 2015, following the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the UK. Their marriage was subsequently back-dated to 2006.

Balding has described Arnold, who worked as a newsreader and continuity announcer at BBC Radio 4 for over two decades, as “fiercely loyal” and her “own little guard dog”.

Reflecting on their first meeting, the Wimbledon presenter confessed she was unaware of Arnold’s identity when she first noticed her at a BBC show, but added: “I saw her and thought ‘Oh, she’s really interesting and rather beautiful. We started chatting and she’s very funny. We were friends for at least two years.”

Balding recently spoke more candidly about her relationship with Arnold during an interview with Hello! Magazine, crediting her wife as the inspiration behind her debut novel ‘Pastures New’, which hit shelves in September.

“One of the things I wanted to write about in my novel was about falling in love because I thought ‘I know that’,” she explained. “I know what real, deep love is and meeting someone I want to grow old with. Lucky, lucky me.”

In the same interview, she revealed that she and Arnold are preparing to leave their long-time home in Chiswick as they look to fill the “canine-shaped hole” in their lives by getting a new dog.

“We’re looking to move out of London in the near future, and one of the main reasons for that is to have a bit more space and protection from the road so that it’s a good environment for a dog,” said Balding. “As soon as we’re settled, it’s definitely our plan – probably next spring. I just smile at the thought of having a dog back in our lives.”

On how she and Arnold spend their time together, she spoke about their love of golf, adding: “I’m not as good as Alice, who’s a seven-handicap golfer, but I’m working on getting better”. She also discussed the couple’s travel plans, explaining: “Alice and I are about to go from New York up to Quebec and back again and we’re going to Japan on a cruise next year. We love being on the water and then ending up in a new place.”

Balding’s relationship with Arnold came after she previously dated men, with one of her former partners even proposing to her. However, she turned down the proposal and never regretted the decision, explaining that he went on to “behave appallingly”.

“I had a few boyfriends, not like loads,” she recalled. “But I had one very serious boyfriend for two or three years. He asked me to marry him, and he was in the Army, and he was going off. And I thought, ‘He’s only asking me because he thinks he’s in danger and, according to romantic films, I’m meant to say yes at this point’.

“I knew I didn’t want to. I said, ‘Look, that’s a lovely thing to say but ask me again when you come back’. When he came back he didn’t ask me again, and I thought, ‘Thank God’. I thought, ‘I don’t trust you and I’ll never trust you’ – and funnily enough I was absolutely spot on as his ex-wife told me not that long ago.”

She added: “That relationship ended not very well with him behaving appallingly. I think I was damaged by that, but that doesn’t make you gay. I just think when I first fell in love with a woman, it was completely different.”

Cancer battle

In 2009, Balding revealed she had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer after spotting a lump on her neck while watching herself present on television.

Warning signs of the condition include a lump in the neck, a painful throat and swallowing difficulties that persist, and after heeding her family’s advice to consult a doctor, she was told she had cancer and needed an operation. Balding then underwent surgery to remove a cyst, her thyroid gland and a lymph node, followed by radioactive iodine treatment to halt the disease’s progression.

She later admitted to going through a “dark stage” after her diagnosis, as she feared the potential impacts of her illness on her voice and career. However, she received the all-clear at the end of 2010 and has since seen her career flourish.

During a recent appearance on the Stick to Rugby podcast, she opened up about her diagnosis, recalling: “It was an odd one because I hadn’t noticed feeling any different. I was doing the show jumping at Christmas when it was at Olympia and I recorded an opening link, and I was watching it back on the monitor as we were about to go live.

“I was looking at the mirror and I saw this lump on my neck, a big lump. I thought, ‘Wow, that’s really weird, where has that come from?’ I went home for Christmas and my sister-in-law’s Welsh grandfather was a doctor, and he looked at it. He was still a practising GP and he said that I’d better go to the doctor. He took Alice to one side and said, ‘Make sure she goes’.

“Between Christmas and New Year, when the doctor’s surgery was open, I went and the GP did some tests and he sent me to a specialist. They came back and said, ‘You’ve got thyroid cancer’ and they had to operate.”

Pointing to her neck, she added: “I’ve got a cracking scar there, they had to operate three times. I was most worried about my voice because of where the surgery is. I was thinking, please don’t hit my vocal cords. I came back and was commentating on the tennis for the radio and I couldn’t hit the notes, the vocal cords weren’t meeting properly.

“Anyway, it came back and I was all fine and I got my bass notes back – but that was all I was worried about. I then had radioactive iodine therapy, but that’s all right, because it’s not as bad as chemo.”

Body transformation

Today, Balding is healthier than ever, having shed one-and-a-half stone by eliminating a few food and drink items from her diet.

During her Hello! interview, the 54-year-old revealed that she had embraced a low-carb diet, ditching pasta and bread while also reducing her sugar consumption. She also modified her drinking habits, choosing gin and tonic over red wine.

After overhauling her eating habits, Balding says she not only “feels better” but has gained fresh confidence as she can now wear whatever she wants.

“I’ve worked hard at it and feel better,” she said. “I got into my 50s and thought, ‘I’m just going to be fat and happy’, but then a friend talked about a low-carb diet and the late Michael Mosley publicised this form of weight loss, too, and I thought, I’ll give it one more go – as I’ve tried so many diets over the years – and see if it works. And it did!”

Revealing she no longer eats bread or pasta and as little sugar as possible, she added: “And if I want a drink, I have a gin and tonic instead of wine, so I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself of things.

“I’m never going to be stick thin – that’s just not me. I’ve got massive bones. But I can now put on a pair of trousers with a belt and my shirt tucked in and I went for years without being able to do that. That feels great.”

Claudia Winkleman is hosting The Celebrity Traitors with 19 famous faces all trying to win £100,000 for their chosen charity – but Claudia isn’t her usual bubbly self

Nineteen huge stars are taking part in The Celebrity Traitors – but all eyes will be on Claudia Winkleman’s fierce fashion choices. Wearing faux fur coats, structured layers and statement knitwear, Claudia has honed a look that’s all her own, and reinvented

it for the celebrity version. “It’s absolutely nuts,” says Claudia. “Unhinged in taffeta was where we went.”

Alan Carr, Cat Burns, Celia Imrie, Charlotte Church, Clare Balding, David Olusoga, Joe Marler, Joe Wilkinson, Jonathan Ross, Kate Garraway, Lucy Beaumont, Mark Bonnar, Nick Mohammed, Niko Omilana, Paloma Faith, Ruth Codd, Stephen Fry, Tameka Empson and Tom Daley are all signed up for the gothic game show, each vying to win £100,000 for their chosen charity.

It’s the spin-off fans have been begging for – but at first Strictly host Claudia was against the idea of yet another celebrity format. “I was scared,” she admits. “Only because I’m in love with this show and I wanted to keep it small. Once a year or maybe once every two years felt like enough. My bosses, thank goodness, ignored everything I said.”

When she saw the calibre of celebrity queuing up to play traitors and faithfuls, even Claudia had to agree the show was a good idea. Working with Stephen Fry was a dream come true for Claudia and bearded comic Joe Wilkinson left her especially starstruck. “I could barely breathe when I saw them all in the Highlands. I’m such a fan of every single one of them,” shares Claudia, 53.

“The whole team were just in awe, it was hard not to scream, ‘You’re here!’ When I talked to Stephen Fry I almost welled up, I told him this was my dream. We’re incredibly lucky to have the cast that we have. Each one of them is tremendous. My family and I are obsessed with Joe Wilkinson, I had to stop myself getting his autograph for my son.”

Claudia oversees the games on the show but admits she finds it a challenge not to get too chummy with the players. “The biggest challenge was being strict,” says Claudia. “All I wanted to do was chat and be friendly but my role is aloof and grumpy. I found it hard not to just sit down with them and have a cup of tea.”

And she finds the urge to help them with the missions overwhelming. “Sometimes I try and drop big clues, but my producer tells me off,” Claudia confesses.

To help her maintain her distance from the stars, Claudia channels two classic villains. “[I’m] Cruella de Vil with a touch of Miss Trunchbull!” she laughs.

Hosting such a huge show is a dream come true for Claudia, but she admits she found the celebrity version tougher than the main show. “It was scarier, because all I wanted to do was chat to them and make them like me,” she says. “But of course, I have to be extremely unlikeable. It was tricky!”

Claudia can’t praise the celebrity contestants enough for the energy they put into the show. “They’re incredibly smart and kind,” she says. “They play the game beautifully and were fully engulfed in it. It was an extraordinary experience and we’re so so lucky this 19 said yes. It’s something we never take for granted and are so grateful for.”