A Place In The Sun hosts now – modelling, cameraman romance and cancer diagnosis

A Place In The Sun has become a firm favourite with TV viewers since making its debut in the early noughties.

The beloved Channel 4 programme has whisked fans away to exotic locations, as the presenters help prospective buyers leave their lives in Britain for a place abroad.

Throughout the years the programme has been fronted by a number of famous faces, including former model Amanda Lamb, children’s TV presenter Laura Hamilton and I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! star Scarlette Douglas.

READ MORE: A Place in the Sun host given ‘final’ warning after making house-hunting mistakes

Here, Daily Star takes a closer look inside the lives of the A Place In The Sun (APITS) presenters.

Amanda Lamb

Amanda Lamb was one of the original APITS presenters between 2001 to 2009.

However before landing TV fame, she worked as an estate agent before making a career U-turn in modelling.

From 1994 until 2004, Amanda appeared in advertisements for the investment company Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society.

Near to the end of her contract for Scottish Widows adverts, she began hosting APITS and later presented programmes including Market Kitchen (Good Food), My Flat Pack Home, Selling Houses With Amanda Lamb and You Deserve This House.

She currently hosts My Mortgage Free Home, with a new series due to air in 2023.

Away from the limelight, Amanda has been married twice – first to Mike Carter from 1998 to 2003, and then to cameraman Sean McGuiness from 2012.

The star fell in love with the cameraman while working on APITS, paying tribute to him during an interview with The Telegraph, saying: “I didn’t think I would ever meet anyone else but just when I was least expecting it, I met my husband Sean, in 2006.

“We’ve been married now for five years. He is such a wonderful husband and father and I am a very lucky girl.”

Together, Amanda and Sean have two children together called Willow Rose and Lottie.

Amanda also opened up in her Telegraph interview about suffering a heartbreaking miscarriage and how it helped her “appreciate motherhood”, adding: “I have also suffered a miscarriage. It was devastating but I went onto have my two beautiful children (daughters Willow, 11, and Lottie, seven).

“So that loss made me really appreciate being a mother.”

The star has also opened up about her weight loss transformation, which saw her lose more than one stone after changing her diet following her APITS stint.

She told Closer that her diet on set would include high-carb, stodgy meals and that she would often drink alcohol, saying: “I put on weight while filming A Place In The Sun in Europe. We’d go out boozing, and I was eating baguettes for lunch, followed by stodgy dinners.”

Amanda continued: “Since then, my weight has slowly returned to normal.

“I eat healthily and go to the gym four times a week.”

She added: “I hate celebs who say they’re naturally skinny – I worked my butt off to look like this!”

Sara Damergi

Sara Damergi has hosted APITS since 2012 – but it is not her only TV presenting stint.

Alongside her work on the popular Channel 4 programme, Sara has hosted Coast VS Country, The Great Big British Quiz and MTV’s The Paparazzi Show, to name a few.

She also currently reports for BBC1 Sunday Morning Live, as well as BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey.

That’s not all, as she also uses her love for property innovation as part of her board position at PropTech Sweden, who are specialists in tech advancements and inventions in the property industry.

Away from the cameras, Sara has also opened up about her early years living in Lebanon, with Sara and her mother later leaving as conflict escalated in the country.

Her father remained in Lebanon, but later joined them, with Sara telling The Express: “My dad was in the last war in 2006, but that was a lot of sleepless nights for me as well as I saw his building on the TV, so I was really scared it was going to get bombed any second.

“It was just horrendous, but he’s a British citizen so he came out on a helicopter to Cyprus, they got him out.

“Things could have been much different if I didn’t have a British mum, obviously, I wouldn’t have had a route out.”

It is reported that Sara lives in Southwest London with her partner and two children, Oliver and Elliot.

Adrian Simpson

Adrian Simpson has presented APITS since 2014 – but the star already had long TV career before joining the Channel 4 programme.

He landed his TV debut hosting BBC’s Top Gear between 2000 and 2001, before appearing on The Gadget Show, Thunder Races, Fightback Britain and Police, Camera, Action.

Adrian also had an acting stint in the short film Cardinal in 2011, where he played a football fan.

Along with APITs, Adrian also currently presents Sky News on its overnight programme.

However, Adrian tends to keep his personal life private, and it is not known if he is single or in a relationship.

Jonnie Irwin

Jonnie Irwin has hosted APITS since 2004, after he was selected from hundreds of applicants to co-host Channel 4 with Jasmine Harman – and became a TV favourite in the process.

From there, Jonnie also landed presenting roles on other TV favourites including Escape To The Country, Escape To The Perfect Town, The Renovation Game and To Buy Or Not To Buy.

He also presented Sky 1’s Dream Lives For Sale in 2011, which saw him help people leave their lives in the UK behind and buy a business abroad.

Although Jonnie may be a TV presenting favourite, his life could have taken a different path entirely.

A keen sportsperson, Jonnie played rugby for Lutterworth RFC and Rugby Lions RFC away from his career in property.

However, his rugby days came to an end when he broke his back in an accident during a tournament, which forced Jonnie to subsequently retire from the game.

Away from the limelight, Jonnie has been married to his wife Jessica Holmes since 2016, after the pair tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony in Northumberland.

Together the couple share three children – Rex, three, and two-year-old twins Rafa and Cormac.

Jonnie regularly shares beautiful photos of his family on social media, including one of Jessica and two of their children, as he captioned the post: “I love working on location but the downside is I miss some family moments.”

As of 2022, Jonnie and Jessica are estimated to have net worth of $1.5million (£1.2m), according to allfamousbirthday.com.

During a recent interview, Jonnie revealed that he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

The TV presenter explained to Hello! Magazine that after flying back from Italy after filming A Place In The Sun in August 2020, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, which has now spread to his brain, and was told that he had been given “six months to live”.

Jonnie initially chose to keep his diagnosis private, before sharing the news during the interview, in the hopes that he can inspire people to make the most of every day.

He said: “I set little markers – things I want to be around for. I got into the habit of saying: ‘Don’t plan ahead because I might not be well enough.’ But now I want to make plans.”

The property expert added that he also wants to inspire those with “life-limiting prospects to make the most of every day,” saying that by sharing his diagnosis, he wanted people to “see that you can live a positive life, even though you are dying.”

Jasmine Harman

Jasmine Harman has co-hosted APITS with Jonnie Irwin since 2004, and it is not only fame she found on the programme, but also love.

She told The Mirror that her relationship with APITS cameraman Jon Boast blossomed after a night out: “We went out dancing one night that weekend and I like a man who’s not afraid to make a fool of himself on a dance floor.

“He was just so much fun and I guess I fell in love.”

The couple got married in 2009 and have since had two children together, Albion and Joy.

As well as hosting APITS, Jasmine has also featured in segments for This Morning, as well as writing for A Place In The Sun Magazine, and is a regular contributor for BBC Radio Kent.

Jasmine is also a champion of body positivity and is candid about her own weight loss journey, sharing photos of herself on social media to highlight “real bodies”, with one captioned: “Not everyone on IG has the perfect bod or the perfect life.”

In a separate post, the star shared a photograph of herself in a purple crop top and leggings, captioned: “I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching about sharing my progress photos and a few people have encouraged me to practice what I preach about body positivity, not feeling like you have to hide, whatever your body size or shape.”

Laura Hamilton

Laura Hamilton joined the APITS team in 2011 – but did you know that she started her career behind the scenes?

The presenter is reported to have worked as a runner for stars including Dermot O’Leary, before working as an Assistant Floor Manager on programmes including Top Of The Pops, T4 and Big Brother.

She also had a career as an assistant director for TV shows and films including The Bill, Family Affairs, Harry Potter and Stardust, before making her transition to the front of the camera as Melody in CITV programme Fun Song Factory in 2006.

Laura also became one of the faces of Nickelodeon, before joining the APITs team and presenting programmes including The Real Hustle, the revived Fort Boyard series and taking part in TV series including The Jump and Dancing On Ice – where she finished in second place.

Away from the limelight, her love of properties continues as she is a keen property developer.

The star was previously married to Alex Goward, with whom she had two children– Rocco and Tahlia – before the couple split earlier in 2022.

Speaking to Hello! Magazine, Laura said it was “tough” saying goodbye to life that the family shared together, but explained: “It was a decision we both came to.

“We have an enormous amount of respect for each other, but we are now on different paths. At the point it was announced, we’d already overcome a lot of difficult times.

“But I am lucky that we have the relationship and respect for each other that we have, and our children’s happiness will always be our priority.”

When talking exclusively to the Daily Star on a Facebook Live chat, Laura also opened up about her health, revealing that she was diagnosed with a condition called ITP.

She said: “I have something called ITP, Immune thrombocytopenia, which is low platelets count in my blood – it’s quite an unknown disease.

“It sort of flares ups and downs depending on what’s going on with my life and stress often brings it out.”

Scarlette Douglas

Scarlette Douglas has hosted APITs since 2015, but the talented star landed her first big breaks in musical theatre.

After landing roles in Hairspray, Little Shop Of Horrors, she worked as a backing singer for Electro Velvet at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.

However, she turned her attention to TV presenting after winning a nationwide competition with MTV and Freedom, To Be A Presenter, while hosting her own news bulletin on MTV News.

From there she landed her APITS role, and has since appeared on programmes including The One Show, Jeremy Vine, Love It Or List It and Worst House On The Street.

She is now delighting fans on the current series of ITV reality programme I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

Away from the limelight, it was reported in 2021 that Scarlette was dating boyfriend Lyndrik Xela, who appeared on The Voice and released his debut EP last year.

The couple met while working on the West End Show Thriller Live in 2009, but it is reported that they did not start dating until 2020.

Opening up about her love life to OK! Magazine, and the difficulties of a relationship while presenting programmes such as APITS, she said: “The hardest part, well there are a few things that are a bit tricky. I’ve done this show primarily being single and I’ve got a partner now.”

She added: “We’ve been together since [the first] lockdown and we’ve known each other for years and but have now got together.

“But it’s a bit tricky going away because I’m leaving him at home and he’s doing his thing and I’m away. My hours can be crazy sometimes so I guess that’s what’s hard.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk