KNOWLES
Nicholas

• 1. Career
• 1.1. Television
• 1.2. Film
• 1.3. Music

Nicholas Simon Augustine Knowles is an English television presenter, writer and musician. He has hosted several television programmes including Real Rescues (2007–2013), Who Dares Wins (2007–2019), Break the Safe (2013–2014), 5-Star Family Reunion (2015–2016), and DIY SOS (1999–present).

Career

Television

Knowles began as a runner in television production, before moving into presenting. Knowles was a reporter for TVS in the South East, reporting on the nightly news programme Coast To Coast.

He is principally known as the main host of DIY SOS, a home renovation series broadcast on BBC One since 1999, and has presented the BBC factual show Real Rescues since 2007. Knowles has also hosted several entertainment programmes for the BBC since signing an exclusive contract with them, including Who Dares Wins, Last Choir Standing, Guesstimation, Secret Fortune, and Perfection.

Knowles has also presented programmes with a wildlife theme. In 2007, he fronted Mission Africa, in which a team of volunteers constructed a game reserve in Kenya. During this project, Knowles fell from a Land Rover, dislocating his shoulder. He flew back to the UK to receive emergency treatment. In the same year, he reported on the plight of orphaned orangutans for an edition of Saving Planet Earth. In 2009, Knowles co-presented the BBC reality TV series Wildest Dreams with James Honeyborne, in which novice candidates had to complete a set of challenging tasks filming wild animals in Africa. The winner joined the BBC Natural History Unit on a one-year placement.

From 2011 to 2015, Knowles was the presenter of the BBC game show Perfection, in which the candidates must achieve absolute perfection to win the jackpot, aired weekdays on BBC One. From 2013 to 2014, he presented the BBC National Lottery game show Break the Safe. In 2015, Knowles began presenting a new BBC One National Lottery game show 5-Star Family Reunion, which returned for a second series in 2016.

In May 2016, Knowles presented Invictus: The Road to the Games, a one-off programme for the BBC. Knowles earned between £300,000 and £349,999 as a BBC presenter for the financial year 2016–2017.

In 2018 he participated in the eighteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, finishing in sixth place, after being voted out on 6 December.

From April 2019 he presented the BBC show Home Is Where the Art Is, in which he challenges three artists to create beautiful artwork for people they've never met. The show ran for a second series in 2021.

In May 2021, it was reported that Knowles was holding talks with the BBC regarding his role as the main host of DIY SOS due to his appearance in a Shreddies TV advert which violated BBC's commercial agreements and guidelines. A week later, the BBC announced that they had resolved the issue and Knowles will return to his DIY SOS role with filming to resume in the coming months and is expected to be back on screens in 2022.

Between August and September 2021, Knowles presented the Channel 5 series Nick Knowles' Big House Clearout.

In September 2024 Knowles was a contestant on the twenty-second series of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with professional dancer Luba Mushtuk. After performing a Jive to "We Built This City" by Starship, he was left red-faced as the cast sang him "Happy Birthday" and presented him with a cake, before Carlos Gu smooshed the cake in his face. Having injured his shoulder before the second show, he had to perform an American Smooth, to the song "Parklife" by Blur, after only 16 hours of training. He did not perform in the third week due to injury and as a result, his Charleston to "Rain on the Roof" (from Paddington 2) was postponed to the following week. In the fourth week he performed his Movie Week Charleston, but was eliminated in the dance off. For his farewell dance he performed to "I Try" by Macy Gray.

Film

Knowles was a co-writer on the film Golden Years, which stars Simon Callow, Virginia McKenna and Una Stubbs.

Music

He released his first and last music album, Every Kind Of People, on 3 November 2017. The album entered UK Albums Chart at No. 92.