Kemi Rodgers is a yapper. But not in the shrill, gauche kind of way that reserved Brits tend to recoil from. Anything but, in fact. The radio host and TV presenter radiates unpretentious warmth upon first meeting, dialling in from the Capital FM studio in Leicester Square - where she has manned the decks since 2019.
Her road to radio began with a leg up from Capital Late presenter Sonny Jay, whom she met in a Wimbledon Costa at 4am in prior to an odd-job shift for Global’s events team. The demos which she subsequently fired off to the senior team’s email address struck a chord - and, after a year of tentative practice in the booth, Kemi landed her first radio show.
It’s been quite the journey since. “Yesterday I interviewed Steve Carell and at the end of the interview, I said ‘thank you for being everyone's favourite internet daddy,’ because everyone's thirsting over him online, and he said I made his year,” the Eastbourne native reflects with her charming Cheshire Cat smile. “I got home and disassociated because The Office is one of my favourite TV shows and I just thought - ‘Oh I just called Steve Carell a daddy.’ That was a day at work for me. Thank you. Thank you life.”
© Annemarie SterianStunning, I thought. She’s more than happy to dish out the celebrity juice we all really want to know (not often the case, unsurprisingly.) Yet, she does so in a gleeful way that’s reminiscent of a wine-fuelled girls’ night in, still in disbelief herself about working alongside Hollywood's crème de la crème.
We kick off with some hard-hitting journalism. “[Austin Butler] does smell very nice,” she says. “He's really lovely, actually. The first time I met him was when I interviewed him, and he came back into the office later that year, and I thought he wasn’t going to recognise me. But he turned around and said, ‘Nice to see you again! Are you interviewing me this time?’ I wasn’t, but I thought, ‘Austin Butler just spoke to me!’”
“Yesterday I interviewed Steve Carell and at the end of the interview, I said ‘thank you for being everyone's favourite internet daddy"
It’s easy to see why A-listers would feel comfortable in her presence: “Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds - that was a particularly funny one because it was quite a last-minute interview for me actually. It’s usually really strict when you interview people like that. They arrive with their whole team and you get your five minutes or whatever. You know the drill. We were playing this game with them and they were getting so into it - I was getting them to do yoga poses while they were lying on the floor. Background ended up letting us go on for another ten minutes, which is so unheard of because they were having such a good time.”
© Annemarie SterianHosts this side of the pond have a knack for disarming celebrities who are PR-trained within an inch of their lives. Deliciously dry-humoured Graham Norton, Louis Theroux and Amelia Dimoldenberg to name a modest few. Kemi is now very much included in that lineup: “Sometimes you feel like with actors that this is the part of the job they don't want to do. They want to do the acting, but they don't want to do the press side. So, it's a really nice moment when they're actually having a good time, and you get to do some fun things with them.” She recounts the time when she sang Sabrina Carpenter’s discography to, well, Sabrina Carpenter. “That moment sometimes keeps me awake at night.”
Kemi’s grounded nature was shaped by the sea. She grew up in sleepy Eastbourne (she’s still furious that her mother saw Aaron Taylor-Johnson filming Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging back in 2007 and forgot to mention it - “I might have seen Robbie”) alongside two younger brothers and a posse of labradors. A self-professed goody-two-shoes at school, despite penning the odd petition against unjust rules and a punk-princess nose ring, Kemi channelled her efforts into the humanities - a helpful springboard into the world of broadcast arts.
“From the age of fourteen, I knew I wanted to be a radio and TV presenter - that was my North Star"
She later cut her teeth at Bournemouth University, where she read multimedia journalism - blagging her way into gigs to interview her favourite bands playing in neighbouring Brighton. After finishing college, she worked as a receptionist at her mother’s NHS workplace while gearing up for her aspiring radio career. “From the age of fourteen, I knew I wanted to be a radio and TV presenter. That was my North Star - anything that would get me closer to that,” she notes candidly.
© Annemarie SterianEven if it involved eating putrid-tasting Durian fruit and being eaten alive by mosquitoes? Without question. In 2024, the It-Brit landed her first television gig as co-presenter of I’m A Celebrity: Unpacked, alongside former Made In Chelsea star Sam Thompson. “That's what dreams are made of,” she chirps. “Working on I'm a Celeb is - I'm speechless. I watched it all my life. Working with Sam [Thompson], working with Joel [Dommett], working with Ant and Dec...I keep pinching myself every single day.”
She was a hit among audiences, and ITV asked her to return for I'm a Celebrity South Africa 2026, which aired this month and stars Gemma Collins, Scarlett Moffatt, Ashley Roberts and Sir Mo Farrah.
"Working with Ant and Dec...I keep pinching myself every single day"
How to curate the perfect onscreen wardrobe for such diverse filming climates? Thematically, of course. “I love getting dressed up for the show,” she says. “My outfits for Australia were very utilitarian - lots of denim and big boots. South Africa is a lot more glam, more feminine with more florals.”
During her rare days off, when she’s not surrounded by an army of hair stylists and makeup artists in the jungle, you’ll likely find Kemi scouring the rails of her local London charity shops, or deep diving through her Vinted feed. “I just had a notification that something from Vinted, a vintage Chloé top, has been delivered to my house, so I need to go and try it on.” A woman of our own heart.
© Annemarie SterianAn obsession with revisiting stories of the past runs through both her closet and our conversation. She’s a total history boffin - as evidenced by her current Instagram bio that reads: ‘That presenter that is also a history nerd.’ It started with the Tudors, as it does for so many fascinated by the gory ins-and-outs of English history. Enthralled by the period costume, a basic version of which she was able to experience firsthand while starring as Olivia in a school production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Kemi fell completely in love with the theatrics of the subject.
Visualising the storied lives of her favourite historical figures sparked an interest in the spaces they once occupied. And thus, the most organic of partnerships was born. A long-standing member of the National Trust, Kemi joined forces with the charity (in partnership with Next), which lists protected properties including Churchill’s home at Chartwell, Chatsworth House, Waddesdon Manor and Bridgerton’s Ham House - a personal favourite. She passionately recounts the life of Catherine Murray, the fierce owner of the property during the English Civil War from 1639 to 1653.
"I want to make history fun and not uncool, that's what I'm trying to do - that's my little one-woman fight”
“It’s always been about the king,” the archaist contends. “Unless you're Elizabeth I, when it comes to women, the narrative was she must get married - everyone was focusing on her virginity rather than her 50 or 60 years of tenure.”
The host is on a mission to make history engaging for a younger audience - hence her ‘History with Kemi’ Instagram series that includes reels about how many shots it would take for her to sleep with the ‘clapped’ medieval character in question. “Obviously, a lot of history is written by men, often about men, because they were the ones who were running the joint back in the day. I love reframing these stories and learning about the people behind them.” She shouts out BBC series Ghosts and Six the Musical, a feminist retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII that took the theatre world by storm.
© Annemarie Sterian“With my videos, I want to entertain first and then help people learn something,” she continues. "I'm essentially trying to disguise history for people who would say I don't like history - in whichever format, whether it's making History with Kemi like a bigger digital series or going down the traditional TV route. I want to make history fun and not uncool, that's what I'm trying to do. That's my little one-woman fight.” Heads up, Bridgerton casting directors, she’s also ready to be an extra for Season 5. Just sayin’.
Sensing that the star would be open to discussing the murkier aspects of her job, I ask how operating in such a visible, digital space affects her mental health - if at all. “I'm trying to figure that out as we go,” Kemi replies insightfully. “I love reading interviews when people say they just brush criticism off because, I'm going to be honest, I don't have that yet.”
"I'm such a thin-skinned girl - I'm so sensitive. I take everything to heart because I care so deeply"
She continues: “During I'm a Celeb, I actually had help with my social media, and it was great because I was obviously in Australia, so we were on a complete flipside to the UK. It was so helpful to step away. I got to just focus on the job. We all have body hang-ups, but when someone points out yours, it's disheartening. Hopefully we'll chat in a few years, and I'll say ‘Ah! I found this thing, it's amazing' or ‘I'm so thick-skinned now.’ But I'm such a thin-skinned girl - I'm so sensitive. I take everything to heart because I care so deeply.”
I suggest that vulnerability is often what makes for both a great interview and interviewer (simultaneously trying to convince my ultra-sensitive self here). After all, any faux niceties or hint of arrogance, and you quickly lose your audience as a host.
© Annemarie SterianThankfully, Kemi has amassed a solid base of friends and family who support her throughout. She’s also getting married - her co-worker partner Thomas Hannett popped the question in Australia back in December after wrapping the I’m A Celeb final.
“We've not planned anything yet,” she tells me in her mirthy cool-girl tone. “I'm not sure when we will get married. I’ve started thinking about where we would like to get married, but that's all to come, so I'm really excited.” Thankfully, she has the National Trust onside. "I want to be flowing down like a big grand staircase wearing Vivienne Westwood or Oscar De La Renta, so maybe I'll have that moment at some point.”
"I want to be flowing down like a big grand staircase wearing Vivienne Westwood or Oscar De La Renta"
As for what’s next for the multi-hyphenate? More history videos, more weekends spent mapping grandiose stately treasures and more exciting projects she remains tight-lipped about. In the meantime, however, she is off to the Southern hemisphere armed with her trusty Color Wow hair gel (humidity+ curls = major flyaways), ready to welcome some familiar faces to camp.
Wrapping up the jovial conversation, our cover star signs off with her signature bonhomie and Julia Roberts twinkle that is impossible to dislike. “In this industry, it’s all about what’s next. I'm always looking to the future, so nothing to officially say yet, but I’m having a lovely time. I don't know why or how they've chosen me, but I'm pinching myself that I get to do it at all.”
