Peter Simon (presenter)
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Peter Simon (born 28 November 1962) is an English shopping television presenter and former children's television personality. He is the patron of the Shin Splints organisation.
Career
Simon was born Peter Thompson in Sheffield, Yorkshire, and lived with his mother - a nurse in the local hospital - in a guest house next to a newsagent's in a poor part of the seaside town of Bridlington, East Yorkshire. His career began at the age of 12, when he became a presenter for Yorkshire Television's Junior Showtime. In his early career, Simon was the first actor to play the role of Ronald McDonald on British television in a series of commercials for McDonald's. He also made many personal appearances at McDonald's stores as Ronald McDonald.
Simon is perhaps most famous for presenting the Double Dare (Going Live!) and Run the Risk (Live & Kicking) segments of the popular BBC1 Saturday morning children's shows. Run the Risk, presented by Simon and Shane Richie, was later to become a separate television programme in its own right. Simon also worked on the children's TV show The Friday Zone. In 1997 he interviewed the Spice Girls and Boyzone.
Simon made infrequent television appearances throughout the 2000s, including as celebrity client on Channel 4's The Salon (2003) and as a guest on ITV Play's The Mint (2006). In the early 2000s, Simon toured Butlins holiday parks with a live stage version of Run the Risk.
Simon served as a permanent auctioneer on bid tv, a shopping channel owned by Bid Shopping (Formerly Known As 'Sit Up Ltd.') from 2000 until April 2014 when the holding company for Bid TV and Price Drop TV went into liquidation making all 229 employees redundant with immediate effect. In November 2011, bid.tv launched a "Peter Simon Limited Edition Hand-Painted Resin Figurine" to commemorate Simon having been a presenter with the channel for 10 years.
Simon briefly joined Gems TV in May 2014 only to leave without explanation in June 2014.
Simon joined the ranks of Ideal World on 3 September 2014 at 8.[1]
Simon was suspended from Ideal World in September 2018 following an on-air comment against Polish and Latvians in the UK. He was re-instated one month later.[2]
Television
- Junior Showtime (Yorkshire Television) – Presenter
- Run The Risk (BBC) – Presenter/Game Designer (1992–1997)
- Friday Zone (BBC) – Presenter
- Double Dare (BBC) – Presenter
- Lucky Ladders (Announcer)
- Win, Lose Or Draw (STV)
- Going Live (BBC)
- Star Pets (BBC)
- Red Nose Awards (BBC)
- Saturday Superstore (BBC)
- Wheel of Fortune (STV)
- Saturday Picture Show (BBC)
- Get Your Own Back (BBC) – Contestant/Guest Host
- Hold Tight (ITV)
- Children in Need (BBC)
- Starstrider (BBC)
- Comic Relief (BBC)
- Eggs and Baker (BBC)
- The Ant & Dec Show (BBC) (1995)
- Scruples (BBC)
- The Movie Game (BBC)
- Ronald McDonald (McDonald's) – Clown character actor for the company
- The Salon (Reality TV series) playing Himself (1 December 2003)
- bid tv – Auctioneer (2000 – 2014)
- Gems TV – Auctioneer (May 2014 – June 2014)
- Ideal World - Presenter (September 2018 – Present)
Personal life
In February 2013, it was announced that Peter Simon's home of 30+ years was to be compulsory purchased and demolished to make way for HS2.