Nicholas Simon Augustine Knowles, also known as Nick Knowles (born September 21, 1962), is an English TV presenter, writer, and musician. He has presented numerous television shows, 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).
Nick Knowles Biography
Nick Knowles was born in Southall, Middlesex. At the age of 11, Knowles relocated to Mildenhall, Suffolk, and attended St Louis Middle School in Bury St Edmunds before moving again to Gunnersbury Catholic School for Boys. After his family relocated to Deakin Leas in Tonbridge, he attended Skinners’ School in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, where he earned eight O-levels and excelled in rugby. He left school at 16 and worked as a worker, petrol station assistant and a salesman. He began playing in bands at the age of 14 and was continuously writing music, poetry, and comedy until he submitted a script to a BBC2 series that urged children to create a video.
Career
Knowles began as a runner in television production before transitioning to presenting. Knowles worked as a reporter for TVS in the South East, where he covered the nightly news show Coast to Coast.
He is best known as the host of DIY SOS, a home restoration series that has shown on BBC One since 1999, and he has also fronted the BBC factual show Real Rescues since 2007. Since obtaining an exclusive contract with the BBC, Knowles has hosted a number of entertainment shows, including Who Dares Wins, Last Choir Standing, Guesstimation, Secret Fortune, and Perfection.
Knowles has also presented programmes on a nature subject. In 2007, he led Mission Africa, a volunteer team that built a game reserve in Kenya. During this project, Knowles fell from a Land Rover and dislocated his shoulder. He flew back to the UK for emergency treatment. In the same year, he covered the situation of orphaned orangutans for an issue of Saving Planet Earth.
In 2009, Knowles co-hosted the BBC reality TV series Wildest Dreams with James Honeyborne, in which novice contestants had to complete several difficult activities while filming wild animals in Africa. The winner accepted a one-year placement with the BBC Natural History Unit.
From 2011 to 2015, Knowles hosted the BBC game show Perfection, in which applicants must attain immaculate perfection to win the jackpot and broadcast weekdays on BBC One. From 2013 to 2014, he hosted the BBC National Lottery game program, Break the Safe. In 2015, Knowles began presenting the new BBC One National Lottery game show 5-Star Family Reunion, which was renewed for a second season in 2016.
In May 2016, Knowles presented Invictus: The Road to the Games, a one-time BBC special. Knowles earned between £300,000 and £349,999 as a BBC presenter in the fiscal year 2016-2017. In 2018, he competed in the eighteenth season of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me off of Here!, ending in sixth place and being voted off on December 6.
Since April 2019, he has hosted the BBC show Home Is Where the Art Is, in which he challenges three artists to make beautiful artwork for individuals they have never met. The show returned for a second season in 2021.
In May 2021, it was reported that Knowles was in talks with the BBC about his status as the main host of DIY SOS, citing his presence in a Shreddies TV commercial that broke the BBC’s commercial agreements and norms. A week later, the BBC said that the matter had been handled and that Knowles would return to his DIY SOS job, with filming set to start in the following months and a return to screens in 2022.
From August to September 2021, Knowles hosted the Channel 5 series Nick Knowles’ Big House Clearout. Knowles competed in the twenty-second season of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in September 2024, partnering with professional dancer Luba Mushtuk. After injuring his shoulder before the second event, he had to perform an American Smooth to Blur’s song “Parklife” after only 16 hours of practice.
He did not perform in the third week due to injury; thus, his Charleston to “Rain on the Roof” was moved to the next week. In the fourth week, he danced his Movie Week Charleston but was eliminated during the dance-off.
Knowles co-wrote the 2016 film Golden Years, starring Simon Callow, Virginia McKenna, and Una Stubbs. On November 3, 2017, he released Every Kind Of People, his first and last music album. It debuted at number 92 on the UK Albums Chart.
Filmography
- Ridge Riders
- 5’s Company
- DIY SOS
- Airline
- Judgemental
- City Hospital
- Hollyoaks
- Real Rescues
- Who Dares Wins
- Last Choir Standing
- Guesstimation
- Wildest Dreams
- DIY SOS: The Big Build
Personal life
Knowles married his first wife, Gillian Knowles, from 1996 to 2000, and they have a son and a daughter. He dated his second wife, Jessica Rose Moor, from 2009; they married in September 2012 but separated in 2017. Knowles has four children in all. In 2021, he was reportedly seeing Katie Dadzie, and the two became engaged. The couple married on June 7, 2025, in Braxted Park in Essex.
Nick Knowles Net Worth
Nick Knowles has an estimated net worth of $10 million. His principal sources of income are his television presenting, writing, and music projects.
