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After years as the BBC Breakfast business presenter, Steph McGovern is returning to the broadcaster with her brand new show, The Big Deal.
Many fans will remember her on the breakfast sofa, but since leaving the programme in 2019, she’s been more regularly seen on Channel 4 with Steph’s Packed Lunch, which went off the air in 2023.
Now she’s returning to the Beeb for a new show that takes a dive into the art world, with aspiring art dealers battling it out to prove their worth.
The journalist and presenter, 44, is a well-known face on our TV screens, with appearances on the likes of Netflix’s Celebrity Bear Hunt, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and The Masked Dancer.
With her coming back to our screens, let’s dive into a little bit more about what we know about the life of the multi-faceted presenter away from the screens.
Who is Steph McGovern’s partner?
Steph McGovern has often kept her relationship and personal life pretty private, but it is known that she has a girlfriend and that they have been together for a number of years.
The couple live together in North Tyneside.
McGovern, 44, will often post about family day’s out but keeps her partner out of view in order to protect their privacy.
Speaking with The Express in 2022 about her relationship, McGovern said ‘I would just get too mad if I started reading negative things about them. My daughter has no choice and my partner’s not in the public eye, so I wouldn’t want to subject them to the opinions of others.’
She opened up more to Yours Magazine when discussing the key to maintaining a healthy relationship: ‘What I’ve learned about relationships is you have to put in the effort.
‘It’s about listening. For example, if I’m ill, I like to be left alone to get on with it – no fuss. Whereas my partner likes to be taken care of.’
The couple have a ‘brilliant rule’ she added. ‘If we’re miffed about something, we have 24 hours in which to voice it. It means we have some cracking rows, but we solve things fairly quickly.
‘It might be over something small like the dishwasher, but that’s the reason why you’ve got 24 hours to make your point… so it doesn’t grow into a massive collection of things one of us has done.’
Wise words to live by indeed.
How many children do they have?
McGovern and her partner have one child, a girl, whom they welcomed in November 2019.
Steph revealed on Twitter on November 8, 2019 that she had given birth on Monday of that week.
‘Well hello world, just surfaced to let you know that we now have a daughter!’ she said. ‘Born on Monday morning just as @BBCBreakfast was wrapping up.
‘We’re all fine and dandy. Just getting used to the eau de sick/poo I am now regularly wearing. #babylife.’
Similar to her partner, she keeps their daughter out of the spotlight.
What has she said about The Big Deal?
Her new show, The Big Deal, which starts on BBC Two on August 13, puts a spotlight on the world of art dealing.
Seven pairs of aspiring art dealers will be met with challenges to prove their worth and potentially win £50,000 worth of British Art.
She has described it as ‘The Apprentice for the art world, but the deals are all real, and it’s as much about the hustle as it is about the art.’
Discussing the show with the BBC, she expanded that it connects with her on a personal level: ‘My dad’s an artist so I grew up in a home full of curiosities. The kids in our neighbourhood found it weird coming to our house with the life-like sculptures in the garden and his curious paintings inside.
‘As a business journalist who loves art, I jumped at the chance to host a show looking at how to deal art. My dad was the first person I called when I got this job’ she said.
She hopes the show will open people up to the art world, and remove a stigma around it: ‘Art is for everyone. We all like nice things on our walls and that could be anything from a cheap poster to something you’ve spent loads of money on, or one your kids’ pictures.
‘No one should be excluded from being part of the art world, whether as a creator, a collector or someone wanting to cash in.’
The Big Deal starts on BBC 2 at 9pm from August 13 and will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer
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