Zöe Salmon (born 1980, in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland) is a British television presenter, currently hosting the children’s television show Blue Peter.

Early career

Salmon attended Kilmaine Primary School and Glenola Collegiate while growing up in Bangor, a town which she says is her ‘favourite place… It’s a really pretty seaside town with a marina which is lovely in the summer.’ She then attended Queen’s University of Belfast, where she gained a degree in law, before qualifying as a solicitor.

Miss Northern Ireland

Salmon was crowned Miss Northern Ireland in 1999 (beating Big Brother contestant Orlaith McAllister, who came second).

Blue Peter

Salmon was revealed as the 30th Blue Peter presenter on 25 October 2004. She first appeared on the show on 23 December 2004, in its 2004 Christmas special. She was originally meant to replace Liz Barker when the latter left on maternity leave; however, Barker had already returned, by the time Salmon made her debut.

She has presented with Konnie Huq, Simon Thomas, Matt Baker, Liz Barker, Gethin Jones and Andy Akinwolere.

Salmon maintains her Blue Peter video blog at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bluepeter/zoes_blog/

Controversy

Shortly after making her first appearance on Blue Peter, the BBC received complaints after it was alleged that her job was only advertised in Northern Ireland and Scotland, meaning they were potentially discriminating against people without certain regional accents. The BBC, however, denied any discrimination, and insisted the advertisement had been placed in newspapers across the United Kingdom.

Salmon herself faced criticism when she chose a symbol for a ‘Best of British’ logo, to be used by British Airways to decorate a Boeing 757. She said ‘I’m from Ulster, and I’d like to cover a plane with the Red Hand of Ulster that is our proud symbol.’ The symbol however is one ‘regularly used by loyalists and paramilitaries… David Miller, a professor of sociology at Strathclyde University, was among the first to complain to the BBC about the use of the symbol associated with loyalist paramilitaries such as the Red Hand Commandos and Red Hand Defenders.

“Like the swastika, the Red Hand is a symbol that has been misappropriated. It is the symbol of the unionists and is certainly not signed up to by the majority,” said Miller.’ However, others, like Michael Copeland, an Ulster Unionist Party assembly member, said that the ‘Red Hand symbol is as precious to all Ulstermen as the lion is to Scotland, and the dragon to Wales’; ‘it appears in the symbolism of both the unionist and nationalist communities.’ Others pointed out that the red hand of Ulster is also used by Republicans and nationalists.

Another controversy surrounded Salmon’s choice of a picture which showed the Union Flag covering the whole island of Ireland. Only Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom; the Republic of Ireland is a sovereign state with its own flag.

Other media reports at the time ’suggested she had been chosen to “sex up” the programme and boost ratings in the competitive children’s marketplace. It is an idea denied by the producers of Blue Peter.’ In January 2006, Kate Figes further criticised Salmon in an article in The Guardian, writing even that Salmon ‘rarely seems comfortable around children and talks to them in slow, patronising tones. She comes over as insincere and fatuous and my daughters don’t like her any more than I do.’ Figes claimed that Salmon was ‘encouraged by the programme editors to present herself as a sexual bimbo’, and that the show was being ’sexed up or dumbed down’.

Richard Marson, Blue Peter’s editor, characterised the article as ‘character assassination’, and denied that the show was ‘being sexed up or dumbed down’.

Outside of Blue Peter

In 2005, Salmon presented the results of the Northern Ireland region in Making Your Mind Up, the UK’s national pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. She welcomed the television audience to Belfast with the immortal line ‘How’s about you, Terry?’

In 2006, Salmon ran the London Marathon and gave the money to the registered charity ChildLine.

In 2007, she starred as a footballers girlfriend in the television version of the book Hotel Babylon.

In 2007, appearing in Celebrity Fame Academy for Red Nose Day.

Courtesy Of Wikipedia