Clarke Gayford
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
October 1976 (age 49)[1]
Clarke Gayford | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Gayford in 2021 | |
| Born | Clarke Timothy Gayford October 1976 (age 49)[1] |
| Occupation | Broadcaster |
| Known for | Partner of the Prime Minister of New Zealand |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Clarke Timothy Gayford[2] (born October 1976) is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster, presenter of the fishing documentary show Fish of the Day. He is the husband of Jacinda Ardern, who served as prime minister of New Zealand from October 2017 to January 2023.
Gayford was born in October 1976[1] and grew up at a farm outside Gisborne.[3] He is the eldest of three siblings.[4] From the age of 11, he boarded at Palmerston North Boys' High School. In 1995, he matriculated at Otago University, Dunedin, to study for a Bachelor of Arts degree, before transferring to the New Zealand Broadcasting School in Christchurch.[3] After he graduated from broadcasting school, Gayford successfully pitched student-life show Cow TV (1999) to Dunedin's Channel 9.[5][6]
In 1999, Gayford appeared as a contestant on Treasure Island,[3] a reality television game show. In 2003, he began broadcasting on the C4 music television channel, presenting youth programmes. In 2010, Gayford presented the third season of Extraordinary Kiwis, a biographical documentary series.[3] Gayford also presented several radio shows, including morning and afternoon drive time shows on More FM and George FM, respectively.[6]
In 2015, with producer Mike Bhana, Gayford created fishing show Fish of the Day, for Choice TV.[3][4] The documentary series is also broadcast on National Geographic Channel, and has screened in over 35 countries.[3] In 2021 Gayford hosted the television show Moving Houses.[7] He made a guest appearance as himself in the first season 2 episode of Wellington Paranormal.[8][9]
Views and public image
In mid-April 2020 during the first year of COVID-19 pandemic, Gayford appeared on a short Wellington Paranormal video encouraging people who were looking after young children. In response, National Party Member of Parliament Brett Hudson expressed concerns during an Epidemic Response Committee meeting in early May 2020 that the video risked politicising the New Zealand Police. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster defended Gayford's presence on the grounds that he was a well-known television personality who had participated in the television series.[10]
On 12 March 2021, Gayford attracted media attention when he posted a tweet stating that the New Zealand Cabinet had made an "in principle decision" pending final test results in relation to the lifting of a COVID-19 Alert Level 2 lockdown in Auckland. In response, his partner Prime Minister Ardern stated that Gayford had not been briefed on Cabinet's "preliminary decision" to move Auckland to Alert Level 1 that day.[11][12]
Gayford said in a "scathing review"[13] of an article written by former prime minister Sir John Key in September 2021:[14] "It was such a shame that the name slinging [and] use of disinformation divided his contribution into partisan politics."[15]
In mid-January 2022 amid COVID Deltacron variant surging in New Zealand, Gayford drew controversy after speaking to a pharmacist in December 2021 about obtaining rapid antigen testing for several musician friends. Gayford had claimed that there had been a change to testing guidance from New Zealand Health Ministry that would allow them to obtain rapid antigen testing instead of the more invasive polymerase chain reaction testing. Gayford was criticised by National Party's COVID-19 Response spokesperson Chris Bishop for allegedly using his position as the Prime Minister's partner to obtain special favours for his friends. Gayford subsequently apologised for "any issues or confusion" this created for pharmacy staff.[16][17][18]
