Stacey Jaclyn Dooley (born 9 March 1987) is an English television presenter, journalist, and media personality. She came to prominence in 2008 as a participant on the documentary series Blood, Sweat and T-shirts. Since then, she has made social issue-themed television documentaries for BBC Three concerning child labour and women in developing countries.
In 2018, Dooley published her debut book, On the Front Line with the Women Who Fight Back, which became a Sunday Times Bestseller. That same year, she won the sixteenth series of the BBC One dancing competition show Strictly Come Dancing with her professional dance partner and now boyfriend Kevin Clifton. From 2019 to 2020, she presented the BBC Three reality show . In 2024, Dooley made her stage debut in the West End play .
Dooley was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting.
Filmed in Dooley's hometown of Luton, My Hometown Fanatics was broadcast on BBC Three on 20 February 2012. In the programme, Dooley interviewed and the English Defence League. A three-part series titled Coming Here Soon was broadcast on BBC Three in June and July 2012, in which Dooley explored the lives of young people in three countries affected by the 2008 financial crisis: Greece, Ireland and Japan. The programme on Japan was criticised by some because it ignored the Samaritans guidelines on reporting of suicide. While Dooley was in the United States in 2012, she created two series of Stacey Dooley in the USA where she investigated issues affecting teens across America such as: Girls Behind Bars, Border Wars, Homelessness and Kids in the Crossfire. In 2015, Dooley created the documentary series Beaten By My Boyfriend where she investigated domestic abuse within the UK.
In 2016, Dooley presented Stacey Dooley in Cologne: The Blame Game, about the 2015 New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany, which aired on 29 January. She also presented Stacey Dooley: Hate and Pride in Orlando where she travelled to Orlando, Florida in the aftermath of the Pulse Bar shootings. On 30 July, Dooley appeared on the BBC's Celebrity Mastermind where her specialist subject was the television series Girls.
In November 2016, Dooley appeared in a BBC Three series Brainwashing Stacey, where she went to a US anti-abortion summer camp and then to some African big-game hunters. Stacey also made a documentary Sex in Strange Places for which she travelled to Turkey, Brazil and Russia to explore people's different attitudes towards sex and prostitution.
In December 2016, Dooley was stopped by police in Tokyo while filming Young Sex For Sale In Japan, a documentary about child sexual exploitation in that country. She was held on the street for two hours by police who were investigating their confrontation with two men "protecting" some of the girls, who had called the police on the film crew. After initially being confronted by two men who demanded "no movies", the pair tried to use physical force against the film crew to make them leave the area. The story was released a few days before the programme was made available in February 2017.
In 2017, Dooley presented CBBC's The Pets Factor. She also presented the documentary Canada's Lost Girls in March 2017 in which she travelled across Canada investigating the various factors which played a part in the disappearance and murder of over 1,200 Indigenous women. Dooley narrated the documentary The Natives: This Is Our America which investigated the lives of young Native Americans and the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
Dooley published her first book in February 2018, Stacey Dooley, On the Front Line with the Women Who Fight Back. The book has topics concerning sex trafficking, domestic violence, sex equality and child exploitation and became a Sunday Times Bestseller. She also had her own UK book tour, hosted by Viv Groskop.
Dooley was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting. In 2012, and again in 2015, Dooley was a member of the judging panel for The Observer Ethical Awards.
On 16 August 2018, Dooley was announced as the eighth contestant to take part in the sixteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing. On 15 December 2018, she won the series with her dance partner Kevin Clifton. Following her win, shortly afterwards the BBC announced Dooley as co-presenter of New Year Live on BBC One, with another Strictly 2018 contestant, Joe Sugg. She also took part in BBC One's Children in Need where she explored the number of homeless young people in the UK.
In 2019, Dooley was named as Grazias new contributing editor for investigations. She appeared on The National Television Awards 2019 and presented BBC's The Nine To Five With Stacey Dooley and The One Show. Dooley took part in The 2019 Strictly Come Dancing Arena Tour throughout the UK. Dooley then began presenting the BBC Three reality competition series . In July 2019, it was announced that Dooley would be a guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race UK. In August 2019, she released the documentaries Stacey Meets the IS Brides and Stacey Dooley: Face to Face with The Bounty Hunters which became the most watched documentary on BBC IPlayer.
In 2020, Dooley appeared in Jessie Ware's music video for "Save a Kiss" and the game show Michael McIntyre's The Wheel.
In 2021, Dooley, with Turi King, presented the BBC programme DNA Family Secrets which helps people solve family mysteries regarding their ancestry, missing relatives and genetic diseases.
In 2022, Dooley competed in series 2 of The Masked Dancer as Prawn Cocktail.
In April 2024, it was announced that Dooley would be making her stage debut as Jenny in at the Gielgud Theatre. Her final show was in August of that year.
Since early 2019, Dooley has been in a relationship with her Strictly Come Dancing dance partner Kevin Clifton. In August 2022, Dooley confirmed via Instagram that she was expecting a baby with Clifton. In January 2023, she gave birth to their daughter.
Dooley was criticised in February 2019 after she posted photos holding a Ugandan child on her Instagram account during a trip to Uganda organised by British charity Comic Relief. Dooley was accused by British MP David Lammy on social media of reinforcing white saviour stereotypes. Lammy tweeted in response to a news story about Dooley: "The world does not need any more white saviours. As I've said before, this just perpetuates tired and unhelpful stereotypes. Let's instead promote voices from across the continent of Africa and have serious debate."
Ugandan campaign group No White Saviours wrote on Dooley's Instagram: "White saviourism is a symptom of white supremacy and something we all have to work together to deconstruct." Gaby Hinsliff, a columnist at The Guardian wrote: "The sight of celebrities making weepy 'personal journeys' towards understanding poverty has begun to feel more and more crass, especially where it overshadows the people whose experiences they're meant to be understanding in the first place." Dooley told The Guardian she had no regrets over the incident. In June 2019, Comic Relief founder Richard Curtis told members of the British Parliament that the charity would stop sending celebrities abroad as a consequence of the controversy.
In 2018, the programme Stacey Dooley: Face to Face with ISIS received the Popular Features Award at the One World Media Awards.
2018–present
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Personal life
Controversies
Honours and awards
Filmography
Television
3 episodes Superstorm USA: Caught on Camera Stacey Dooley in the USA 2 series 2015 Beaten by My Boyfriend Documentary Celebrity Mastermind Contender 1 episode O'Brien Guest 2015–2016 The Wright Stuff Guest Panellist 5 episodes Don't Tell the Bride 4 episodes 2016 Brainwashing Stacey Sex in Strange Places 1 series Stacey on the Frontline The Natives: This is Our America The Pets Factor Series 1–4 2019 Face To Face With Armageddon Documentary Winner of sixteenth series with Kevin Clifton Young and Homeless Presenter Documentary Fashion's Dirty Secrets 2018–2020 The One Show Guest Presenter 8 episodes 2019 RuPaul's Drag Race UK Guest 1 episode Would I Lie to You? Have I Got News for You 2 episodes Series 1-2 2019–2021 The Last Leg Panellist 6 episodes 2019–present Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over Presenter Also producer 2020 The Wall Contestant 1 episode 14 episodes Stacey Dooley: On the Psych Ward Documentary Series 1; 6 episodes 3 episodes Series 4, Episode 4 Documentary 2021–2022 The Wheel Contestant 2 episodes Loose Women Guest 2022 Two Daughters Presenter Documentary Two-part series Documentary Cookery competition series The Masked Dancer Prawn Cocktail / Contestant Series 2 Blankety Blank Panellist Series 19, Episode 6 Celebrity Lingo Contestant 1 episode Celebrity Catchphrase 2023 Michael McIntyre's Big Show Guest Series 6, Episode 5 Stacey Dooley: Ready for War? Presenter One off Stacey Dooley: Inside the Undertakers One off 2023– Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over USA Also producer 2025 Stacey Dooley: Meet the Shoplifters One off Stacey Dooley: Rape on Trial One off Stacey Dooley: Growing Up Gypsy One off 2025 The Clickbait Clinic with Stacey Dooley (w/t) Upcoming six-part documentary series
Bibliography
External links
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