Stacey Dooley Biography

Stacey Jaclyn Dooley was born on March 9, 1987, in Luton, UK. Her mother’s name is Diane. Her father left the family when she was just two and a half years old.

She had a strained relationship with her father, who she met only occasionally at family celebrations or weddings. He tried to reconnect with her when she was 13 but it did not work out well.

She has a younger stepsister from her mother’s marriage to her partner, Norman.

She attended ‘Stopsley High School’ but dropped out at age 15 to look for work.

She is said to have worked at a salon in Bramingham and later, at Luton Airport, selling perfumes and cosmetics.

In April 2008, Stacey Dooley made her television debut as a contributor on the ‘BBC Three’ documentary series ‘Blood, Sweat and T-shirts.’

She started to raise awareness about the evils of child labor and also made an appearance for it on the ‘Newsnight’ television show.

In 2009, a two-part special, ‘Kids for Sale’ and ‘Kids with Machetes’, of her eponymous documentary series show ‘Stacey Dooley Investigates’ was aired on ‘BBC Three’.

In 2010, she presented two more programs under the ‘Child Labour’ series of her eponymous show.

In 2011, she presented two programs under the ‘Holiday Hell’ series of her eponymous show, targeting malpractices in the tourism industry in Thailand and Kenya. She also presented the ‘CBBC’ documentary series ‘Show Me What You're Made Of’ that year.

In 2012, she hosted another documentary series for ‘BBC Three’ titled ‘My Hometown Fanatics’. She also presented a three-part documentary series ‘Coming Here Soon’; traveled to the USA for a teen issues-related series ‘Stacey Dooley in the USA’; and narrated the documentary ‘2012: Superstorm USA: Caught on Camera’.

From 2013 to 2015, she continued with more insightful episodes like ‘Cocaine Capital of the World’, ‘Sex, Stags and Prague’, and ‘Ecstasy Wars’, etc. on her eponymous investigative show. In 2015, she also presented the documentary series, ‘Beaten By My Boyfriend’ and was a panelist on the show ‘The Wright Stuff.’

In 2016, she highlighted many social evils in ‘Sex in Strange Places’, ‘Migrant Kids in Crisis’, etc. on her eponymous show. She also presented short films about horrific real-life events ‘In Cologne: The Blame Game’ and ‘Stacey Dooley: Hate and Pride in Orlando’, and participated in the quiz show, ‘Celebrity Mastermind’.

In 2017, she presented documentaries like ‘Kids Selling Drugs Online’, and ‘The Billion Pound Party’; presented ‘Young Sex for Sale in Japan’, ‘Canada's Lost Girls’, etc.; and narrated ‘The Natives: This Is Our America’.

In 2018, she continued presenting documentaries like ‘Russia's War on Women’, ‘Face to Face with ISIS’, etc. as part of her eponymous investigative show. She won the 16th season of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ and presented many episodes of ‘The One Show’.

In 2019, she was named the ‘Contributing editor for Investigations’ for ‘Grazia’ magazine; presented ‘Stacey Meets the IS Brides’ episode of ‘BBC’s’ ‘Panorama’ and several episodes of her eponymous show; hosted a new series ‘Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over’ and the first season of ‘Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-Up Star’. She also appeared as a guest judge on ‘RuPaul's Drag Race UK’ and released 2 documentaries named Stacey Meets the IS Brides and Stacey Dooley: Face to Face with The Bounty Hunters. She was also seen on the comedy and late-night television talk show ‘The Last Leg’ as a panelist.

In 2020, she hosted the BBC One documentary series ‘EastEnders: Secrets from the Square.’ The show peeped into the suspension of the EastEnders series during the COVID–19 quarantine. That same year, she was also seen in the documentary, ‘Stacey Dooley: On the Psych Ward.’

In 2021, Stacey was seen in ‘This Is MY House,’ ‘DNA Family Secrets,’ and ‘The Great Celebrity Bake Off for SU2C.’ She also presented the documentary, ‘Stacey Dooley: On the Psych Ward.’

She next appeared in television series, documentaries, and shows such as ‘The Wheel’ (2021-2022), ‘Loose Women’ (2021-2022), ‘Two Daughters’ (2022), ‘Stalked’ (2022), ‘Inside the Convent’ (2022), ‘The Masked Dancer’ (2022), ‘Celebrity Lingo’ (2022), and ‘Celebrity Catchphrase’ (2022). In 2023, she starred as a guest on the British variety and stand-up comedy television series, ‘Michael McIntyre's Big Show.’

In 2018, her first book, ‘Stacey Dooley, On the Front Line with the Women Who Fight Back’, was published, which became a ‘Sunday Times Bestseller’.

In 2018, she was appointed a ‘Member of the Order of the British Empire’ (MBE) for her services to broadcasting. For her documentary ‘Face to Face with ISIS, she won the ‘Popular Features Award’ at the ‘One World Media Awards’.

Stacey Dooley’s father reportedly passed away when she was in her 20s and they never managed to reconcile their differences.

She was reportedly in a long-term relationship with her boyfriend, Sam Tucknott when she entered ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, and Tucknott has blamed her dance partner on the show, Kevin Clifton, for their breakup.

She is currently in a relationship with Kevin Clifton, a professional dancer. They welcomed a daughter named Minnie in January 2023.

In 2016, she was involved in a confrontation with some locals and the police in Tokyo during the filming of the documentary ‘Young Sex For Sale In Japan’.

In 2019, she was severely criticized for the false portrayal of a Syrian prostitute by a Turkish woman in her hard-hitting series ‘Sex in Strange Places’ and for passing off a Muslim prayer gesture as an ‘ISIS salute’ in ‘Stacey Meets the IS Brides’.

She looks up to ‘BBC’ correspondent, Orla Guerin, and calls her ‘queen’.

She finds it hard to call herself a journalist because of her Orla Guerin reporting style.

Her biggest passion in life is making foreign documentaries.