Alexander James Brooker is an English journalist, presenter and comedian best known for his television work with Channel 4. Since 2012, Brooker has co-hosted The Last Leg, a Channel 4 panel show with Adam Hills and Josh Widdicombe as well as co-presenting Channel 4 ski jumping show The Jump with Davina McCall in 2014. In 2016, he began presenting The Superhumans Show for Channel 4 daytime. In February 2018 Brooker signed with Leeds Rhinos' Foundation PDRL team.
Career
Brooker went to the Norton Knatchbull School in Ashford, Kent, before graduating from Liverpool John Moores University in 2006 and worked as a sports reporter on the Liverpool Echo. He now works for the Press Association. Brooker entered Channel 4's Half a Million Quid Talent Search in 2012, which aimed to find disabled talent for coverage of the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games and beyond. He first appeared as a trackside reporter on Channel 4's coverage of the 2011 BT Paralympic World Cup. Brooker interviewed the likes of Boris Johnson and David Cameron during the 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony and was a co-host on The Last Leg with Adam Hills, a nightly alternative look at the Games. Brooker was also on The Last Leg of the Year, an end of year special with Adam Hills and Josh Widdicombe. Since 25 January 2013, Brooker has been a co-host on The Last Leg on Channel 4. In February 2015 Brooker interviewed Nick Clegg for the programme: his performance was described by political journalist Hugo Rifkind as "a model of how to talk normally to a politician – and make them talk normally back". On 1 August 2013, Brooker hosted a one-off documentary about body image on Channel 4, titled Alex Brooker: My Perfect Body. In January and February 2014, Brooker co-presented the first series of celebrity reality show The Jump on Channel 4 opposite Davina McCall. The series was broadcast live over ten nights from a mountainside in Austria. However, Brooker did not return for the second series in 2015. In 2016, he presented The Superhumans Show on Channel 4.
Personal life
Brooker was born in Croydon. He was born with hand and arm deformities and a twisted right leg which had to be amputated when he was a baby. He now wears a prosthetic leg. In 2014 Brooker married accountant Lynsey, and the couple have two daughters. Brooker is a fanatical supporter of Arsenal F.C., regularly appearing on 'Footballistically Arsenal' podcast.
Charity
In May 2014, Brooker fronted a campaign called "End The Awkward" by disability charity Scope, which used comedy to shine a light on the awkwardness that many people feel about disability. Brooker appeared in three advertisements guiding viewers through awkward situations that they may encounter with a disabled person. In September 2012, Brooker won The Million Pound Drop Live with Josh Widdicombe playing for Echoes Foundation, Scope Joseph's Goal.
