Jeremy Wells

{{Infobox presenter

|name = Jeremy Wells

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|birth_date = {{birth-date and age|19 January 1977}}

|birth_place = Auckland, New Zealand

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|relatives = John Wells (father)
Sheryl Wells (mother)

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|station = Radio Hauraki

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|country = New Zealand

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Jeremy Wells (born 19 January 1977{{cite journal |last=Monk |first=Felicity |date=6 December 2003 |title=Jeremy Julia Wells (Jes) |journal=New Zealand Listener |volume=191 |issue=3317 |url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/20BLhkmhF1SwWF7zwmSVkE |access-date=2009-08-04 |archive-date=6 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706014300/https://open.spotify.com/episode/20BLhkmhF1SwWF7zwmSVkE |url-status=live }}) is a New Zealand media personality who hosts the Radio Hauraki breakfast show with Manaia Stewart, Seven Sharp alongside Hilary Barry, and Taskmaster New Zealand.{{Cite web|url=http://www.hauraki.co.nz/shows/breakfast/ |title=Breakfast - Radio Hauraki |access-date=2014-06-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140730032826/http://www.hauraki.co.nz/shows/breakfast/ |archive-date=30 July 2014 }}

Career

Wells first appeared on television in 1997 on MTV. He later appeared as Newsboy on Mikey Havoc's television show. Wells and Havoc went their separate ways when the show finished - Havoc fronting a show on TV3 and Wells hosting Eating Media Lunch on TVNZ. He also presented the satirical The Unauthorised History of New Zealand in 2005 and an episode of Intrepid Journeys in 2007. The New Zealand Listener described Wells' deadpan delivery as "newsnight-of-the-living-dead", saying he would be "compelling viewing reading the phone book."{{cite journal |last=Wichtel |first=Diana |date=18–24 November 2006 |title=Positively shocking |journal=New Zealand Listener |volume=206 |issue=3471 |page=71 |url=http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3471/tvradio/7488/positively_shocking.html |access-date=2009-08-04 |archive-date=22 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522161644/http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3471/tvradio/7488/positively_shocking.html |url-status=live }}

Wells became notorious in November 2003 when an episode of Eating Media Lunch spoofed the current affairs programme Target, which often used hidden cameras to catch unreliable tradespersons or workers. The spoof depicted two actors as Target camera technicians in someone else's home, caught on hidden camera in acts such as masturbation, defecation (on a kitchen stove), drug use and phone sex. One technician stripped naked, covered himself with cling wrap, and appeared to urinate on the other technician. Several viewers complained but, in March 2004, the BSA (Broadcasting Standards Authority) of New Zealand found the episode had not breached any guidelines.{{Citation needed|date=May 2018}}

Wells and Havoc satirically labelled Gore the gay capital of New Zealand in 1999, during Havoc and Newsboy's Sell-out Tour. Returning to town to cover the 2008 election, Wells was confronted by 15 men angry over the comments. The group started harassing him at a petrol station, and followed him back to his hotel room. They harassed him for 90 minutes and he was trapped in his hotel room until the police were called. Gore District Mayor Tracy Hicks said Wells was "either very brave or very stupid" for coming back.{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10543283|title=Southern discomfort for Wells|last=Lewis|first=Rebecca|date=16 November 2008|work=New Zealand Herald |access-date=2008-11-16|archive-date=23 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523063506/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10543283|url-status=live}}

Wells spent 23 days travelling with the 108 members of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in October 2010 and produced a documentary The Grand Tour, a product of his own interest in classical music. The programme contains several interviews with the musicians and support crew, including Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.{{Cite web |last=NZ OnScreen |first= |title=The Grand Tour - Jeremy Wells with the NZSO |url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/grand-tour-jeremy-wells-and-nzso-2011 |access-date=2024-09-05 |website=www.nzonscreen.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2010-10-21 |title=TV Review: The Grand Tour: Jeremy Wells With The NZSO |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/tv-review-the-grand-tour-jeremy-wells-with-the-nzso/Q4DXCXYDGIUHB66G523FIPEIOY/ |access-date=2024-09-05 |website=The New Zealand Herald |language=en-NZ}}

Wells co-hosted The Saturday Special with Steve Simpson on bFM; the show continued when both hosts moved to Radio Hauraki. In 2014, Wells changed shows to become a co-host of the Radio Hauraki breakfast show, alongside Matt Heath and Laura McGoldrick.

Since 2018, he has co-hosted TVNZ's Seven Sharp with Hilary Barry,{{cite news |last1=Croo |first1=James |title=Seven Sharp: Hilary and Jeremy aiming to be part of the TVNZ furniture |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/110043643/seven-sharp-hilary-and-jeremy-aiming-to-be-part-of-the-tvnz-furniture |access-date=31 March 2020 |work=Stuff |date=23 January 2019 |archive-date=5 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605145651/https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/110043643/seven-sharp-hilary-and-jeremy-aiming-to-be-part-of-the-tvnz-furniture |url-status=live }} and from 2020 he is the host and titular Taskmaster of Taskmaster New Zealand, the New Zealand version of the TV series Taskmaster, with Paul Williams as the Taskmaster's assistant.

In November 2020 he was named one of the best dressed men in show business on David Hartnell MNZM's Best Dressed List.{{cite web|title=The best dressed Kiwis list is out, who makes the cut?|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/300162841/the-best-dressed-kiwis-list-is-out-who-makes-the-cut|work=Stuff |date=22 November 2020|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=21 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121233622/https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/300162841/the-best-dressed-kiwis-list-is-out-who-makes-the-cut|url-status=live}}

Personal life

Wells was born in Auckland, New Zealand, the son of sports administrators Sir John Wells and Sheryl, Lady Wells.{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10564774 |title=Certainly you can call me Sir - but it's all in the name of sport |last=Tapaleao |first=Vaimoana |date=2 April 2009 |work=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=2009-08-04 |archive-date=21 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021020529/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10564774 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Six things you need to know about Jeremy Wells |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/101045531/six-things-you-need-to-know-about-jeremy-wells |access-date=24 February 2020 |work=Stuff |date=1 February 2018 |archive-date=24 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224232709/https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/101045531/six-things-you-need-to-know-about-jeremy-wells |url-status=live }} He was expelled from the exclusive Wanganui Collegiate School in his sixth-form year for giving marijuana oil to a recovering drug addict,{{Cite web|url=https://www.noted.co.nz/archive/listener-nz-2003/jeremy-wells/|title=Jeremy Wells|last=Monk|first=Felicity|date=6 December 2003|website=Noted|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612113225/https://www.noted.co.nz/archive/listener-nz-2003/jeremy-wells/|access-date=30 May 2018|archive-date=12 June 2018}} and later attended St Paul's Collegiate in Hamilton. In 2005, Wells was awarded a Bravo award by the New Zealand Skeptics for his "scathing look at the psychic and medium business, on Eating Media Lunch".{{cite web|title=Bravo Awards|url=http://skeptics.nz/awards/bravo|publisher=New Zealand Skeptics|access-date=7 November 2016|archive-date=7 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107160103/http://skeptics.nz/awards/bravo|url-status=live}}