After more than half a decade being in a different country every other weekend, Welsh TV presenter, Steve Jones is back on UK soil making TV programmes and he couldn't be happier. Not that the Rhondda-born frontman of Channel 4's Formula 1 coverage is at all ungrateful, but he's just... a bit knackered.
"It's the first year that I'm not doing all of them," said Steve, who is speaking to WalesOnline after a round of interviews, including an appearance on This Morning, adding that when he was approached about doing the F1 job back in 2016 it was a surprise as he'd never seen himself as a sports presenter. "It's phenomenal I absolutely love it and I sensed there was an opportunity to do something different.
"[But] I'll be completely honest. Last year kind of broke me. It was my sixth season in Formula One doing every single race," he confessed, adding that it was hard to be away from home so frequently as wife Phylicia couldn't come due to Covid protocols and, the jet lag was just overwhelming.
"So I said this year, 'I don't want to do them all. Could I please do less?' And Channel 4 agreed. So I'll be doing 16 of the 23 this year, which is just perfect."
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Talking of perfect, Steve's TV new show sees him on the road around the UK instead of Melbourne or Tokyo. It's a property show called Perfect House, Secret Location where Steve ships potential housebuyers to a desirable property somewhere completely different to where they might choose themselves. The show, which airs on Channel 4, Thursdays at 9pm, doesn't come to Wales this time round, but if more are commissioned then a trip to his homeland could be on the cards.
The 45-year-old, who is married to Las Vegas-born wife, former model and now recipe writer, Phylicia Jackson-Jones, is originally from Tylorstown in the Rhondda Fach and the couple now live close to the M4 corridor and Heathrow, but coming back to the valleys is really important to Steve, so much so they own a place back home near where he grew up.
"I absolutely love going back to Wales and I go back as much as possible," said Steve, who has a house in the Rhondda with Phylicia, who he married back in 2014 after meeting her while working in Los Angeles.
He addressed whether he would move back home, saying: "It's important that I'm close to Heathrow with F1, because that's the pace. "So there are no plans at the moment. We have got a small place there and I'm there quite frequently, but further down the line. I don't see why not. It'd be weird to discount it because I'm so comfortable and so happy there. My friends and family are back there, me and Phy have talked about moving next to the sea at some point, so why not the Welsh coast, why not Porthcawl? There's definitely a chance in the future I think."
There's even more of a chance considering Phylicia loves it in the valleys, he added, going on to note the similarity between the people of Las Vegas and his hometown.
"Trust me, Phylicia is very comfortable in the valleys," Steve said. "She absolutely loves it back there, probably as her upbringing in Las Vegas was quite similar. I'm being serious. She was part of a small community outside the main strip and Vegas people are quite down to earth, have a wry sense of humour, so she fits in absolutely perfectly. So when I was up there last and was out with the boys, she was out with the girls up Sals (Ferndale Rugby Club) on the lash and I was at my friend, Ben's house, because if I go out up there it can get a little crazy. People are always nice and polite and like I've said before, if you're lucky enough to be invited into someone's house via the TV set and they sit there and watch you for an hour presenting, and then they turn up to you and say hello and you're like 'p*ss off,' that's awful. It's a privilege to be in someone's home like that. So if someone says 'hi' or whatever, it's fine."
Steve's attitude to work and his professional life was definitely stood in good stead by his valleys upbringing and his long-term relationship with Channel 4, which has seen him go from teen idol on T4 with an impressive romantic CV that includes Pamela Anderson and Fearne Cotton, back in the 2000s, to Weekend Kitchen with Waitrose, Sex Box, now Formula One and Perfect House, Secret Location, has proven that maintaining a good relationship and having the right attitude pays off.
"Where I come from in the valleys I didn't have much growing up. But what we did have were manners and respect.," answering the question about if his Rhondda upbringing and valleys humour stood him in good stead for his TV career.
"And that's still there to this day. But that valleys humour.... I went back to see all my old school friends and I swear to God, I'm in their company for like, six, seven hours. I've never laughed more. They are just so funny," he revealed, giving a nod to his lifelong friends. "And if I've got like, a smidge of that, then I think that's what's put me in good stead. Trying to put a smile on people's faces. And I know sometimes as a TV presenter that it can rub people the wrong way. There's a lot of humour in Perfect House, Secret Location and I'm being myself messing, around and sometimes it can rub people the wrong way but that's the business I'm in you know, that's the business I'm in. But as long as you are being yourself on TV, to hell with it, it doesn't matter what people say."
Steve being himself has certainly worked for Channel 4, but the presenter, who two decades ago kicked off his TV career on The Pop Factory said: "You get what you put in and I've always worked very hard for them," he said. "And I would always give the advice, for anyone who wants to be involved in TV, or anything, just be nice. Treat people with respect. Because the runners and researchers of today will be running that channel in the future and I've literally see that happen. And the people who I was polite to, as you should be to everyone, are now choosing who will present the show. I hope I'm right in saying that most people would prefer to work with a moderately talented lovely person than a super-talented arsehole. I hope! So that's my advice to anyone who wants to be a success, be nice, decent and treat people with respect."
You can catch Steve on Perfect House, Secret Location on Channel 4, 9pm on Thursdays and catch up on All4.
