'Freaked out' Jenni Falconer breaks silence after family burgled as they 'slept in villa on holiday'
The Scottish broadcaster was on a recent break in Marbella, Spain – near where Jacqueline stayed – when thieves broke into the villa where Jenni and her family were sleeping, and stole some of her valuable possessions
When EastEnders star Jacqueline Jossa spoke last week of a terrifying raid on her holiday home, presenter Jenni Falconer knew exactly how she felt.
The Scottish broadcaster was on a recent break in Marbella, Spain – near where Jacqueline stayed – when thieves broke into the villa where Jenni and her family were sleeping, and stole some of her valuable possessions. The 48-year-old radio and TV host reveals: “We got burgled on holiday. It really freaked me out.”
Jenni was in Spain with daughter Ella, 12, and nine friends to celebrate her husband James’s 50th birthday. She says: “They got actually disturbed by one of our friends, who woke up. They just came in and burgled us while we were asleep.” The items stolen included a watch and necklace with sentimental value.
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Keen to play down the drama, Jenni is focusing on how everyone thankfully escaped unscathed. She tells the Mirror ’s Invite Only podcast: “There were 12 people in that house, many of them children. It could have been so much worse. I always try to find the positive in something and move on, learn from it. There’s no point dwelling on anything negative because it will only make you feel terrible.”
Last weekend EastEnders actress Jacqueline, 31, woke up at her Marbella villa to see two masked raiders shining torches – including inside the children’s bedroom. The thieves made off with £20,000 of jewellery, designer clothing and cash. Jenni has been going on holiday to the south of Spain since she was a girl, and loves the country.
But her own experience and hearing of Jacqueline’s is making her reassess. She says: “It seems to be something that’s happening quite a lot in Spain, which is so sad and such a shame. I studied Spanish at university. I love the language, I love the culture, I love the country. But yeah, it has maybe made me rethink possibly whereabouts I would go and what kind of holiday I would go on.”
An eternal optimist, Glasgow-born Jenni shifts her focus to the many plates she’s spinning. As well as presenting Smooth Radio every weekday and Saturday mornings and being a regular on This Morning, she is also the co-founder of wellness and supplements brand Kollo Health and hosts the Global podcast RunPod, which centres around her long-held love for running.
The star has come far in the 30 years since her first TV appearance aged 18 on Blind Date. She auditioned to be a contestant while about to sit her A-levels. She says: “It was a bit like going on X Factor. The auditions were enormous.” Jenni was a huge fan of the dating show’s presenter, Cilla Black.
She says: “She absolutely inspired me. I actually met her a few times before because we used to holiday near to where she holidayed. I remember getting her autograph on holiday and having my photo taken with her. She was amazing and so supportive.”
Blind Date gave the young Jenni a taste for being on camera, and after work experience at BBC ’s Look North and Radio Leeds, she got a job at BBC Scotland. Next, in 2000, came a presenting role on GMTV’s Entertainment Today – where again she came across Cilla. She says: “They used to bring her onto the show and every time they brought her in, they’d get me back in. She must have been like, ‘Oh my God, I’m lumped with her for ever’.”
GMTV was also where Jenni started presenting with a young up-and-coming star called Ben Shephard. She says: “Ben and I are still such good friends to this day. He still beats me at golf, very annoyingly.” Recalling one memorable moment of her eight years working with Ben, 49, Jenni explains the pair turned up at the Baftas – to find out they hadn’t been invited.
She says: “We walked up the red carpet and we’re so enjoying it. We’re next to all these incredible actors and we get to the front and they went, ‘Nope, that’s not here’. We’d been invited to a dinner in honour of the Baftas down the road. So embarrassing.”
High points of her television career over the decades include being told she would be interviewing Clint Eastwood at the Venice Film Festival – “So terrifying. But he was utterly delightful and he really put me at ease” – and meeting Tom Cruise. Jenni says: “He is amazing. When you interview him, he listens to you, he talks to you like you’re the only person in the room. Even though there are 7,000 screaming fans all around him wanting a photo or a selfie, he will give you the time.”
Like Tom, Jenni is keen on fitness, and has run nine marathons. She says: “Running has changed my life really. I’m so grateful to have found it. It kind of gave me confidence. It boosted my mental health, it gave me time out. It gave me an opportunity to think.” And it was that beloved pastime, which she gets to talk about on her RunPod podcast, that sparked her wellness business venture.
She says: “As a runner you have to take supplements to kind of look after your joints. I used to always take a collagen supplement and one day I thought, let’s do my own. So I said it to my husband and our friend, who is our business partner. A collagen supplement has so many more benefits other than just supporting your joint and bone health. It is really good for your hair, your skin, your nails, your immune system.” Four years in, and now also offering a menopause support supplement, the business has taken off.
“I never thought I’d have a brand that made a difference to other people,” Jenni says. There are so many lovely customers that come up to me and say it’s made a difference because they’ve been in pain and this has eased their arthritis or it’s helped them with skin issues and changing their lives. That to me feels like a real achievement. I’m so proud and I’m also proud of RunPod because a lot of people have been inspired to get out and be active and take up running.”
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