Samantha Simmonds

Samantha Simmonds is a presenter on Sky News. She can currently be seen most regularly on weekend Sunrise for Sky. Samantha’s biggest story since joining was covering the execution of Saddam Hussein, and she has also provided a Sky News studio piece to camera for a Discovery Channel docu-drama.

Before joining Sky News, Samantha was a presenter and reporter on BBC London news. There she covered the July 7th bombings - Samantha was the first TV reporter on the scene at the Edgeware Road bombings, gathering eye witness testimony and providing live reports for News 24. Samantha also covered lighter stories in the capital including film premieres, art exhibitions, interviews with everyone from Usher to Ken Livingstone and even ice-skating live with Jayne Torville at Somerset House!

Samantha’s first TV reporting job was on BBC Breakfast. There she cut her teeth on several momentous stories including the outbreak of the Iraq war, the Queen Mother's death, the Potters Bar train crash and the Bali bombings. Her toughest assignment was being sent to New York after 9/11. Along with a dozen or so other broadcast journalists, Samantha spent 3 days in Stanstead Airport waiting for air clearance to fly to the States. Once there she and the team broadcast 24/7 for several days.

Samantha also regularly hosts current affairs debates at venues across the capital. She recently chaired a very heated dicussion on TV coverage of the Israel/Lebanon war, with an esteemed though divided panel including representatives from the media and politics.

When studying for her degree at Liverpool University, Samantha discovered a passion for journalism, editing the University paper. She led a campaign in the paper into faulty gas heaters which had killed several students. She then went on to complete a postgraduate diploma in Broadcast journalism at City University. There she presented a series of reports on prostitution in the capital for LBC radio.

Whilst at the BBC Samantha presented Gate 24 - a half hour travel programme for News 24, and in her spare time Samantha indulges her passion for responsible travel. She recently visited Cambodia and Vietnam with an organisation that focuses on putting back into the local community. There she visited an Orphanage which she now sponsors.

Samantha is also proud although slightly embarrassed to have been included in ITV1's 'Best of Blind Date', having been a contestant whilst at University.