“This is our first time properly working together”: Singer turned TV presenter Rochelle Humes on hosting new show with husband Marvin

Hosting a prime time Saturday night entertainment show might seem to come with a fair amount of pressure.

But This Morning favourite and former Saturdays star Rochelle Humes has a track record second to none to help ease any anxieties.

At just 30 she has been a telly presenter for exactly half her life. Smash hit, Ninja Warrior UK, has already been running on Saturdays, cementing her place as one of the go-to girls of British TV.

Now Glasgow is the setting for Rochelle’s latest high-profile telly job.

The Hit List, which started last night, is the new music-based show the BBC hopes will make Saturday nights even more of a telly treat.

So keen were bosses to get it on, it’s reached screens just weeks after filming took place, rather than the usual six months-plus.

The show is a real family affair as Rochelle is hosting it with her husband, former JLS singer and The Voice presenter, Marvin.

They have worked together previously, guest-presenting and making stand-in appearances, but this is their first standalone show with one another.

So P.S. caught up with Rochelle during recordings at the BBC studios on the banks of the River Clyde to see how sharing working, as well as private, life was working out.

“It’s all very new for us,” admitted Rochelle, settling down for a chat before another full-on filming day. “We’re just finding our feet but, so far, so good.

“This is our first time properly working together, so there’s no formula. It’s fun and our kids are up here with us.”

Daughters Alaia, who’s just about to turn six, and Valentina, two, have indeed made the most of their time north of the border.

“They’ve loved it in Scotland and have been here, there and everywhere,” she laughs. “They’ve seen more sights than we have.”

Rochelle and Marvin wed in front of 250 guests at historic Blenheim Palace in 2012 and, with their musical backgrounds, The Hit List was right up their street.

“It’s such a good fit for us. We’ve been offered a few things in the past, but we waited for a show we equally feel passionate about. This is definitely it. Obviously music plays such a big part in our lives so we’re really pleased with this one.

“I thought I was good at music quizzes, but – and I hate saying this – Marvin’s a lot better than me.

“This is really shout-at-the-telly viewing. There is no age bracket on this show. All the family can sit down on the sofa and watch it together and to me that’s what Saturday night telly is all about.”

Making the recordings family-friendly was a deal-breaker for Rochelle.

“I would never have done this job if I didn’t think I could have my kids with me,” she insists.

And the duo have a ready-made way of keeping personal and professional lives separate.

“We just don’t talk about work at home. That’s always been our thing. We have always left whatever we’ve been doing behind when we come through the door.

“I think it’s important to leave our phones and once we’re in, work’s done. Look, we haven’t got time – we’ve got two young kids and a puppy.”

If family – as it obviously is – is the most important thing for Rochelle, it recently became a bit bigger, in the most unusual fashion.

She was reunited with her long-lost sister Lily after 23 years. The pair had last met when they were children but Love Island and Dancing On Ice star Kem Cetinay bumped into Rochelle at a party, said he was friends with Lily, and arranged a meeting.

Now Rochelle and Lily – her sister on her absent dad’s side – are constantly in touch.

© A Photo/ITV/Rachel Joseph

The Hit List is the latest in a long line of plum telly jobs for Rochelle. The current series of Ninja Warrior UK is the fourth she’s fronted with Ben Shephard and Chris Kamara, and she’s recently been back on the This Morning sofa.

When Holly Willoughby flew out to Australia to partner Dec Donnelly on I’m A Celebrity! last November, Rochelle got the call as a replacement that everyone wanted.

She was already a regular stand-in and had formed a partnership with Phil Schofield.

“I’m lucky we get on so well,” says Rochelle. You never know how it’ll go.

“They asked me to do it and he was cool, saying, ‘Oh, yes Rochelle’. I was surprised he knew who I was!

“On that first day, within the first hour, I knew it was going to be great. He’s so lovely and you learn so much watching someone like that.”

Not, you’d have thought, that Rochelle needed to learn too much.

She was presenting on kids’ telly when she was just 15 and says she knew from then that was what she wanted to do.

But Rochelle had already been in the public eye for years, beginning with S Club Juniors.

“I started that when I was 11 and it’s hard to remember much when you’re that age,” admits Rochelle.

“I go to places and someone will say, ‘I interviewed you when you were 12’ , and I have no idea, I just pretend that I know. It’s all a blur.

“Apart from what was doing in the daytime, I led a very normal life. I was living at home and I’d be on stage during the day in front of thousands of people and then in the evening my mum would be telling me that I needed to tidy my room.

“I don’t feel I missed out on anything at all, we just had a good time.”

What Rochelle remembers very well are the seven years she spent with The Saturdays. They were one of Britain’s all-time biggest girl bands and the hard slog to get to the top was something she still appreciates.

“We worked from the bottom up,” recalls Rochelle. “We weren’t propelled to fame overnight on a reality show, so we did all the university and club gigs long before we were selling out arenas.

“We had so many singles out before we had our first No 1. We’d had chart success with top five records but when I heard we were No.1, I was pregnant with Alaia and I was so excited I honestly thought I was going to go into labour.”

Despite the busy schedule – she also has her own New Look fashion range – Rochelle is confident she’s striking the right balance and isn’t taking on too much.

“I think, like most mums, I just wing it. I sit down on a Sunday and see what my week looks like and go from there. I try to not put too much pressure on myself and I’m lucky that Marvin and I are really tight and he’s around for the girls when I’m not. There are two of us and we make it work.

“You can’t be a mum and not be hands-on. That comes with the territory. I’m definitely bad cop. I’ll be the one to pull them up on stuff – Marvin doesn’t like the girls sitting not happy.”

The Hit List, Saturday, BBC1 7.30pm