It was: “How old is Ellie Costello?”
It’s the standard reflex in a celebrity-obsessed culture. We assign a number to a person, file them into a generational box, and use that digit as a shortcut to understand their authority or relevance. For Ellie Costello, the answer to that question places her in an interesting bracket. According to multiple UK media reports from her wedding in April 2025, she is 31 years old .
But to reduce Ellie Costello to a mere number—31—is to miss the point entirely. She is a journalist who has turned her youth into a superpower, navigated the terrifying reality of stalking with bravery, and balanced a high-octane career with a personal life that recently celebrated a major milestone. This is the story of what that age really represents: a journey of resilience, talent, and the redefinition of what a leading lady in British breakfast television looks like.
From Essex to Eamonn: The Education of a Broadcaster
Born and raised in Essex, Costello is quick to defend her home county against the stereotypes often portrayed in reality TV. She once remarked that “some of the most down to earth, warm and genuinely lovely people are from my county” . It was here, with parents who worked as teachers, that the foundations of her communication skills were likely laid.
Her path to the presenting desk wasn’t a random stroke of luck but a calculated journey through two of the UK’s finest academic institutions. She first attended the University of Southampton, where she dove into the world of English Literature, studying modules that ranged from American Literature to Politics and Irish Literature . This academic background is crucial to understanding her on-air persona; she isn’t just reading an autocue, she is deconstructing narratives and understanding the political and cultural contexts behind the headlines.
However, theory without practice is useless in the fast-paced world of news. Costello then pursued a Master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism at City, University of London . City is often regarded as a gold-standard institution for journalists, and it was there that she honed the technical skills required to transition from the page to the screen.
Before the glitz of national television, she got her hands dirty in the gritty world of student media. For nearly three years, she was involved with Surge Radio, serving as a radio presenter and DJ, and eventually stepping up to Assistant Station Manager . These early hours—learning to talk without dead air, to curate content, and to manage a studio—were the unpaid, unseen labor that would eventually pay dividends.
The BBC Bootcamp and The Victoria Derbyshire Effect
Every journalist has a “finishing school”—a job that beats the academic theory out of them and replaces it with street-smart instinct. For Costello, that was the BBC. Starting at the BBC World Service, she was exposed to a global perspective on news, understanding that a story in London had ripples that could be felt in Lagos or Lahore .
Her trajectory, however, truly accelerated when she joined The Victoria Derbyshire programme . For those in the industry, working on this show is akin to a football player training in the Premier League. It is known for its rigorous investigative journalism, its commitment to giving a voice to the voiceless, and its relentless pace.
It was here that Costello cut her teeth on heavy-hitting investigations. She worked on stories exploring the dark side of the influencer industry—specifically looking at influencers being solicited for sex—and probed the issue of bullying within the British beauty industry . These weren’t fluffy entertainment pieces; they were complex, sensitive, and required a level of empathy mixed with dogged determination.
This experience shaped her philosophy on journalism. She isn’t interested in just the “who” and the “what”; she digs for the “why.” “I’m a naturally gregarious person, a storyteller, and incredibly curious,” she has explained. “It’s a great feeling to interview people—whether they’re top politicians, celebrities, or our viewers from around the country. I always learn something new” .
Rising Star at GB News
When GB News launched in 2021, it sought to shake up the broadcasting status quo, and Costello was brought on as a South East reporter . As the channel found its feet, so did she. It wasn’t long before her natural rapport with the camera and her audience propelled her into the spotlight.
She became the regular presenter of the Weekend Breakfast show alongside Stephen Dixon, and later became a familiar face co-hosting the weekly breakfast show with veteran broadcaster Eamonn Holmes . By December 2024, following a major shake-up at the network, her role expanded significantly. She was confirmed as the permanent weekday co-host of GB News Breakfast, anchoring the show from Monday to Wednesday with Holmes, and finishing the week with Dixon .
This promotion was significant. At just 30 years old at the time, she was being placed in one of the most high-pressure slots on the channel, sitting opposite a legend of British broadcasting who has been in the industry since before she was born. The dynamic is fascinating to watch. Eamonn Holmes, 65, brings the grizzled wisdom of someone who has seen it all; Ellie brings the energetic curiosity of a digital native who understands that a breakfast show needs to be as engaging on television as it is in a TikTok clip .
Holmes has spoken fondly of the age gap, albeit with a touch of humor. When Costello married her partner in April 2025 wearing a chic white mini dress, Holmes admitted he was initially baffled. “Notice she wore a short dress, I’d have never thought of that,” he joked, acknowledging that her modern style is a world away from his own generational expectations .
But for Costello, working with Holmes is a “pinch-myself moment.” Having grown up watching him on television, she now finds herself as his professional equal . The 34-year age gap between them isn’t a barrier; it’s the show’s secret sauce, blending the warmth of nostalgia with the brisk pace of modernity.
A Wedding, A Proposal, and a Private Love Story
While her professional life is lived in the public eye, Ellie Costello has fiercely guarded her personal life—a difficult task for anyone on morning television, where viewers feel a familial connection to the presenters.
In November 2023, she broke her own rule of privacy to share a sliver of joy. In a world she described as having “so little good news,” she took to social media to announce her engagement to her partner, Gerard Durkan . The proposal happened during a sun-drenched holiday in Phuket, Thailand. The accompanying photos were intimate but discreet—showing the couple looking away from the camera on a boat at sunset, and a close-up of the sparkler on her finger .
The couple finally tied the knot on April 12, 2025, in a beautiful civil ceremony at Chelsea Old Town Hall in London . For the occasion, the 31-year-old bride stunned in a long-sleeved, buttoned, white mini dress by the brand Meshki, paired with a beaded headband and a pristine white bouquet—a look that was both elegant and decidedly modern .
The intimate ceremony was just for close family, but it’s not the end of the celebrations. Costello has revealed that the couple plans a larger, religious wedding in the South of France during the summer, allowing them to celebrate with the wider circle of friends and family who couldn’t fit into the Chelsea registry office .
The Shadow of the Spotlight: Surviving Stalking
However, life in the spotlight isn’t always about engagements and wedding bells. Costello has used her platform to speak about one of the most harrowing ordeals a public figure can face: stalking.
In late 2022, a man who had initially contacted her professionally for a Zoom interview pleaded guilty to stalking and harassment. What began as polite messages on social media spiraled into terrifying declarations of obsession. She received messages saying “I love you,” “I love seeing you in the mornings,” and “when am I seeing you this is driving me insane” .
For Costello, the ordeal was “terrifying” and fundamentally altered how she did her job. As a reporter, she often had to reveal her location at the start of live segments. This practice, once a routine part of the job, turned her into what she described as a “sitting duck.”
“After doing my first ‘live’ of the day, I knew that I had exposed myself, and I would spend the rest of my shift looking over my shoulder, waiting for my perpetrator to show up,” she recalled . Her testimony sheds light on a dark underbelly of television journalism that viewers rarely consider. The glamour of the studio is replaced by the cold fear of being watched.
The perpetrator was eventually handed a suspended prison sentence and a five-year restraining order, but the psychological impact lingers. By speaking out, Costello has helped destigmatize the trauma and has highlighted the vulnerabilities that come with a career in broadcasting.
The Age Factor: A New Archetype
So, back to the question of age. At 31, Ellie Costello sits at a fascinating intersection. She is young enough to be a digital native, leveraging her Instagram (where she boasts 21k followers) and her TikTok account “EllieExplains” to break news to a younger demographic in digestible formats . Yet, she is seasoned enough to have survived the BBC bootcamp, to have stared down a stalker in court, and to hold her own against broadcasting royalty like Eamonn Holmes and Peter Andre—with whom she formed a firm friendship after guest-hosting stints, once posting a viral dance video to the song Made for Me .
Her age, in this context, is not a measure of inexperience but a marker of adaptability. She represents a new archetype of the British presenter: one who is academically rigorous, journalistically brave, digitally savvy, and personally resilient.
As she settles into married life and continues to wake up the nation with her blend of serious journalism and warm banter, one thing is clear. Whether she’s 31, 41, or 61, Ellie Costello’s relevance won’t be determined by the candles on her birthday cake. It will be determined by her relentless curiosity and her ability to connect with people—a skill that is, thankfully, ageless.
Conclusion
Ellie Costello’s journey—from the classrooms of Essex to the bright lights of the GB News Breakfast studio—proves that age is merely a number on a page, not a measure of capability or courage. At 31, she has already packed more into her career than many do in a lifetime: rigorous academic training, hard-hitting investigative work at the BBC, the resilience to overcome a terrifying stalking ordeal, and the charm to hold her own alongside broadcasting legends.
As she begins this new chapter as a wife and continues to redefine morning television for a modern audience, Costello stands as a testament to the fact that in journalism, the only number that truly matters is the one that counts the stories you’ve told and the lives you’ve touched.
