He’s an A-list presenter, with a megawatt smile and glittering career to match. But life wasn’t easy for Kiss FM host Tyler West, growing up with his mum Debbie, a NHS nurse, and older brother Lewis on a “racist council estate” in South London.
“Bailiffs knocked on the door and at times we weren’t sure if there would be food on the table,” says Tyler, 27. “We’d go shopping at midnight and Mum would play a game with us, saying, ‘Right, here’s the budget, find the cheapest ingredients’. It’s only now as an adult I realise it’s because she was struggling.”
Opportunities were scarce. “It was hard to dream of what you wanted to do for the rest of your life. But Mum was an absolute rock. ‘You can be anything,’ she’d tell me. Little did I know that it was true.”
But trouble was never far from the door. “On the estate there was a lot of drug dealing, police being called at ridiculous hours. Me and Lewis could have gone down a completely different route. I’m grateful we were able to stay on the right track. Some of the people I knew back then weren’t so lucky. Some went to prison, some were involved in gang culture.”
One incident in particular would change everything. "I was coming back from school and some local alcoholics were arguing outside our house,” remembers Tyler. “Mum called the police. I went upstairs and looked out of the window. One of the men was holding a 12in kitchen knife and began stabbing and slashing at another. It went on for 10 minutes. Mum ran out to help and I went with her. The man was in a puddle of blood. She tried to resuscitate him but it was hopeless. The man lost his life in the middle of the road.”
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Tyler West pumping water with Matildah Habeenzu (right) and Abigail Kafunya (left) in the Kabuyu Community, ZambiaTyler, then 14, was traumatised, and for the next two years struggled to leave the house. "It pushed me into a whirlwind of mental health difficulties, I couldn’t use a knife and fork at dinner. Even now when I go to the cinema and there’s a gory scene, it’s triggering,” he says.
But he managed to get through that tough time. “At 16 I thought, enough. My family deserves a better life. I started going back to school and got involved in sports, playing handball, and later became a youth support worker. CBBC came to interview the handball team, and said, ‘You’re good at talking on camera, would you like to try a guest presentation slot?’ I gave it a go and here I am now talking to you.”
Indeed the rest was history. Tyler became a regular on CBBC, fronting Kickabout+. In 2017, he became the host of MTV News. And in 2019 he joined Kiss FM, and now presents The Home Straight show.
Recently, Tyler was announced as an ambassador for charity WaterAid. “I’m keen to give back. Dreaming is one thing, but you can’t even begin to dream if you don’t have access to clean water. WaterAid changed my perspective and gave me a deeper purpose to use my platform for good,” he says.
In 2022, Tyler was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing with pro dancer Dianne Buswell, making it to week nine. “Strictly was like jumping on a rocket and going into a completely different world,” says Tyler. It changed my life because it proved to me exactly what is possible. If you’d have told that boy on the estate, he’d have told you to jog on.”
He met his partner, EastEnders actress Molly Rainford, 23, on the show. "I came off with more than the glitterball with Molly,” he says.The pair live together in London. "When the ads come on TV we’re up there dancing. We go to dance lessons. At the end of the show they say ‘Keep dancing’, and we took it seriously!”
As our interview draws to a close, Tyler is contemplative. “I pinch myself thinking about my journey, where I started and how far I’ve come, and waking up with Molls,” he says. “I feel very lucky. I didn’t have all the ingredients to do this. My mum wasn’t a famous TV producer, I didn’t grow up rich. I’m proof where you start doesn’t determine where you end up.”
- Tyler has joined WaterAid as its newest ambassador, supporting the charity to help communities around the world get clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. Visit wateraid.org for further information
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