Clarke Gayford
Clarke Timothy Gayford (born 24 October 1976) is a New Zealand radio and television broadcaster, presenter of the fishing documentary show "Fish of the Day". He is the fiancé of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Education and career. Gayford was raised on a farm outside Gisborne. From the age of 11, he boarded at Palmerston North Boys' High School. In 1995, he matriculated at Otago University to study for a Bachelor of Arts, before transferring to the New Zealand Broadcasting School in Christchurch. After he graduated from broadcasting school, Gayford successfully pitched student-life show "Cow TV  (1999) to Dunedin's Channel 9. In 1999, Gayford appeared as a contestant on Treasure Island", a reality television game show. In 2003, he began broadcasting on the C4 music channel, presenting youth programmes. In 2010, Gayford presented the third season of "Extraordinary Kiwis", a biographical documentary series. Gayford also presented several radio shows, including morning and afternoon drive time shows on More FM and George FM, respectively. In 2015, with producer Mike Bhana, Gayford created fishing show "Fish of the Day", for Choice TV. The documentary series is also broadcast on National Geographic Channel, and has screened in over  35 countries. He made a guest appearance as himself in the first season 2 episode of "Wellington Paranormal". Personal life. Gayford is the eldest of three siblings. He was previously in relationships with musician Hollie Smith and Shortland Street actress Shavaughn Ruakere. He is the partner of Jacinda Ardern; the couple began dating in 2013. In August 2017, Ardern was elected as leader of the Labour Party and, following a general election, she became prime minister on 26 October 2017. Gayford has been referred to as the "spouse" of the prime minister, although the couple are unmarried. He has accompanied  Ardern on international visits, including the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London, UK. On 19 January 2018, Ardern announced that she and Gayford were expecting their first child in June. Their daughter, Neve Te Aroha was born on 21 June at 4:45 pm in Auckland City Hospital. In May 2019, it was reported that he and Ardern were engaged to be married. The wedding, scheduled for early 2022, was cancelled due to COVID lockdowns imposed in New Zealand. Views and public image. In mid-April 2020, Gayford appeared on a short "Wellington Paranormal" video encouraging people who were  looking after young children during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, National Party Member of Parliament Brett Hudson expressed concerns during an Epidemic Response Committee meeting in early May 2020 that the video risked politicising the New Zealand Police. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster defended Gayford's presence on the grounds that he was a well-known television personality who had participated in the television series. On 12 March 2021, Gayford attracted media attention when he posted a tweet stating that the New Zealand Cabinet had made an "in principle decision" pending final test results in relation to the lifting of a  COVID-19 Alert Level 2 lockdown in Auckland. In response, his partner Prime Minister Ardern stated that Gayford had not been briefed on Cabinet's "preliminary decision" to move Auckland to Alert Level 1 that day. Gayford said in a "scathing review" of an article written by former prime minister Sir John Key in September 2021 “It was such a shame that the name slinging [and] use of disinformation divided his contribution into partisan politics.” In mid-January 2022, Gayford drew controversy after speaking to a pharmacist in December 2021 about obtaining rapid antigen testing for several musician friends. Gayford had  claimed that there had been a change to testing guidance from the Health Ministry that would allow them to obtain rapid antigen testing instead of the more invasive polymerase chain reaction testing. Gayford was criticised by the National Party's COVID-19 Response spokesperson Chris Bishop for allegedly using his position as the Prime Minister's spouse to obtain special favours for his friends. Gayford subsequently apologised for "any issues or confusion" this created for pharmacy staff.