MIND YOU, THEY ALSO TOLD THEM KELLY BROOK WAS POPULAR, TOO

As you'll doubtless be aware, when Granada sold the format rights to Hit Me Baby One More Time to NBC, they also parcelled up Vernon Kay, too. Now, that seems fair enough - America gets some proof about the poor quality of British dentistry; we get a few weeks with Vernon Kay out the country. Everyone's a winner. But, of course, NBC still has to explain to the viewing millions who this Mr. Kay is. They do drag up his entire cv:

Popular UK personality Vernon Kay "hops the pond" to host the new U.S. version of the UK smash hit, "Hit Me Baby One More Time." Originally from Bolton, England, Vernon created quite a stir within the television industry. His spontaneous wit and charming accent make him a huge hit with both male and female viewers of all ages.

Vernon has a vast amount of hosting experience both live and pre-recorded. His first taste of fame was a few years ago when he was spotted by a model scout from Select at the BBC'sClothes Show Live. He began a successful modeling career but it was not long before he was picked out for stardom by Channel 4 when he won Model of the Week on "The Big Breakfast". Since then his personality and cheeky boyish charm have been noticed and put him in demand for numerous presenting roles.

He hosted the quiz show "Head Jam" on BBC2 and BBC 3 and now presents Celebrities under Pressure on ITV, along with "Hit MeÖ". He hosted "Wife For William" and "The Grill". Prior to this, Vernon hosted the Saturday night show "Boys and Girls". Vernon was the co-presenter for BBC2's "Top of the Pops Plus", in addition to fronting the spin-off series "Top of the Pops@ Play" for Play UK. The shows were music-based formats with live band performances and interviews with entertaining viewer interaction.

Not only is Vernon an accomplished and popular TV personality, but having been given the opportunity to stand in for [former "Madness" frontman and current radio host] Suggs on XFM's mid-morning show he has proved to be a natural broadcaster.

We're sure the good people of Wichita Falls will be reassured to know that their evening viewing is in the hands of a man who's presented on the prestigious Play UK channel; and they'll be very, very impressed that he's done swing shifts on a local radio station for a bloke who used to be in a band they might have dim recollections of. To be fair, though, if Vernon had listed just the hit programmes he'd been involved in... well, they'd have had to write a lot more about his modelling work. Curiously, they elect to leave Boys and Girls on the cv (a programme which Channel 4 admit they pissed away a million quid on trying to interest the public in) but don't mention his Radio One work.

One more thing: we watched an awful lot of TOTP@Play, and don't remember any entertaining viewer interaction. Indeed, with audience figures so low, it was a miracle they could find anyone to interact with at all.

music vernon kay