Ranvir Singh busts myths around what it's like to be a television presenter

The 46-year-old televsion presenter took to Instagram this week to bust some of the myths that surround her job and offer some insights into what a career in the television industry is like.

Posting on her Instagram account, Ranvir shared a series of images titled '5 myths about being a television presenter' with the caption: "I’m very aware of how lucky I am to be a TV presenter. I love what I do. I get to meet amazing people, hear inspirational stories and visit many different places that I otherwise wouldn’t experience. I’m so thankful." In the series of images, the mum of one highlights some of the common myths she hears about being a presenter and then shares what she has found the reality to be.

Introducing the series, Ranvir said: "There's a little bit of mystery around presenting isn't there? -People wonder what's happening. behind the scenes and how it all comes together

"I can only speak from my own-experience here, but here are some of the things people have mentioned or asked me about doing my job that...erm aren't quite the true picture".

Take a look what the Preston star had to share below:

MYTH 1: You start work when the show starts

Ranvir: “Er: no! You start work the night before the show-reading through briefing - notes, books, and emailing ideas back and forth with producers. then you're in the building 2.5 hours before we're on air for meetings, hair, and makeup!”

MYTH 2: It's relaxing getting glam every day 

Ranvir: “If you ask our brilliant team of stylists they' 11 tell you how difficult we can make their jobs! We're always reading papers, talking to editors, researching on phones, sipping coffee - anything but sitting still for our eyeliner!

“It's not-relaxing, but we're lucky to have pros who make us look our best"

MYTH 3: Everything is on autocue

Ranvir: “In the studio the main intros are, but the interviews and ad libs are all off the cuff or from written notes - and you never have autocue when you're reporting out on the road”

MYTH 4: You get to keep your on-screen outfits

Ranvir: “A lot of things we wear are borrowed or loaned from the brands because it's good for them to see their designs being worn on tv and we don't have to spend all of the budget on buying clothes”

MYTH 5: You get used to the 3am alarm

Ranvir: “YOU. DON'T. EVER. You just get used to feeling tired as your default setting and then when you take a holiday your family realises you're a nice person when you've slept well."

Ranvir then held a Q&A about presenting on her Instagram story, take a look at some of her insights and advice below:

Q) What was the first step you took to begin your presenting journey?

Ranvir: "The first step I took to presenting was actually just wanting to be a journalist in the first place but knowing that I didn't want to do it in newspapers at the time- which actually for lots of journalists absolutely the first step is to do it in newspapers but I think i just always knew that I needed that red light, I needed that now or never moment so I sort of enjoyed the thrill of performing under pressure and I always have so the first step was to go to the University of Central Lancashire - where I'm now chancellor - and to do a postgraduate in broadcast journalism."

Q) Why do news presenters in studio hold blank pieces of paper?

Ranvir: "This one is so funny because I think you're thinking of the brilliant Simon McCoy on BBC News 24 when he was holding a pack of empty pieces of plain paper but no, anwyay, we don't hold plain paper or blank paper, it's our scripts, just in case the auto cue goes down and say you're reading a court story where it's sort of legally important that you get all the wording right.

"So you have to have a printed out version of the news so that then if the auto que- and it does go down a lot, you know there [are] errors a lot- it means you've got a back up and you're not sort of scrambling around wodnering what the next line of that story was because most stories you know, but with legal stories and corut stories and court reporting, it's an absolute no no, you've got to be super careful.""

Q) Do you ever get nervous presenting?

"Not now, I think that if I got nervous now after being a journalist for 20 years, I'd be in the wrong profession. On the very odd occasion when there's soemthing big happening, you might feel concerned and extra focused that you rememeber everything, that you get it all right or you might be battling internally with what questions you want to ask, you know a tricky interviewee for example. That isn't really nerves, it's just sort of focused attention but yeah, I don't get nervous presenting becasue it's just fun isn't it?"

Q) What would be your advice for a school leave to get into presenting now? Do you need contacts?

Ranvir: "Decide what you want to present about, if you've got a specialist interest- you know a sports journalist qualification would be great if that's what you're into. The other thing I'd say is go to down to your local radio station, whichever one you like, and ask if you can come and see how they do it, it's a great grounding.

"Get yourself on Youtube and TikTok and start presenting your own bits about the things that interest you, just get used to talking and get used to getting feedback."