Jayson Mansaray is a presenter, reporter and producer who found success in the UK via Perth and his home city Melbourne.
He has co-presented the Royal Academy show on BBC2, worked as a cultural commentator on BBC 5live, reported for Reuters, TRT World, London Live and is a regular on Sky News UK’s Backstage entertainment podcast.
Jayson has reported and presented from the Cannes Film Festival, the Oscars, the Oliviers, fashion weeks and Europe’s biggest street party Notting Hill Carnival. Interviewed some of the biggest names in entertainment including Naomi Campbell, photographer David Bailey, Stephen Spielberg, Ava Duvernay and Leonardo DiCaprio to name just a few.
His reporting extends beyond celebrity interactions delving into cultural issues including the Scottish strippers who challenged Edinburgh council’s plan to ban sexual entertainment venues and the intersection between feminists in favour and against the ban.
While still studying journalism in London, on work experience in Moscow he reported on African migrants who had been brutally attacked by fascists for BBC London. Also reporting on gay rights in the city interviewing Peter Tatchell and subsequently being arrested when the gay rights activist held up a protest sign in the Red Square (both were released without harm or incident within a few hours and Jayson has stayed out of trouble since).
On live television, Jayson excels at infusing stories with his distinctive personality and journalistic skills. Whether that’s becoming part of a magic act at Edinburgh fringe, using (and having a bite of) a falafel to demonstrate how Glastonbury Festival is using renewable energy or reacting to breaking news of a celebrity death with knowledge and empathy for the human at the heart of the story.
Making an appearance in publications including The Guardian and Metro newspapers his most enduring review comes from his mother “you really are amazing at what you do but I just wish you’d settle down”.