Carol Jean Vorderman (born 24 December 1960) is a British television presenter. She was born in Bedford and raised in Prestatyn, North Wales. Her father was Dutch; her mother is Welsh. She studied engineering at Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge. She is best known for having picked the letters and numbers for the Channel 4 game show "Countdown". She is a regular panellist on ITV1 talk show "Loose Women". She was a contestant in the second series of "Strictly Come Dancing" in 2004. In 2013 she presented a series about cooking on ITV called "Food Glorious Food". She has written books about detox diets.