Jennifer Zamparelli: I’m not one for small talk - but it doesn’t mean I’m not nice

With a stellar job, loving family, and now a new parenting podcast — with friend and colleague, Lottie Ryan, Amanda Cassidy chats with Jennifer Zamparelli, to find out how it all lead to this for her career

Jennifer Zamparelli is working with TK Maxx to shine a light on the cost of gifting for kids.

“That's it. That’s the one,” Jennifer Zamparelli exclaims, with that mischievous laugh, listeners of her 2FM show will be very familiar with.

We are discussing her most hated interview questions, and she has a few.

The TV and radio presenter settles on the one that frustrates her most: ‘What’s next? That one has been bandied about since forever,” the 43-year-old groans.

“You have one kid, then people are asking when are you having the next? You’ve in one job, and everyone is wondering what you are headed for next.

“It’s like we can never allow ourselves to sit still for even a minute.

“I take great pride in the fact that I’m just really happy right now. I’m not looking over my shoulder or looking too far ahead. I’m just really loving being exactly where I am, in my life.”

Of course, with a stellar broadcasting career, two gorgeous healthy children, a stuntman husband, glamorous TV gigs, and now a parenting podcast, the Dubliner has every reason to feel content.

But Jennifer Zamparelli, born Jennifer Maguire, didn’t start out with any specific plan.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she admits. “I was kind of bouncing around for years. I worked in sales for a long time and was very successful at that. Then I had my own business when I came back to Ireland. But when I was on The Apprentice, I had no intention of being a telly star. I thought I was going to go off into the sunset with Alan Sugar.

“I thought to myself, I can do that. I was one of those people who used to watch the show and scream at the screen. I was sure I could do better, that’s why I went for it.”

Zamparelli was a 27-year-old marketing consultant when she first appeared on our screens, taking part in the fourth series of The Apprentice.

On the show, she described herself as “the best saleswoman in Europe at the moment”.

“The days were long and arduous,” she remembers. “We were running on empty. People who say or do stupid things definitely provide better entertainment. That’s the show’s business model, and it became apparent very quickly.

“I thought, this is horrific. I never want to do this again.”

Seven weeks into the show, Jennifer was fired.

“Even when I left the show, coming home to Ireland with my tail between my legs and setting up my own business, I didn’t come back and start hustling for telly work,” she points out. “How it happened was very fortunate, because it is why I am where I am today, but it was accidental.”

It was at a random awards ceremony, where Jennifer had a conversation that would change the direction of her life once more. “I really credit Eddie Doyle, who was head of entertainment in RTÉ at the time, who saw something in me.

“I sat next to him at an awards thing, and he’d mentioned they were looking for a reporter to work on Republic of Telly and thought I would be a good fit. I went for a screen test and that was kind of it. I got the gig.”

The TV and radio host is working with TK Maxx this year to shine a light on Christmas spending.

Jennifer went on to present the long-running satirical clip show, where notably she left Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary speechless when she asked him: “What’s it like being the biggest prick in Ireland?”

But being catapulted to our screens also meant having to face judgement from the public.

“Coming out of The Apprentice and being on the Republic of Telly, there was this telly persona that I was a bit of a heartless ice-queen, which I had for years, and I’m not sure is fully gone yet,” she explains.

“But I remember a guy that started working with me five years ago. He said he was quite scared of me. We are very good friends now, but he admitted that he thought I was quite abrupt and unfriendly. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Obviously,” she jokes, “cos I’m sound. But maybe, because I’m in and out of that place [RTÉ] and I don’t hang around. Plus, I’m probably not one for small talk, but it doesn’t mean I’m not nice.”

As well as gearing up for her sixth season of Dancing With The Stars, Zamparelli is also enjoying the podcast she launched with her best friend and 2FM colleague, Lottie Ryan. Jen and Lottie Do Parenting is a no-holds-barred approach to parenting.

Did she perhaps want to show us another side of her wise-cracking media persona?

“Actually it was the amount of trolling Lottie was getting that really got me thinking,” Jennifer explains.

“I was still doing Dancing [With The Stars] at the time, I was like I really don’t want to do any more work right now, but this was something different. One thing I’d noticed was the amount of criticism and trolling Lottie got, just for showing her way of parenting online.

“There is so much information. There are so many opinions and advice, but really nothing compares to instinct. We all make mistakes; we all have our triumphs and failures, and I suppose one of our listeners said something that really hit home. She said, ‘You are like my inside voice’, l love that”.

Jennifer is also working with TK Maxx this year, to shine a light on the cost of kids gifting. A new survey by the retailer found that 11% of parents plan to spend less than €50 on their child’s birthday presents. And with eight weeks until Christmas, over 60% of parents said they plan to spend over €200 per child.

We chat briefly about the quirky little bits we enjoy picking up, from the branches close to where we both live, but it’s Halloween night and Jennifer is getting ready to bring the kids “trick-of-treating”.

So what’s next? I deadpan, and we laughingly return to the presenter’s other most dreaded question. Is it: How do you juggle motherhood with a career? I prompt.

“I don’t mind being asked that one, to be honest,” she admits. “I’m quite an open book, but I don’t like being asked how do you do it all. I don’t like the perception that I have it all, or I’m doing it all. Because where I’m doing really well at one thing, I’m probably failing miserably in another sense.

“For now though, I’m at the point when I’m not looking to the side anymore. I’m at a really good point in my career. I’m not comparing. I’m not looking at a gig I didn’t get. I love going to work every day. I’m happy with what I have.

“I work on one of the biggest shows on Irish television. I’ve my own radio show, a podcast with my pal, happy, healthy kids, and a marriage that’s intact. What more could I possibly wish for?