Where is Noel Edmonds now? Former Deal or No Deal host’s new career in New Zealand, and council spat explained

Noel Edmonds, 74, is best known for hosting Deal or No Deal from 2005 to 2016, as well as Noel’s House Party which featured the now iconic Mr Blobby. With news that Deal or No Deal is being rebooted, fans were expecting Edmonds to return to the role that he embodied for more than a decade.

However, with Edmonds living in New Zealand and very content with his new quieter lifestyle, council spats aside, a new host was needed for the show, and producers got Catchphrase presenter Stephen Mulhern on board.

But what of Noel? Once one of the most recognisable faces on British television, he has not featured on a UK show properly since taking part in I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! In 2018, when a record-breaking £600,000 deal coaxed him onto the show. This is what the entertainer is doing in New Zealand.

Where is Noel Edmonds now?

Noel Edmonds made the shock decision to move to New Zealand with his wife, makeup artist Elizabeth Davies, in 2019, and he has lived there ever since, only rarely returning to the UK.

The veteran TV presenter does not use social media, and has managed to keep his private life down under fairly private. We do know that he owns a vineyard and cafe in Ngatimoti, on the north of the South Island.

Edmonds bought Dunbar Estates in July 2022 for an undisclosed amount, though it was previously valued at 1.44 million New Zealand Dollars, (£668,000). He bought two other properties in the city of Nelson at the same time and has now bought up to 12 properties there.

The investments were in addition to Edmonds’ requirements to gain early residency in the country under the Investor1 category in which he needed to invest at least $10 million NZD in the shares and bonds over the first three years of living there to be allowed to stay. It is now estimated that the star has invested around £14.5 million in New Zealand property.

Why is Noel Edmonds in a dispute with the council?

It was reported by Snuff earlier this year that Edmonds objected to a cycle trail passing through his land rather than along a highway, and reportedly told the contractor and her colleague ‘you are our enemies’.

Edmonds confirmed that he had banned the contractors from his property and said that they should help local businesses rather than build a cycle trail, although the council had suggested that the trail would bring thousands of customers to his business. He told The Guardian that he was quoting hundreds of visitors to his property in describing the saga as ‘utter bo****ks’.