Alex Payne was born in June 1980. He attended Sandroyd School, Eton College, and Edinburgh University before entering broadcasting, joining Sky Sports in his early twenties as one of the channel’s youngest presenters at the time.

He began his broadcasting career at Sky Sports hosting the “Rugby Club” show, then travelled to New Zealand in 2005 as a reporter for the British and Irish Lions tour. He went on to present Sky Sports News for five years, covering sports such as tennis, including the US Open final, and hosted poker programming for Sky and Fox.

Payne rose to become the lead presenter for Sky Sports’ rugby union news coverage, holding the role for 12 years and anchoring broadcasts of England internationals, the Heineken Cup, the Tri Nations, and domestic English and European competitions, including the 2013 Lions tour in Australia.

After 21 years, he left his full-time role at Sky Sports to pursue entrepreneurial ventures, though he has occasionally returns for major events, such as leading coverage of the 2025 British & Irish Lions Tour.

Payne is married with two children, the eldest of whom was born prematurely at 29 weeks into the pregnancy.