Richard Paul Bacon was born to parents Paul and Christine Bacon in Mansfield, a market town in Nottinghamshire. Bacon grew up in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and was educated at St Peter’s Church of England Primary School on Bellamy Road, followed by two independent schools, also in Nottinghamshire: Wellow House School, a preparatory school in the village of Wellow, and then Worksop College, a boarding school in Worksop. He studied Business Studies with Electronics at Nottingham Trent University, but dropped out after a year.

Bacon’s television break was as a presenter on the children’s show Blue Peter, which he joined on 21 February 1997. He presented alongside Romana D’Annunzio, Katy Hill, Konnie Huq and Stuart Miles. On 19 October 1998 he was the programme’s first-ever presenter to have his contract terminated in mid-season, after the tabloid newspaper News of the World published a report of Bacon taking cocaine and cannabis.

After his dismissal, Bacon’s career rebounded as he took on roles in several prominent television programmes. He hosted The Big Breakfast, Top of the Pops, and reality TV shows such as Back to Reality and Castaway Exposed. He later joined BBC Radio 5 Live’s late-night show before becoming the regular presenter of the mid-afternoon show from January 2010. In 2016, he expanded his horizon into American television, co-anchoring some of ABC’s coverage of the 2016 US election and hosting for Fox and National Geographic.

Bacon married Rebecca McFarlane in 2008. As of 2020, they were living in Los Angeles, California, where Bacon works in US television. They have two children.