UNCHARTED WATERS

TOM DALEY is no stranger to risk. He’s spent his life twisting through the air at impossible angles, chasing medals – often reaching the podium. After winning silver at the 2024 Olympics and becoming the first British diver to win five Olympic medals, he retired. These days, he’s finding the adrenaline outside the pool – in the quiet repetition of knitting, in the chaos of parenting two young boys, in the strategic thrill of participating in Traitors.

The endeavours that started as ways to escape the pool became his lifeboat afterwards. From YouTube to hosting his first TV competition show, Game of Wool, he did what he does best: dove straight in. Whether it’s introducing the world to knitting-based reality TV or imagining a Christmas jumper shaped like a tree, Daley has found a new way to inhabit risk. Far from the high board but no less exhilarating.

Left Gloves **Pour Lui**, pants and belt **Celine Homme**
Right Vintage shirt, glasses **Emporio Armani**, watch **Omega**

Hello! How are you?

I’m good! I’m sorry, I’m a little bit late. The kids are off from school now until after New Year's. I was trying to hide away from them to talk to you, but of course, they keep following me. So, I gave up. If you hear them in the background, I have one of them opening his Advent calendar on the couch.

So, it’s a big moment. How’s the chaos been in the build-up to Christmas?

Absolute chaos. We’ve got one in the second grade and another in preschool. There is so much happening. You want to be the parent who shows up. Having to juggle that schedule with work is a challenge. We’re making it work.

You’re in the home stretch; you've got three days left. I would think that, because you work in a creative industry, it’s somehow even worse. You don’t have the stability of a 9-to-5.

It’s a lot to juggle. I do kind of miss my diving routine. I knew when I was going to be training, where I was going to be. Every week, I knew what every day would look like. All my diving events were planned so far in advance. Whereas now, I’ll just get a call saying, “Can you be in London next week?” I then have to figure out everything with the kids. Lance [Black, Daley’s husband] is also in an industry that works like this. With knitting, it’s great because I can do it in between.

Left Tank top **Looker**, shorts **Fendi**, watch **Omega**
Right Full look **Moschino**

Do you feel like there’s a shared skillset between knitting and diving?

In a way. I feel like diving is a quick, quite creative and expressive sport. Of course, the rules and judging are rigid, but at the same time, no two divers look the same in the way that they dive. That translates into knitting. Knitting was my way of being able to switch off. Just like diving, it’s quite repetitive. I get into the same kind of flow state in both knitting and diving.

Did knitting change the way you thought of diving?

Yeah. I was always trying things in knitting to learn new techniques. Whereas with diving, I was always a little scared to take those risks and try something new. It taught me not to fear making mistakes. If you make one, all you have to do is start again. You won't start from scratch; you’re starting from experience. You don’t have to make the same mistake twice.

Was creativity what first attracted you to diving?

No, it was the adrenaline rush. I saw people doing flips off a high board and thought it looked fun. I’m into high-paced stuff, I love rollercoasters, waterslides, all of that. It spoke to me as something that would make me have that feeling. [Talks to off-camera] No, you don’t want to touch that, it’s very gentle. Sorry, we just finished this massive five-foot-tall LEGO Eiffel Tower. [Shifts the camera to include it in the frame]

Left Tank top **Looker**, shorts **Fendi**, watch **Omega**
Right Top Full look **Moschino**, Bottom Full look **IM Men**

Oh, that's huge.

12,000 pieces. It’s what Santa got him last year; we just finished it in time for this year.

I would not have the dedication for that at his age…

He commits himself to it. My younger son is more about the physical craziness and not sitting down. But, at the same time, he’s only two, so…

How old were you when you realised you were a creative person?

I always loved crafts and drawing, but I never would have considered myself a creative person. It was the knitting that unlocked that for me. I didn't necessarily consider myself to be creative because I was just watching tutorials online. That's something diving and being coached taught me: you follow instructions. When you're following a knitting pattern, it's like following a cooking recipe, an Ikea flat pack. It wasn't until I started to explore creating something myself that I realised I could be creative.

What kick-started your other creative avenues?

My whole life, I tried to have something that could take my mind off diving. Because as an athlete, you're always so in it. If you're not at the pool, you're thinking about what you're going to be doing at the pool tomorrow. Even as a kid, it was schoolwork, YouTube, social media, then it became knitting, and now it’s parenting. All those things were everything I could do so that I could keep my diving head at the pool, so then it didn't consume my whole life.

How has your relationship with diving changed now?

I retired last year after the Paris Olympics, and I haven't been on a diving board since. It's kind of weird to think that I haven't been at a diving pool since then, but at the same time, it's nice to have that distance. It’s one of those sports that you can’t just rock up and play. Diving pools are very specific.

Do you grieve that loss at all?

I still love it. I think about it every day. It's part of who I am. But you get to an age where your body can’t do it anymore. If I were 10 years younger, I would still be going, probably. At 31, I don’t know if my body could handle doing another Olympic cycle. You have to come to terms with that.

Left Full look **Moschino**
Right Gloves **Pour Lui**, pants and belt **Celine Homme**

I’ve heard you talk about knitting as an incredibly free medium. What do you appreciate the most about it?

It’s the fact that if you can imagine something, you can knit it. If I wanted to knit an Eiffel Tower, I could. I love that. But, at the same time, it’s not immediate. You can’t go online and 3D print it. You have to spend the time on it. For how good the end product can be, it’s not about it; it’s in the process. Especially with everything being so quick, it’s nice to be able to slow down. Randomly, I'm knitting a jumper for Christmas that is a Christmas tree. The front panel is shaped like a triangle, and my neckline is a yellow star. It’s weird, but why not? I want a Christmas tree, so I’ll knit one.

I love seeing the jumpers you make for people. You’ve knit for Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson, or Alan Carr. Who’s had the funniest reaction?

The whole idea of the naughty list started when I made something for Sharon Stone. She was so appreciative of it. It was such a sweet moment. But I think the funniest was Bretman Rock. I knit a jumper with one of his chickens, Priscilla, in the front. For his reaction, he revealed it to her, which was so cute. It’s so nice when people get them and wear something I’ve made.

Speaking of knitting for others, Game of Wool was such an incredible show. I had never seen anything like that on TV. How did that project start?

I had been trying to develop a knitting and crochet competition show for a very long time. And it was with Channel 4… It’s just such a dream project. It’s exactly what I want to do, it’s in the hosting space, it’s a competition, it’s about knitting. It was two months of my life where I got to talk about knitting and crochet all day, every day.

Left Shirt and shorts **Fendi**, shoes **Prada**
Right Top Left Tank top **Looker**, watch **Omega**, Bottom Full look **Prada**

How intense was the process of developing a show?

It's tough, because there's a balance between creating a competition show that caters to people who don't even know knitting, don't know crochet. But then there are very serious knitters and crocheters. It's hard to get the balance between everything, especially when you only have 47 minutes and 10 contestants. I'm excited to see the possibilities of a second series and how we can change, adjust, and adapt things that we've learned from this series.

I was obsessed with it. It was such a fresh take on the genre.

Thank you! According to Channel 4, it's the highest-rated show for 16 to 24-year-olds. So, the audience skews young and mainly streams online. It’s done really well, which they're really happy about. I'm hoping that we get a second series. I won't know officially, probably until the new year, but we've got our fingers crossed.

You’ve now seen both sides of the reality TV coin, as a host and a contestant. What did you learn from having been both?

Oh, good question. Well, one, being a host is the easiest part, rather than being a contestant. Because you see how much they care and how much they want it. Being on The Traitors, getting “murdered”, I didn’t know what happened next. If I were the host, I could have just been there and watched it all. It's like being a front-row spectator, but getting to have your say, whereas when you're a contestant, once you go, you go. So, as someone who gets serious FOMO, it actually worked out quite nicely.

Would you do The Traitors again?

Having been murdered so early, I'd love to do it again. But then what happens if I get into the same position and I get killed off again?

What would you do differently?

I would be a traitor. [Laughs] It’s a strange game. It's really hard not to say what you're thinking. Because you can't talk to anyone. You're not even allowed to talk to the producers. When you go back to your room, you don't talk to anyone because you don't have your phone.

What’s next for you creatively?

I'd love to do some kind of competition show in the same way, but make it about finding the most elite sports person. Like, the champion of all champions. Bringing together lots of different athletes – a gymnast, a diver, a sprinter, whatever, bringing everyone together and figuring out who is the best athlete. I think that would be fun.