Joanne Guest, known as Jo Guest, was born on February 22, 1972, in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, and grew up on Poplar Drive in Glapwell. Of English descent, she attended the former Heath School (1963-1991) and studied Hotel Management at Chesterfield College while working as a magician’s assistant and taking a catering course.

At the height of her popularity in the 90s there was a long-standing rumor that Guest was the pretty magician's assistant who was working with Tommy Cooper when he died on stage during a televised magic show in 1984 of a massive heart attack. But as the internet became more prevalent in the early 2000s, and older TV shows were getting uploaded on platforms like YouTube, it was clear that Guest was not the assistant. Born in 1972, she also would have been only 12 years old in 1984.