Ore Oduba

Ore Oduba (born 17 November 1986)^[1][2][3] is a British television news and sports presenter, currently working for BBC Sport. He is best known for presenting the BBC children's news programme Newsround from 2008 until 2014.

In 2016 he is participating in the fourteenth series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing.

Early life and education

Oduba was born in London, to Nigerian parents. He was educated at Dumpton School, then Canford School, a co-educational independent school for both boarding and day pupils, in the village of Canford Magna, near to the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, in South West England. He studied Sports Science and Social Science at Loughborough University and graduated in 2008.^[4]

Career

Oduba had always aimed for a career in sports broadcasting,^[5] and initially joined The Network, an Edinburgh television festival scheme.

Oduba joined Newsround in August 2008, following the departure of Lizo Mzimba and Laura Jones. His first role on the programme was as a reporter and breakfast bulletin presenter. He was quickly promoted to deputy presenter in 2009, filling in for main presenter Sonali Shah in her absence. In 2010 he joined Shah to begin presenting the main Newsround bulletin double-headed. This continued until Shah's departure in November 2011. He has since been joined by reporters Leah Gooding and Hayley Cutts. As part of his role he also presented spin-off show Sportsround. He became the main presenter in October 2008 when the show relaunched. He presented until its cancellation in 2010. The show was replaced by Match of the Day Kickabout which Oduba also presents. Oduba left Newsround in 2014.

Oduba presents sport bulletins for BBC Breakfast and BBC Radio 5 Live. He has also presented and reported on British Olympic Dreams along with former Newsround co-presenter Sonali Shah.

Oduba began a debut presenting solo on the morning slot for the Commonwealth Games 2014 on BBC One and BBC Sport.

Ore Oduba co-presents live cinema relays from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with former ballerina Darcey Bussell.

Oduba regularly appeared on CBBC studio presentation following his Newsround shift. He has also been a guest on CBBC shows including Sam & Mark's TMi Friday, Hacker Time and All Over the Place.

In the lead up to the 2012 Summer Olympics Oduba presented a programme called Ultimate Sports Day for CBBC.

On 2 March 2013, Oduba and Sonali Shah appeared on the 'BBC's Let's Dance for Comic Relief, dancing to Hey Ya! by Outkast. They were eliminated and did not get through to the final.^[6]

He also plays the role of Nathan in Hacker Time on CBBC. In 2015, he guest presented an episode of The One Show alongside Alex Jones for BBC One. He guest presented a second episode with Jones in 2016.

Since 2015, he has been a presenter on The National Lottery Draws on Saturday evenings and he presented the 2015 New Year Live programme on BBC One.

From 7 March 2016, Oduba took part in a challenge for Sport Relief, called "Hell on High Seas", in which he sailed 1,000 miles from Belfast to London with 5 other celebrities including Alex Jones and Suzi Perry.^[7][8] In 2016 he also presented Sport Relief: Clash of the Titans with Dan Walker. He presented coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics on BBC Four throughout August 2016.

In 2016 Oduba participated in the fourteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing,^[9] where he has been partnered with Joanne Clifton. The couple's American Smooth to "Singin' in the Rain" won praise from Patricia Ward, widow of Gene Kelly.^[10] In the fourth week the couple were awarded a score of 39 points out of 40 for their jive to "Runaway Baby" by Bruno Mars.^[11][12] He presents the daytime BBC One programme Claimed and Shamed.^[13] In November 2016, Oduba guest presented an episode of This Morning with Holly Willoughby on ITV.

Personal life

Oduba is married to Portia Oduba.^[14] He is a lifelong supporter of Manchester United.^[15]

Filmography

References