Ore Oduba

Ore Oduba (born 17 November 1985) is a British television and radio presenter who has also worked as an actor.

Oduba was born on 17 November 1985 in London, to Nigerian parents and was brought up in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, in southwest England, with his brother and two sisters.

He often travelled between the UK and Nigeria, where his father is a leading lawyer.

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.

Oduba was a talented sports player in his youth, he was a rugby prop, a hockey goalkeeper, also played tennis and cricket.

From 2008 until 2013, he presented the CBBC news programme Newsround.

He studied Sports Science and Social Science at Loughborough University and graduated with a degree in 2008.

Oduba had always aimed for a career in sports broadcasting, 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 became the main presenter in October 2008 when the show relaunched.

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.

He presented until its cancellation in 2010.

The show was replaced by Match of the Day Kickabout which Oduba also presents.

This continued until Shah's departure in November 2011.

He was later joined by reporters Leah Gooding and Hayley Cutts.

As part of his role he also presented spin-off show Sportsround.

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

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

Between October 2012 and May 2017 he presented the daytime BBC One insurance fraud documentary programme Claimed and Shamed.

Oduba left Newsround in 2013.

Oduba formerly presented the sport 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.

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.

He played the role of Nathan in Hacker Time on CBBC.

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

Oduba regularly appeared on CBBC studio presentation following his Newsround shift.

He was also a guest on CBBC shows including Sam & Mark's TMi Friday, Hacker Time and All Over the Place.

Since 2015, he has guest presented numerous episodes of The One Show.

From 2015–16, he was a presenter on The National Lottery Draws on Saturday evenings and he presented the 2015 New Year Live programme on BBC One.

However, he is best known for winning the fourteenth series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing in 2016.

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 five other celebrities including Alex Jones and Suzi Perry.

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 2018 he hosted the game show And They're Off! in aid of Sport Relief.

In 2019 he began his musical theatre career, starring in the UK tour of Grease.

He also appeared alongside Jason Manford in Curtains the Musical.

Oduba made his West End debut in January 2020.