Ore Oduba

Ore Oduba (born 17 November 1985) is a British television and radio presenter who has also worked as an actor. From 2008 until 2013, he presented the CBBC news programme Newsround. 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. However, he is best known for winning the fourteenth series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing in 2016.

Early life and education 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,

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

He played the role of Nathan in Hacker Time on CBBC. Since 2015, he has guest presented numerous episodes of The One Show.

From 2015 to 2016, he was 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 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.

Between October 2012 and May 2017 he presented the daytime BBC One insurance fraud documentary programme Claimed and Shamed. In November 2016, Oduba guest-presented an episode of This Morning with Holly Willoughby on ITV. He returned to present a second episode with Willoughby in March 2017 and a third with Davina McCall in February 2018.

In 2016 Oduba participated in the fourteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing, where he was partnered with Joanne Clifton. The couple's American Smooth to "Singin' in the Rain" won praise from Patricia Ward, widow of Gene Kelly. 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. In the final, on 17 December, after the couple scored the maximum 40 points for their jive, they were announced as the winners.

In 2017, Oduba sat in for Claudia Winkleman and Steve Wright, on their respective BBC Radio 2 shows, on a number of occasions.

Oduba made his musical theatre debut in 2019, playing the role of Teen Angel in the UK tour of Grease.

The following year, he was a contestant in Channel 4's Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, making it to the final. In the same year, he joined the cast of the stage version of The Rocky Horror Show. They have two children. In January 2024, Portia revealed that the couple were divorcing.

In July 2017, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Loughborough University. In November that year, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Bournemouth University. He is an avid supporter of Manchester United.

Oduba was the first winner of the Inspirational Public Figure Award at the inaugural Ethnicity Awards held in 2018. Other nominations included Meghan Markle, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Alesha Dixon.

Credits

TV

Television guest appearances

Hacker Time (2011) The Dog Ate My Homework (2014) Celebrity Mastermind (2014) Play to the Whistle (2017) Extra Gear (2017) Weekend (2017) Celebrity Juice (2017) The Crystal Maze: Celebrity Special (2017) Dara O Briain's Go 8 Bit (2017) Partners in Rhyme (2017) Tim Vine Travels in Time (2017) Celebrity Antiques Road Trip (2017) Would I Lie to You? (2017) Through the Keyhole (2018) Celebrity Catchphrase (2018)

Radio

Stage Year(s)ProductionRoleTheatreLocation 2017 Strictly Come Dancing the Live Tour Contestant UK National Tour 2018 Strictly Come Dancing the Live Tour Host UK National Tour 2019 Strictly Come Dancing the Live Tour Host UK National Tour Grease Teen Angel UK National Tour Curtains the Musical Aaron Fox UK National Tour 2019-20 Cinderella Prince Charming Fairfield Halls Croydon 2020 Curtains the Musical Aaron Fox Wyndham's Theatre West End 2021 Rocky Horror Show Brad Majors UK National Tour 2022 Sleeping Beauty Prince Orlando Marlowe Theatre Canterbury 2023 Pretty Woman Happy Man/Mr Thompson UK National Tour Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Prince Charming Royal & Derngate Northampton 2024 Aladdin Abanazar Assembly Hall Tunbridge Wells 2025 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Caractacus Potts UK National Tour Picture You Dead Stuart Piper UK National Tour Young Frankenstein Frederick Frankenstein Hope Mill Theatre Manchester Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Prince Charming The Hawth Crawley