Ore Oduba

Early life and education

Oduba was born in London to Nigerian parents. His father worked in the oil industry. 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 southwest England. He studied Sports Science and Social Science at Loughborough University and graduated in 2008.

Career

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 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 2014 Commonwealth Games on BBC One and BBC Sport.

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

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 plays the role of Nathan in Hacker Time on CBBC. 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.

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 in March 2017.

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 both their showdance and 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.

Personal life

Oduba married TV researcher Portia in November 2015. He is a lifelong supporter of Manchester United.

In July 2017, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Loughborough University.

Filmography