Ayo Akinwolere


Odunayo Andrew Akinwolere, previously known as Andy Akinwolere, is a British television presenter.

Early life

Akinwolere was born in Nigeria in 1982, and moved to the United Kingdom with his family when he was eight years old, where he adopted the name "Andy". They settled in Birmingham, where he went to school. His parents are doctors and work in Kidderminster in Worcestershire.

Education

Akinwolere attended St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School in Kings Norton, a district of Birmingham, and then Sheffield Hallam University, from which he graduated in 2004, with a BA degree in Media Studies.

Career

Akinwolere's first job was as a 'runner' for the BBC. He was asked to audition by one of the Blue Peter directors he met whilst eating out with colleagues; he had previously intended to go into documentary-making and radio. Akinwolere began co-presenting the BBC television programme Blue Peter on 28 June 2006. Whilst on the show he was nominated for two British Academy Children's Awards: The prestigious Presenter of the Year Children's BAFTA and subsequently nominated with Blue Peter the following year for Best Factual Programme.
His first challenge, as a presenter, was to complete a 150-yard abseil and an 1100 ft Hele Bungee. He has presented the show with Konnie Huq, Zöe Salmon, Gethin Jones, Helen Skelton, Joel Defries and Barney Harwood. He went on to pass his driving test on the show, gained a Racing / Sky Diving license and a Swimming World record.
As a young presenter he's been a guest presenter on CBBC's Safari 8 to the established art show SM:ART. Akinwolere presented the BBC red button coverage of the London Mini-Marathon. In 2008 as lead presenter Akinwolere hosted Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate 50 years of Blue Peter, the most established children's programme in the country. He also presented a ceremony in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI during his tour of the United Kingdom in September 2010.
He accidentally dropped the star that had topped the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree for ten years as he was attaching it to a crane, leaving it slightly damaged; nonetheless, he was allowed to try again once it had been taped up.
On 4 April 2011, he mentioned on-air, that he was planning to leave the show, and it was also reported at the same time in his Blue Peter Blog.
He took part in the Ready Steady Cook TV programme, competing against fellow presenter Konnie Huq in December 2007. In the same year he appeared on the Weakest Link where he was the fifth to be eliminated.
On 25 April 2011, Akinwolere was a contestant on Total Wipeouts second Celebrity Special of series 4 but had to quit in The Wipeout Zone because he hurt himself on Killer Surf. He came third in The Qualifier, second Crash Mountain and first in the Dizzy Dummy.
In June 2011, he set a new world record for the deepest location for an open water swim, when he swam more than five miles across the Palau Trench in the Pacific Ocean – the first person to have done so. The last major challenge he did on Blue Peter before leaving the show at the end of the season.
In July 2012, it was revealed that he would co-present the third season of ' alongside Laura Hamilton he presented the show for two series. Both were nominated for a British Academy Children's Awards for Best Entertainment Programme in 2014.
In 2012 Akinwolere went to Jamaica to interview the world's fastest man Usain Bolt, in a documentary for the BBC. The documentary looked to understand through various theories, why Jamaica as a nation had dominated the world of sprinting for so long. As well as Bolt he met his father Wellesley Bolt and his inspirational school teacher Lorna Thorpe.
In January 2013 he appeared in a special series of The Great British Bake Off for Comic Relief which was won by Warwick Davis. In 2016 Ayo was a contestant on Celebrity Master Chef of which he competed with Rylan Clark Arlene Phillips, Kimberly Wyatt and Craig Gazey. The series was won by Kimberly Wyatt.
In 2015 Ayo created a THE SWIM CHALLENGE, a project looking to prove that people of colour can swim. Ayo is one of four people of colour with a swimming world record, he took 15 non-swimming adults of various ethnic backgrounds from across London and redesigned a swimming programme to teach them how to swim. In 10 weeks the participants went through a gruelling swimming programme helped by the , to try and challenge their fears of the water and furthermore learn to swim. All the participants learned to swim, and even more remarkable eight participants from the group went on the swim in open water with Ayo in the Great Manchester Swim and Great London Swim. The project gained momentum in various publications and was sponsored by Speedo, Ayo was later commissioned by to document the project.
As a broadcaster he's worked across various British television channels and radio stations. Interviewing some of the world's greatest sports people including Usain Bolt, Lewis Hamilton, and Jessica Ennis. Ayo has written for publications such as The Daily Telegraph, Huffington Post and BBC Sport on Sport, his career and also male identity. He claimed to have travelled to over 118 different cities in the world through his career.
From 2014, Akinwolere became the presenter of the BBC's current affairs programme Inside Out'' for the West Midlands for which he has won the Best Factual Royal Television Society Award for his documentary on Extremism.
In 2018, he became a co-presenter on Channel 4's coverage of the European Rugby Champions Cup.

Personal life

Akinwolere has four siblings – three brothers and one sister who live in the United States. His first language growing up was Yoruba, in addition to English; which he learned when the family moved to Birmingham. His parents both lived abroad for a while and he spent a small part of his childhood living in Nancy, France. He has been quoted as saying he has seen 118 different cities around the world. He mentioned on Blue Peter on 8 April 2009 that he shares a flat with CBBC presenter Johny Pitts. He is an amateur photographer and has had pictures published in National Geographic Kids Magazine and the 2010 Christmas edition of Vogue Bambini. He is also a keen collector of rare vinyl and rare music.

World Record Swim

Blue Peter presenter Ayo Akinwolere has set two world records for swimming in one of the deepest stretches of water on the planet. Mr Akinwolere swam five miles across the Palau Trench, an 8,000-metre deep abyss in the Pacific Ocean. He is the first person to swim across the deepest part of the trench, and now holds the record for the deepest location for an open water swim. He took three and a half hours to complete his swim. His records were verified by the World Open Water Swimming Association. Until a few weeks before, Mr Akinwolere was unable to swim a length and was terrified of open water.
He said: "It's an absolute triumph to have completed this swim, after having had just over 10 weeks of swimming training I still cannot believe how far I've come.
"I could not swim a length before this and now I have swum over one of the deepest parts of the world.
"All the hours of gruelling training will be worth it if my challenge inspires more children from ethnic minorities to learn to swim."

Filmography

Awards

In 2008 and 2010 Akinwolere was nominated for Presenter of the year at BAFTA Children's Award.
2015 won a Royal Television Society award for his Inside Out documentary on Extremism