After months of speculation, ever since Big Brother was announced to be rebooted by ITV and set to be released on ITV2 and ITVX, the UK TV channel has revealed the brand new hosts for the show. AJ Odudu will be stepping up to the plate alongside Will Best giving the show’s first duo hosting – does this mean ITV really are overhauling the format and refreshing it?
AJ Odudu already has ties to Big Brother, as fans of the show will know that she hosted (alongside Rylan Clark) the spin-off show, Big Brother’s Bit on the Side back in 2013 when Channel 5 decided to swap out the hosts.
She’s no stranger to presenting with a whole host of roles behind her, most recently presenting the handover and allocation draw of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 – alongside Rylan Clark (again). She also presented the revival of Channel 4’s show The Big Breakfast, alongside Mo Gilligan, and BBC’s coverage of the Platinum Jubilee Pageant. Other roles have included Comic Relief, backstage presenting for The Voice UK and The Voice Kids, and she is also set to present E4’s hairstyling competition show, The Big Blow Out.
She is best known for being a finalist of series 19 of Strictly Come Dancing, as well as being a contestant on Celebrity SAS: Who Dare Wins and winning the second series of ITV2’s Celebrity Karaoke Club.
This is not the first time AJ Odudu and Will Best have co-presented together, just last year, they presented the Red Bull Soapbox Race: London 2022.
As for Will Best, he got his first presenting role in 2010 alongside Girls Aloud star, Kimberley Walsh, on the show Suck My Pop for music channel Viva. He next became a T4 presenter from 2011-2012, and later presented the dating show Love Shaft in 2014. He stepped into a huge presenting role on ITV alongside Alesha Dixon in 2017 for the celebrity dance competition show Dance Dance Dance. Alongside friend and comedian Matt Richardson, he also appeared on the latest series of Celebrity Road Trip, just last year.
Talking about being one of the hosts of ITV’s reboot of Big Brother, AJ Odudu said: “I’m so excited to finally be able to say that, yes: I’m hosting Big Brother! I couldn’t be happier. Following in the footsteps of some of my favourite broadcasting legends to front such an iconic show is an absolute honour – and to do it alongside my amazing friend Will is the icing on the cake.”
Will Best went on to say: “I grew up with Big Brother, so getting a chance to host it with my mate AJ is a dream come true. I can’t wait to tell some housemates not to swear.”
The duo are following in the massive footsteps of Davina McCall, who hosted Channel 4’s Big Brother from its debut in 2000 until 2010; then Big Brother series two winner and Ultimate Big Brother Winner, Brian Dowling, hosted Channel 5’s acquirement of the show, from 2011 to 2012, before Emma Willis took over from 2013 until the series ended on Channel 5 in 2018.
Now ITV has stepped up after huge successes of rebooting series, such as Love Island, and with the format change of having a duo hosting team, we’re excited to see what other changes they have in store before the series is released later this year. We are super excited for AJ Odudu and Will Best to take us on a tour of the house in the opening episode – we are so ready!