Munyaradzi Thomas Kingsley "Radzi" Chinyanganya (born 12 September 1986) is a British presenter and broadcaster. He co-presented the BBC children's TV programme ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Te ...

'' from 2013 until 2019, and the ITV game show ''

Cannonball A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...

'' in 2017. Previously he presented ''Wild'' on CBBC and was the host of ''

Match of the Day Kickabout ''Match of the Day Kickabout'' is a British children's television football programme broadcast on CBBC. It was previously presented by Ore Oduba and Radzi Chinyanganya. but in its later seasons it was hosted by Ben Shires, Kenzie Benali, John F ...

'' from 2013 until 2014, when

Ben Shires Ben Shires is a British television presenter and comedian, currently working on TV channels CBBC and Dave. He hosts the Guinness World Records-themed children's show '' Officially Amazing'', and is also a radio presenter on Heart Yorkshire. Ca ...

took over. In October 2018, it was announced that Chinyanganya would be working for American professional wrestling company WWE for its NXT UK brand, as a backstage interviewer.

Early life

Chinyanganya was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, and lived there for his first ten years, subsequently moving to

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

where he spent his teenage years. He was born to a Scottish mother (from Dundee) and a Zimbabwean father. He attended Adams' Grammar School in Newport,

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

. A graduate of

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when ...

, he worked on Loughborough University's TV and radio station while a student. Following university he pursued an attempt to join the British skeleton bobsleigh team for the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympi ...

, although he was unsuccessful in qualification rounds.

Career

Sports hosting

At a screen test in

The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the ...

, he was selected as the official weightlifting presenter at the

London 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. He hosted the weightlifting tournament, spoke on stage at the Excel Arena, interviewed athletes, introduced the weight categories and entertained the crowd. He was invited back to present the

London 2012 Paralympic Games The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Ga ...

. He was a presenter with the BBC coverage of the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , wint ...

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Se ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and the

2020 Snooker World Championship The 2020 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2020 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 31 July to 16 August 2020 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was th ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

. He was also the official commentator of the 2018 World's Ultimate Strongman Competition in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...

. In 2021, Chinyanganya was part of the

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

presenting team at the Tokyo Olympics. It was later announced he would become the main presenter for snookers' Triple Crown events on Eurosport, taking over from

Colin Murray Colin Murray (born Luke Wright on 10 March 1977) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter. In 2010, he became host of BBC Television's '' Match of the Day 2'' on BBC Two, while still anchoring shows on BBC Radio 5 Live, including '' 5 ...

who had departed the role at the end of the

2020–21 snooker season The 2020–21 snooker season was a professional snooker season with tournaments played from 13 September 2020 to 9 May 2021. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was played almost entirely without a live audience with only the 2021 W ...

Television

Chinyanganya presented ''Your Body: Your Image'' for

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

, an educational series about body image in schools. He co-presented ''Wild'' on

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 7–16 ...

with Naomi Wilkinson and Tim Warwood which first aired in 2013. In October 2013, he became the 37th presenter of ''

'' after being announced following the departure of

Helen Skelton Helen Elizabeth Skelton (born 19 July 1983) is an English television presenter and Actor, actress. She co-presented the BBC children's programme ''Blue Peter'' from 2008 until 2013, and since 2014 has been a presenter on ''Countryfile''. She als ...

. He was a reporter and presenter of CBBC's ''

''. In January 2020, he competed in the twelfth series of ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their prof ...

'' alongside professional partner Jess Hatfield.

Other work

He was a contestant in Sky One's '' Gladiators'' in 2008 and reached the semi finals and was the only contestant in history to attempt the eliminator wearing a swimming cap. He was selected to attend Kiss FM’s ''Presenter Academy'', and spent the whole summer online reporting for Bauer Media radio station. In this role he interviewed artists and the public and sampled Olympic entertainment in London. He has a cameo as Mi in '' Kung Fu Panda 3''. He is a former backstage interviewer for WWE's NXT UK brand. He is also the

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

NBA presenter. He also does backstage interviews for Giants Live strongman competitions. In 2021, he hosted the

University of Derby , mottoeng = Experience is the best teacher , established = 1851 – Teacher Training College1992 – gained university status , type = Public , chancellor = William Cavendish, E ...

’s open day.

Personal life

He is Christian, and has stated in interview that his Christian faith is one of his driving passions. He has described his parents as being Christians, but from different

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct Religion, religious body within Christianity that comprises all Church (congregation), church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadersh ...

s, leading to an inter-faith upbringing. In November 2020 Chinyanganya announced on the BBC's ''

Songs of Praise ''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK. The series was first broadcast in October 1961. On that occasion, the venue was the Ta ...

'' programme that his own

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

had taken place at the Roman Catholic church of St Leonard and St Fergus in Ardler, a suburb of Dundee.

Filmography

Television

Film

References

External links

Sochi 2014: Blue Peter's Radzi Chinyanganya on the skeletonPyeongchang 2018: Winter Olympics 2018 on the BBC
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chinyanganya, Radzi 1986 births Living people Black British television personalities English people of Zimbabwean descent English people of Scottish descent People educated at Adams' Grammar School Alumni of Loughborough University People from Oxford Blue Peter presenters English Roman Catholics