AJ with her presenting partner Will Besr (Image: ITV)
Blackburn-born Big Brother presenter AJ Odudu has spoken out about being axed from the show without warning.
The TV presenter co-presented the show back in 2013 but wasn’t asked to return at the end of the series. She was replaced by Carol McGiffin.
Although her net worth now sits at an approximate £1.2 million, AJ comes from more humble beginnings. Born and bred in Blackburn, she is one of eight children born to Nigerian parents, with her father working as a bus conductor and her mother as a seamstress, cleaner and dinner lady in a private school.
After leaving university, she began her career as a reporter for BBC Radio Lancashire before delving into the world of broadcasting and presenting.
Her first presenting role was in 2009 on BBC 2’s The Almost Perfect Guide to Life and The 5:19 Show – an online BBC programme.
In a new interview, AJ told Hunger magazine of the aftermath of being sacked from Big Brother in 2013: “I know how dark the couple of years after that were and I know how deeply traumatic that whole experience was.
“Finally having made it to your dream job, you don’t think you’re going to have to scale back like that – it’s a real knock to the ego.”
AJ told how she was ‘absolutely devastated’ and ‘crushed’ when the axing happened. She was the only one of the presenting trio, along with Rylan Clark and Emma Willis, to not be asked to return for the next series.
However, last year she was invited back to front the show last year alongside Will Best, when Big Brother returned to TV screens.
