BUILDING BRIDGES 'I'M NOT COMPLETELY UNBREAKABLE'

PRESENTER AJ ODUDU ON THE CHALLENGES OF BEING A BLACK WOMAN IN THE INDUSTRY AND HOW EMBRACING HER LATEST ROLE WAS THE PERFECT CONFIDENCE BOOST

- KIRSTY HATCHER

She’s one of our rising talents having won over audiences with her down-to-earth presenting skills as well as her impressive stint on Strictly, yet AJ Odudu still finds herself having to work twice as hard as anyone else.

The 34-year-old has previously said how being a Black woman has meant she hasn’t had the same opportunities as white female hosts, and she feels she continually has to prove herself.

She has said, “Even if you don’t get told (that you need to work harder to get half as far as white peers), you feel it. The opportunities you get and the things that you do, you know in your heart of hearts that you’ve had to jump through many more hoops than your counterparts.”

Commenting on the struggles she has experienced during her career, Blackburn-born AJ tells us, “The world isn’t fair and life isn’t fair, and even though we don’t say it, we feel it and we know it.

“The facts are the facts but hopefully people will continue to make a lot of progressive change. I’m aware that change will take a very, very long time and I wish it would hurry up, but we are where we are.”

While hopeful for change, AJ’s approach has always been to make the most of every opportunity. And this has definitely been the case with her latest role, as she is about to front a new series of Channel 4 challenge show The Bridge. Here, two teams go head-to-head to build a bridge in just 12 days to win a £200,000 cash prize.

The show is also set to appear in the US on HBO Max. So does she dream of joining the Brit pack, along with the likes of James Corden and Cat Deeley, who have carved out careers in the States?