He won Strictly Come Dancing, has mastered musical theatre and hosts prime time shows for the BBC. But while Ore Oduba is a dab hand at entertaining audiences, he struggles to get ready for the school run.
Ore, 37, best known for hosting Newsround, BBC Breakfast and The One Show, has two children – Roman, five, and 18-month-old Genie – with his wife Portia. He says his tendency to obsess over the details makes mornings extra difficult and wonders if he has “OCD” when it comes to his son’s uniform.
“You’re out of that routine for about a quarter of the year, but somehow going back to the thing you do every day is impossible,” he tells new. “I do have obsessive behaviours – you could call it OCD, that’s an easy label to put to it – but I’m meticulous with these things and that doesn’t take away the worry and the trouble you go through.
“I just have to make sure that every system is in place, which is quite taxing on the brain. Everything has to have an order and I always go through it on a day-to-day basis, making sure things are exactly where they are so that when it comes to, ‘OK, we need to be out of the door by eight o’clock,’ it’s not so much of a gear change or culture shock when school returns.”
Ore, who recently worked with Sainsbury’s Tu on their Back To School Morning Challenge campaign, says he is “a bit of a drill sergeant” when it comes to Roman’s morning routine, although he has no trouble waking him up in the morning.
“Why is it that when you’re five, you want to get up at the crack of dawn?” he laughs. “He’ll come bouncing down the stairs like Tigger and then we have to send him back up to make his bed. He’s quite good at doing that, but don’t get me wrong, I go back and clear up the corners.
“I have him wear his shirt inside out, so when he eats breakfast or brushes his teeth, he can spill as much as he wants down the wrong side of it and then I’ll turn it around when it’s time to go.”
Ore admits Portia is “much better” at handling breakfast time with the children. “She doesn’t seem flustered as the time is ticking towards ‘out of the door time’ – which is non-negotiable. There might as well be blue sirens going off, it’s that much of an emergency.
“It’s not because we haven’t got everything sorted. For some reason, this kid makes a bowl of cereal last half an hour,” he chuckles. “Then my little girl Genie – she’s in a throwing mood so there’s just stuff all over the floor. I just feel like smashing my head into the fridge door. I applaud every parent out there doing the school run, because it is fraught with danger.”
Ore won’t be tackling it full-time this term, however, as he is in rehearsals for Pretty Woman: The Musical’s UK Tour. He is taking on the roles of Happy Man and Mr Thompson in the musical, which also stars Love Island’s Amber Davies as Julia Roberts’ character Vivian.
“I’m hoping I’ll be able to do the school run in the morning but it’ll be mad because I’ve not done this before,” he says.
“The last time I rehearsed for Rocky Horror Show, my son was three, so I didn’t have a ‘school drop off and then into work’ day. And we live in Kent now, so there’s an extra commute. It’ll be a very busy morning.”
With the show heading on the road from next month, it’s not only time away from his family that Ore is nervous about.
“I dread the first day of a new job,” he says. “I’m a full introvert and I find it really challenging to go into a room of people that you don’t know and then have to put a game face and jazz hands on and act like this is totally normal.
“I get really nervous going into that, but if my kids can do it on day one and have fun and come home bouncing, then I think I can.”
Ore has Strictly to thank for his new musical career, having appeared in Cinderella, Grease and Rocky Horror Show since winning the BBC competition in 2016. Will he be tuning in this year?
“We’ll have shows on Saturday night, so it’s tricky, but Strictly is always there,” he says. “You can’t miss it. It takes over when it hits the schedule, so I’m looking forward to hearing that theme tune again.
“I always get so excited for a new bunch because they really have no idea what’s going to hit them. But it happens every year, the audience gets behind them and it’s an amazing wave of sequins and excitement.
“As always, I’m wishing the new cast the best of luck and the most amazing time.”
The dancing king is still close to his professional partner Joanne Clifton, who has also ventured into the theatre world.
“I messaged her the other day – we always try to match schedules as much as possible, we’re constantly consulting the diary,” he says. “She’s doing amazing things so we’re always really supportive of each other. Maybe we’ll dance together again one day!”
As for what he’d love to do next, Ore says his focus is on the school run. “It’s getting those kids out the door,” he says. “That’s what I’m looking forward to, because that is probably the biggest challenge of the day!”
Ore is fronting Sainsbury’s Tu Clothing Back to School Morning Challenge campaign
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