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Contributor
Ben Shires
Presenter, comedian and unrepentant Yorkshireman
Having originally trained as a lawyer under the assumption that he’d get to wear a powdered wig most days, Ben soon realised that the reality of a legal career actually bore little resemblance to Kavanagh QC. Or even Judge John Deed for that matter. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he’d picked the type of law where nobody wears wigs anymore anyway. Clearly TV, with its endless wig possibilities, was the answer.
It wasn’t long before Ben tasted the sweet nectar of success, followed almost immediately by the bitter ear wax of disappointment, coming runner up in T4’s search for a new presenter. However, buoyed by Alexa Chung’s assessment of his performance (“creepy”), he soon found his bespectacled features popping up on the likes of BBC Blast and the EA Channel, as well as fronting Intel’s Media Week Award nominated World of Tomorrow campaign and the Banff Rockie Award nominated Wrapped Up World Cup for FremantleMedia and YouTube.
After experiencing the thrill of almost receiving awards himself, Ben was deemed the ideal candidate to start doling them out to deserving celebrities, appearing alongside Russell Kane to co-host E4’s The Idiot Awards. Brushes with the law and a disgruntled Jay Kay from Jamiroquai followed, before Ben was approached to write and front The Dave Weekly, a comedy podcast for Dave. Now in its third series, it sadly put paid to Ben’s enviable award nominations streak by accidentally winning a couple; iTunes’ Best New Comedy Podcast 2011 and a Loaded LAFTA for best podcast in 2013.
Most recently, Ben has been hosting CBBC’s BAFTA Nominated Officially Amazing, a madcap look at Guinness World Records that has seen him meet such luminaries as Bert, the world’s highest ranking camel (reserve deputy sheriff) and Sir Nils Olav, the world’s highest ranking penguin (Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian Royal Guard). So basically just a succession of animals doing better than him. He loves it.
Ben is an Aquarius though he doesn’t believe in all that nonsense. He lives alone with his two housemates and once stroked a wolf.
