TV novice becomes Blue Peter host

Andy Akinwolere (second right) will join the summer expedition

A junior BBC TV staff member has been plucked from obscurity to become the new face of children's show Blue Peter.

Andy Akinwolere, 23, was working as a runner at Children's BBC when he was spotted by a director of the programme.

He was encouraged to audition and has now been selected to replace Matt Baker, who has left after seven years.

"A runner is the most junior job in a TV production team," said Akinwolere, who hoped to make documentaries. "Being a presenter didn't come into it."

Nigerian-born Akinwolere will join the existing presenting team of Konnie Huq, Zoe Salmon and Gethin Jones on their summer expedition to the southern US.

I never thought I stood a chance Andy Akinwolere

"I was chatting to a group of colleagues one night and, little did I realise, one of them was a director on Blue Peter," he said.

"She suggested me for the job and I thought, why not give it a go? I never thought I stood a chance."

His audition challenges included belly-dancing and attempting to clean the teeth of one of the programme's pet dogs.

Blue Peter editor Richard Marson said he had seen scores of hopefuls from across the UK and the audition process had been "our most rigorous ever".

We think he has real star quality and audiences are going to love him Richard Marson Blue Peter editor

"Andy came to our attention right towards the end of the process and he did incredibly well considering he had no plans to become a presenter," he said.

"He's fresh, bright, determined and totally natural. We think he has real star quality and audiences are going to love him."

Early challenges set up for the new presenter include the Dutch sport of canal jumping and abseiling from the Humber bridge.