Ashley Banjo
Ashley Modurotolu Banjo MBE (born 4 October 1988) is an English dancer, choreographer, and television personality. He is the leader of the street dance troupe Diversity who won the third series of the television talent show Britain's Got Talent in 2009. Banjo has been a judge on television dance competition shows, including Got to Dance (2009–2014), Dance Dance Dance (2017). and Dancing on Ice (2018–present). In 2016, he was a co-presenter for the Saturday night BBC game show Can't Touch This.
Ashley Banjo
Early life and education[edit]
Son of former heavyweight boxer Funso Banjo and Danielle,[1][2] Banjo was educated at the independent St John's School, Billericay, where he was Head Boy and still holds the high jump sports day record.[3]
Television work[edit]
Ashley was a judge on Sky1's dancing talent show Got to Dance for all five series. Diversity appeared as guest performers at least once every series. In total they did nine performances on the show.[10] In 2015, he presented Perspectives: Michael Jackson's Thriller with Ashley Banjo.
In 2016, Banjo co-presented Can't Touch This, a Saturday night game show for BBC One, alongside Zoë Ball.[11] In 2017, Banjo was a judge on the new ITV series Dance Dance Dance, presented by Alesha Dixon and Will Best.
Since January 2018, Banjo has been part of the judging panel on Dancing on Ice, starting with its tenth series in 2018.[12]
In August 2020, it was announced that due to Simon Cowell's bike injury and recovery period, Banjo would replace Cowell for the live semi-final and final shows of the 14th series of Britain's Got Talent.[13]
Personal life[edit]
After winning Britain's Got Talent in 2009, Banjo took a break from his schooling to concentrate on his dancing. He said that "from the age of 14, I started to teach myself routines". Banjo was in a thirteen-year relationship with Francesca Abbott, who is a member of another dance troupe called Out of the Shadows. They announced their engagement on 2 October 2014.[19] Ashley and Francesa have two children, Rose (born 2019) and Micah (born 2020). Ashley and Francesca announced on 23 December 2022 that they had separated 18 months earlier.
Ashley Banjo is an Official Ambassador of the United Dance Organisation.[20]
Banjo was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to dance.[21][22][23]