With his welcoming smile, affable demeanour, and sense of fun, Oli Bell is a key member of the ITV Racing team, popular with fans and fellow presenters alike. As the main anchor of The Opening Show, Oli helps set the scene for the day’s racing and enhances the live coverage with his extensive racing knowledge and broadcasting skills. A face familiar to racing fans, but who is Oli Bell?
Born to be a Racing Broadcaster?
Born in Glastonbury on 28 April 1987, Oli Bell has family ties to both racing and broadcasting. His father, Rupert, is a renowned sports broadcaster, well known for his work on talkSPORT, BBC Radio, and Sky.
Oli’s link to racing is provided by his uncle, the leading trainer Michael Bell. Based in Newmarket, Bell has struck gold in many of the sport’s biggest events, including the Epsom Derby, the Epsom Oaks, the Irish Oaks, and the Ascot Gold Cup. It was after the success of Big Orange in the 2018 Ascot Gold Cup that Oli Bell’s emotions overrode his presenting duties, seeing the nephew of the winning trainer drop his microphone and race onto the Ascot Turf. Oli’s actions didn’t go unnoticed by the late Queen Elizabeth II. Introduced to Oli the day after the race, Her Majesty asked Oli whether he was “the lunatic that ran on the track yesterday?”
First Steps into Broadcasting
Given the occupations of his close relatives, it is easy to assume Oli received a little help in ascending to his current position. However, he climbed the ladder the old-fashioned way – through sheer hard work.
With his parents separating when he was three years old, Oli was raised in Somerset by his mother, only reconnecting with his father in his early teens. Rather than his father, Oli credits his racehorse-owning grandfather as a key figure in fostering his love of the sport.
By his own admission, Oli was never particularly inspired by schoolwork. Nevertheless, he completed his secondary school education in Peterborough, having earned a drama scholarship. Recalling his schooldays, Oli remembers reading the Racing Post in the back of class and handing in tips rather than essays to his racing-loving history teacher.
Oli gained his first broadcasting experience as a 15-year-old when landing the job as the host of the school’s breakfast radio show. Mixing breaking news of cancelled assemblies with the latest Busted hits may have been a far cry from the life of a racing presenter, but Oli’s time on the airwaves fuelled his desire to pursue a media career.
From the Western Gazette to Australia
With his school radio experience under his belt, a 16-year-old Oli reached a bigger audience when helping his father cover the Burghley Horse Trials. These efforts led to further radio work covering the Land Rover G4 Challenge and British Touring Car Championships. Upon leaving school, Oli bolstered his CV with brief spells at the Western Gazette and Racing Post.
At 18, Oli joined Racing UK as an editorial assistant – a role towards the bottom of the ladder but one which provided the young broadcaster with a foot in the door. Slowly working his way up, Oli was handed his first live reporting role at Salisbury at the age of 22.
Looking back on that early effort, Oli reflects, “I was terrible, to be honest, absolutely awful. I remember blinking lots, talking too quickly, and you almost forgot to breathe in a way. You forget the basics, and it was eye-opening. I got in the car thinking I’d absolutely nailed it, when actually I was awful.”
Despite that negative self-assessment, Oli was soon catching the eye of broadcasters around the world. Soon after that debut Salisbury appearance, he landed a role with Sky Racing World in Australia, for whom he covered UK racing for two and a half years.
Return to the UK and Landing ITV Role
Having honed his skills in Australia, Oli returned to the UK as a more polished presenter. Immediately landing a contract with his former employers, Racing UK, he soon became a frequent member of the channel’s presenting line-up.
Oli’s biggest break then came in 2016, when he accepted an offer to become a part of the new ITV Racing team. Having watched The Morning Line as a youth, Oli was chosen to present the new ITV equivalent, The Opening Show, in addition to his roles as a co-presenter and roving reporter at the biggest meetings of the year.
Good fun on The Opening Show this morning with Matt, Richard and Mick. Looking forward to a brilliant renewal of the Betfair Chase live on @itv from 1.30 today! I’m tipping Might Bite, who do you think will win?? @itvracing #itvracing pic.twitter.com/AwzrPXX38n
— Oli Bell (@olibellracing) November 24, 2018
During his time at ITV, Oli has displayed his versatility and love of sport while covering darts, boxing, snooker, and FA Cup ties.
Oli Bell: Poker Player, Boxer, and Documentary Maker
A man of many talents, Oli Bell is particularly proficient at the poker table. Picking up the game during the poker boom in the early 2000s, he experienced success online and later spent a year on the pro circuit. During his time at the felt, Oli has picked up a series of big wins, including an £83,500 payday at the UK Poker Championships.
Oli’s other interests include life as a long-suffering Yeovil Town supporter. As painful as it is to follow The Glovers, his most bruising sporting experience came when taking part in a charity boxing match in 2018. With his original opponent pulling out, Bell was left to face a more experienced fighter. Despite a valiant effort, the bout left Oli defeated, bruised, and with a broken nose. Nevertheless, the fight raised £2,000 for charity, and the battered presenter stated he would happily do it again.
While proud of his career and poker wins, Bell highlights his work with Khadija Mellah as one of his greatest achievements. The first hijab-wearing jockey to ride in and win a competitive race in Britain, Mellah was the subject of a 2019 documentary in which Bell was heavily involved. Following Mellah’s success in the Magnolia Cup, the documentary won the Best British Short Film award at the British Documentary Film Festival. The attention received laid the foundations for the launch of the Riding a Dream Academy, which provides a route into racing for young people from diverse backgrounds.
When not hitting the headlines for his poker and boxing exploits, Bell is regularly in the news for his romantic endeavours. He has previously dated Australian jockey Kathy O’Hara and, most famously, enjoyed a two-year relationship with fellow ITV Racing presenter Francesca Cumani.