Chris Hollins

Information

Biography

From Watchdog to Strictly, from the World Cup to the Olympics, Chris Hollins is recognised as one of television's most popular and versatile sports, news and factual entertainment presenters. Chris is probably best known for being the runaway winner of Strictly Come Dancing 2009; the only contestant to never be in the dance-off and he took part in the Strictly tour in 2010. His iconic Charleston routine was featured in a countdown of the show's 25 most memorable dances in the Strictly Christmas Special, as voted for by the public. Chris remains a regular guest on the Strictly spin-off show It Takes Two. Chris currently hosts and produces his series Golf's Greatest Holes, which is shown by 36 broadcasters, including Sky Sports, Bloomberg and NBC Golf Pass; reaching 189 countries and 1.5 billion households. The first season of the popular six-part series followed Chris and former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley as they travelled around Ireland and Northern Ireland playing their favourite golf courses while taking in the beautiful Irish scenery. The second series based in Portugal premiered in April 2023. Both series are available to view on Sky Sports and on demand via NBC's GolfPass subscription service. In July 2020 Chris produced FORE, a series for Sky Sports Golf presented by Tour star Tommy Fleetwood, featuring golf's funniest videos. He regularly hosts his own shows on BBC Radio Berkshire and previously co-presented the BBC's flagship consumer rights series Watchdog as well as outdoors gems like Secret Britain for BBC One. Chris was the main sports reporter for BBC Breakfast from October 2005 to March 2012, on air Monday to Thursday mornings as well as a regular co-host of the show. In Summer 2012 he was back on the breakfast sofa co-hosting Olympic Breakfast for BBC One during the London 2012 Olympic Games. Prior to Breakfast, Chris was sports presenter for BBC News 24 and also reported for Grandstand and Football Focus. He began his career at Sky Sports in 1994, followed by spells at Channel One, GMTV, Meridian and Channel 5. His previous presenting credits for BBC One include The One Show, Food Inspectors, Real Rescues, Cash In The Attic, Dirty Tricks Of The Tradesmen and The Great British Weather. He has hosted history series Find My Past for Yesterday and BBC Two's arts series Show Me The Monet. Chris was part of the BBC's presentation team covering The Royal Wedding and several of The Diamond Jubilee events, live for BBC One. He has also participated in Celebrity Antiques Road Trip for BBC Children In Need and took part in Sport Relief's Top Dog for BBC Two with his pet dog Winnie, where they stole the show! Chris was a main presenter for BT Sport (now TNT Sports) for a number of years, having hosted live coverage of the Women's Hockey World Cup, the Men's Hockey World League Semi-Finals and previously hosted the FIH Hockey Champions Trophy, the Singha Premiership Rugby 7s Series, Aviva Premiership Rugby, BT Sport Score, SportsHUB, Moto GP and Boxing Tonight. A talented sportsman from an early age, Chris played youth football for QPR and Aldershot. His father, the late great John Hollins MBE, was the former Chelsea, Arsenal, QPR & England footballer and manager of Chelsea and also Swansea FC. After graduating from Tonbridge School in 1989, he attended the University of Durham and later Oxford University where he gained Blues in both cricket and football. He took part in Sky One's The Match, playing a full 90 minutes on the celebrity side. Chris is a keen golfer, playing off a seven handicap and is President of The Oxfordshire Golf Club, close to his home in Henley-on-Thames. In July 2021, he won the Celebrity Pro-Am at the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship at Formby, amassing 46 Stableford points to secure his place in the Grand Final in Mauritius at the end of the year. Chris has appeared in a cameo role as a newsreader in the feature film Run Fat Boy Run; an experience that he thoroughly enjoyed.