Michael Absalom

Michael Absalom (born 13 April 1980), more commonly known as Abs, is a regular Presenter on CBBC from 2002 to 2006 and hosted CBBC shows Best of Friends, Xchange and Sportsround. Absalom now works as a Freelance Sports Commentator and Reporter for BBC Sport, Eurosport, Star Sports, Sky Sports and most recently BT Sport.

Biography
Born on 13 April 1980 in Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland, he has lived in many different areas including Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria; Rowlands Castle, Hampshire and the south west counties of Dorset and Somerset. He now lives in Twickenham, London. He was educated at Dumpton School and Millfield School.

CBBC
Absalom made his first appearance on the CBBC Channel in 2002, as the resident weatherman. However, his popularity meant that he soon became a regular presenter in the studio, and before long he was one of CBBC's leading presenters, presenting not only on the CBBC Channel but also making regular appearances on BBC Two and BBC One.

Other shows
His popularity on CBBC was furthered in the summer of 2003 when he and fellow presenter Anne Foy were chosen to host Britain's Amazing Mates, in which they toured the country attempting to find 'the best mates in Britain', involving games and activities. This was followed in 2004 by the show Best of Friends which he presented alongside fellow CBBC presenter Rani Price. This quickly became one of the most popular shows on CBBC and again highlighted his great natural talent as a children's presenter. In 2004, he left the CBBC studio a.k.a. The Broom Cupboard to present one of CBBC's leading shows, Xchange, on which – again – he achieved great success.

2005 saw another series of Best of Friends and also the chance of a lifetime, when Absalom and Rani Price filmed several episodes of the show in South Africa in honour of the BBC's "Africa Week".

Xchange came to an end in March 2006, and another series of Best Of Friends was filmed and screened. In 2008, Absalom appeared as a guest presenter on CBBC's Art show SMart and presented Sportsround from 2008 to 2009.

Absalom joined the Eurosport Alpine Ski World Cup commentary team at the start of the 2006/07 season, working alongside John Clark. He also played a key role in their Hockey commentary team, commentating on The Champions Trophy, The Indoor Hockey World Cup, various Olympic and World Cup qualifiers. Other commentary roles included Rugby (RBS 6 Nations 2010), Football (2010 World Cup Final and Euro 2012 Final).

In 2009, Absalom lead the commentary team on CBBC F1, a Formula One commentary stream dedicated to youngsters and newcomers to F1, hosted on the BBC's interactive TV service or "Red Button". In 2012, he hosted the 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay all around the UK, before going on to host the Olympic Hockey from the Riverbank Arena, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

In 2014 Absalom commentated on The Hockey World Cup Final in The Hague, Netherlands, before heading out to India with IMG to host "Hockey Hotshots" – a live studio based show providing analysis of the Hero Hockey India League on Star Sports.

In 2015 Absalom hosted Rugby World Cup 2015 (Brighton, Birmingham, Milton Keynes and Manchester) for Progress Productions. He also wrote and produced his own 9 part web series called 'Stormtrooper' – which explores his passion for Star Wars and documents his quest to become a Stormtrooper in the next Star Wars film. All episodes can be seen here: www.maybejustmaybe.co.uk Absalom also has a commercial string to his bow having appeared in several advertising campaigns including: Colgate, Furniture Village, and Nescafe.

In 2017 he is a presenter for Pro Kabaddi League in India.

Other roles
Michael, in 2008, starred in Aladdin in Malvern Malvern Theatres as 'Wishee Washee' Michael, in 2009, starred in Aladdin in Mansfield's Palace Theatre as 'PC Pong'. Michael, in 2010, starred in Peter Pan in Poole The Lighthouse as 'Smee' Michael, in 2011, starred in Aladdin in Middleton Middleton Arena as 'Aladdin'