Ninja Warrior host Ben Fordham steps down to focus on radio show

Ben Fordham will leave his role as the host of Australian Ninja Warrior to focus on hosting his hugely successful radio show on 2GB.

After five seasons, host Ben Fordham is hanging up his Ninja Warrior microphone.

The radio and television personality has decided to pull stumps on the reality show to focus primarily in his top ­rating breakfast radio show on 2GB.

“I am not going to be hosting Australian Ninja Warrior going forward because I found that it placed so much pressure on my family and on the breakfast show,” Fordham told Confidential. “I’ve decided that it would be better for me just to focus on the main game, which is breakfast radio. For the sake of my mental fitness and also my family, I think it is better to call it a day on Ninja Warrior and focus on radio.”

Rebecca Maddern and Ben Fordham on the set of Ninja Warrior Australia.

Fordham however remains part of the Nine family and will continue to appear on the network, where he has worked for 22 years. In that time, he has also appeared on Today, A Current Affair and 60 Minutes.

He has co-hosted Ninja Warrior alongside Rebecca Maddern since the format premiered here in 2017.

His departure from Ninja Warrior leads Confidential to suggest AFL legend Shane Crawford will be promoted into the hosting role.

“I think my listeners deserve my full attention,” Fordham said. “And that is difficult when you’ve been up all night drinking coffee and Red Bull and screaming your lungs out for six hours straight and then turning up at the radio studio having not slept and doing three and a half hours of live radio.”

Ben Fordham pictured at home with his three kids, Marigold, 2, Pearl, 5 and Freddy 6. Picture: David Swift

2GB radio host Ben Fordham in his Sydney studio. Picture: John Feder

The father of three took over from industry veteran Alan Jones on 2GB breakfast in June last year.

It has been a huge 18 months with Fordham winning all but one survey when in July he briefly slipped behind Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Hendersonon KIIS. Earlier this month, in the sixth survey results of the year, Fordham pushed forward by a long shot with an impressive 18.8 per cent leading share of breakfast.

“Everyone is out there having a go and occasionally someone else is going to have a win and I expect that will happen again at various points,” he said. “I am going to have to battle every day, every week, every month to convince my audience that they need to be listening to 2GB breakfast. I am more determined than ever to do that.”

Originally published as Ninja Warrior host Ben Fordham steps down to focus on radio show