Abi Griffiths is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 presenter

Presenter

A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...

. Having established herself as a sports presenter, she currently hosts 'Driving Wars' on the TV channel Dave

Dave

Dave may refer to:* Dave * Dave * Dave * Dave * DAvE , a C-language software development tool* Thursby DAVE, file- and printer-sharing software-See also:* Dangerous Dave, a computer game...

, as well as the England rugby programme 'O2 Inside Line' with Austin Healey

Austin Healey

Austin Sean Healey is a former English rugby union player, who played as a utility back for Leicester Tigers, and has represented the England national rugby union team and the British Lions....

.

Education

Griffiths was awarded a sports scholarship to the prestigious Millfield School, an independent school

Independent school

An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...

 in the village of Street

Street, Somerset

Street is a small village and civil parish in the county of Somerset, England. It is situated on a dry spot in the Somerset Levels, at the end of the Polden Hills, south-west of Glastonbury. The 2001 census records the village as having a population of 11,066...

 in Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

.
During her time at Millfield

Millfield

Millfield is an independent school in Street in Somerset, in south-west England.The school currently has a roll of 1,260 pupils, of whom 910 are boarders...

, Griffiths captained both the 'First 11' hockey team and the athletics squad, competed in the All England National Athletics Championships and represented the West of England in hockey. She went on to study at Loughborough University

Loughborough University

Loughborough University is a research based campus university located in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, in the East Midlands of England...

, graduating with a 2:1 BA Honours degree in Drama.

Life and career

After university, Griffiths travelled to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 prior to the Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 Olympics

Summer Olympic Games

The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event, occurring every four years, organized by the International Olympic Committee. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that...

. Once in Sydney, she enrolled in various broadcast training, whilst working as a personal trainer

Personal trainer

A personal trainer is a fitness professional involved in exercise prescription and instruction. They motivate clients by setting goals and providing feedback and accountability to clients. Trainers also measure their client's strengths and weaknesses with fitness assessments...

. Griffiths began her television career in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, guest presenting on Channel V

Channel V

Channel [V] is the brand name for multiple international music television networks owned by STAR TV and Fox International Channels, fully owned subsidiaries of News Corporation.-Channel [V] International:...

 as well as presenting lifestyle reports on The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel is a US cable and satellite television network since May 2, 1982, that broadcasts weather forecasts and weather-related news, along with entertainment programming related to weather 24 hours a day...

. She also had a small role on Home and Away

Home and Away

Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...

, before leaving for the UK.

UK

Griffiths accumulated over 1000 hours of live TV for channels, including Five US and Five LIVE.
She presented entertainment and Red Carpet

Red Carpet

Red Carpet is a software management tool for Linux that was developed as part of the Ximian desktop. Ximian and therefore Red Carpet is now owned by Novell....

 reports for Play.com

Play.com

Play Ltd., trading as Play.com, is a Jersey-based online retailer of DVDs, CDs, books, gadgets, video games, DRM-free MP3 downloads, and other electronic products, as well as clothes and accessories. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Rakuten Group....

 and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson also known as T P-T, is an English socialite, "it girl", television presenter, columnist and model...

's online magazine 'Three's a Crowd'. Her favourite experience was interviewing Dame Judi Dench

Judi Dench

Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...

, who showed off her dancing skills at the premiere of the West End musical Dirty Dancing

Dirty Dancing

Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American romantic film. Written by Eleanor Bergstein and directed by Emile Ardolino, the film features Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in the lead roles, as well as Cynthia Rhodes and Jerry Orbach...

.

Sports Presenting

In 2007 Griffiths' career took a right turn, when with 3 days notice, she jumped into the pits reporting for Sky Sports

Sky Sports

Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...

 on Speedway Elite League

Speedway Elite League

The Elite League is the top division of Speedway league competition in the United Kingdom and is governed by the Speedway Control Bureau , in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association . It is sponsored by Sky Sports...

. With her grandfathers advice (a Poole Pirates Speedway fan) she consumed herself in Speedway facts and figures before beginning the season's live coverage.

In the same year, she presented the FIA European Drag Racing

Drag racing

Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....

 Championship for Channel Five and Motors TV

Motors TV

Motors TV is a television channel dedicated to news, documentaries and coverage of motorsport and automobiles, and to a lesser extent motorbikes, boats, aircraft and models. It is available in many countries via satellite and cable, with audio in English, French, German and Serbian...

 (she has now hosted 5 series) as well the Extreme Sports Channel

Extreme Sports Channel

The Extreme Sports Channel is a Netherlands-based extreme sports television channel available across Europe and the Middle East. Al Gosling had the idea for the channel in 1998.-History:...

's all action flagship show Blood, Sweat and Gears

Blood, Sweat and Gears

Blood, Sweat and Gears is an Australian television series that airs on FOX8. It debuted on 18 January 2008, and is hosted by Scott McGregor, and judged by Ian Luff and Nathan Luck. In Season II, Luck was replaced with Samantha Stevens...

, covering everything from quad bikes to motocross

Motocross

Motocross is a form of motorcycle sport or all-terrain vehicle racing held on enclosed off road circuits. It evolved from trials, and was called scrambles, and later motocross, combining the French moto with cross-country...

.

Griffiths has presented a number of adrenaline based programmes for The Extreme Sports Channel

Extreme Sports Channel

The Extreme Sports Channel is a Netherlands-based extreme sports television channel available across Europe and the Middle East. Al Gosling had the idea for the channel in 1998.-History:...

, including The Red Bull X-Fighters

Red Bull X-Fighters

Red Bull X-Fighters are freestyle motocross motorbike stunt competitions contested in bullrings and similar venues. Alongside the X Games, they are the most prestigious and most challenging freestyle motocross competitions....

 showdown at Battersea power station as well as the extreme off-road challenge 'The Red Bull

Red Bull

Red Bull is an energy drink sold by the Austrian Red Bull GmbH, created in 1987 by the Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz. In terms of market share, Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the world, with 3 billion cans sold each year. Dietrich Mateschitz was inspired by an already...

 Weston Beach Race'.

In 2010, Griffiths was appointed the new face of Endemol

Endemol

Endemol is an international television production and distribution company based in the Netherlands, with subsidiaries and joint ventures in 23 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Poland,...

's 'Superleague Formula

Superleague Formula

Superleague Formula is an open wheel single seater motor racing formula, which started in 2008, at Donington Park in the United Kingdom. The league introduced team sponsorship by association football clubs. It goes by the saying 'The Beautiful Race: Football at 300 km/h'. By 2011 the link with...

' on ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

, a live motorsport championship featuring 12 rounds globally. Griffiths was the 'eyes and ears' of the pits, reporting live on the single-seater action as well as capturing behind-the-scenes footage for the Endemol

Endemol

Endemol is an international television production and distribution company based in the Netherlands, with subsidiaries and joint ventures in 23 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Poland,...

 spin-off magazine programme on ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

.
In 2011 she hosted Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

's Formula Ford

Formula Ford

Formula Ford is a single seater, open wheel class in motorsport which exists in some form in many countries around the world. It is an entry-level series to motor racing....

 Championship, whose past drivers include Jenson Button

Jenson Button

Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British...

 and David Coulthard

David Coulthard

David Marshall Coulthard, MBE, , sometimes known as DC, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland.Coulthard, who was born in Dumfries and raised nearby in Twynholm, made his Formula One debut in 1994 and won 13 Grands Prix in a career spanning 15 seasons...

.

Griffiths quoted her passion for unveiling the personal stories amid high-octane sports in the winter issue of Sport (magazine)

Sport (magazine)

Sport is a free French and London-based weekly sports magazine. It specialises in football, rugby, and tennis, together with handball in France and cricket in London...

. She has presented 'The MSA Muay Thai

Muay Thai

Muay Thai is a combat sport from Thailand that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. It is similar to other Indochinese kickboxing systems, namely pradal serey from Cambodia, tomoi from Malaysia, lethwei from Myanmar and muay Lao from Laos...

 Premier league', 'The Cage Wars

Cage Wars

The Cage Wars Championship is a UK-based mixed martial arts promotion started in 1999 to promote and teach the sport of MMA in the UK and Ireland...

 Championship', both for Sky Sports

Sky Sports

Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...

 and 'The Queensbury Boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 League' for Premier Sports

Premier Sports

Premier Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels, operated by the Luxembourg registered Premier Media S.à r.l., broadcasting in United Kingdom.-History:...

. As host of 'The National Sky Diving Championships' Griffiths jumped out of a plane from 15,000 feet and whilst in Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 reporting on winter sports, she partook in the ice-cross-downhill challenge Red Bull Crashed Ice.

Aside from extreme sports, Griffiths has presented Sky Sports

Sky Sports

Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...

 coverage of international Beach Volleyball

Beach volleyball

Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net.Like volleyball, the object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponent’s court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent....

, interviewing GB Olympic hopefuls Denise Johns

Denise Johns

Denise Johns is a professional beach volleyball player. She was born in Luxembourg, grew up in the USA, but competes for Great Britain.-Early life:...

 and Lucy Boulton as well as Equestrian sports including, The Dubai World Cup

Dubai World Cup

The Dubai World Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held annually since 1996 and from 2010 at the Meydan Racecourse in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates...

, alongside Channel 4's Alice Plunkett and The Landrover Burghley Horse Trials

Burghley Horse Trials

The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is an annual three day event held at Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, currently in early September...

, in which she interviewed Zara Phillips

Zara Phillips

Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips, MBE is the second child and only daughter of Princess Anne and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips and is 13th in the line of succession to the throne...

 and William Fox-Pitt

William Fox-Pitt

William Speed Lane Fox-Pitt , known as William Fox-Pitt, is an English equestrian. He has had notable successes at the Burghley, Badminton, Blenheim and Bramham Horse Trials...

.

In 2011, Griffiths branched out into more mainstream sports, presenting the England rugby programme 'O2Inside Line' with Austin Healey

Austin Healey

Austin Sean Healey is a former English rugby union player, who played as a utility back for Leicester Tigers, and has represented the England national rugby union team and the British Lions....

. During the course of the 3 series, she received a rugby training session with Shontayne Hape

Shontayne Hape

Shontayne Hape is a New Zealand-born rugby footballer, a dual-code rugby international. He plays rugby union at centre for London Irish and England. He has also previously played rugby league for the Bradford Bulls in Super League and New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby League...

 and Matt Banahan

Matt Banahan

Matthew Andrew Banahan is a Jerseyman who plays rugby union for Bath in the Aviva Premiership and England in international rugby union...

, played croquet with Mark Cueto

Mark Cueto

Mark John "Frank" Cueto is an English international rugby union player. He plays on the wing for Sale Sharks and England.-Biography:...

 and Ben Youngs

Ben Youngs

Benjamin Ryder Youngs is an English rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Leicester Tigers and England.-Background:...

 and took part in an archery shoot off with 2003 World Cup winner Mike Catt

Mike Catt

Michael John "Mike" Catt OBE is a South African-born former English rugby union footballer who played for London Irish and Bath. He earned 75 international caps for England and played in three World Cup Finals, in 1995, 2003 and 2007...

. She has also presented the live screen entertainment at Twickenham Stadium

Twickenham Stadium

Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...

 for the Emirates Rugby Sevens

Rugby sevens

Rugby sevens, also known as seven-a-side or VIIs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches. Rugby sevens is administered by the International Rugby Board , the body responsible for rugby union worldwide...

.

Griffiths crossed into entertainment, reviewing all things gadgets with Tim Lovejoy

Tim Lovejoy

Timothy Paul Lovejoy is a British television presenter most famous for hosting Saturday morning football programme Soccer AM alongside Helen Chamberlain for over a decade.- Career :...

 on [BBC2]]'s Something for the Weekend

Something for the weekend

Something for the Weekend was originally a euphemistic reference to a condom, and now may refer to:In television:* Something for the Weekend , a British programme mixing cooking, interviews, and general-interest clips...

 as well as hosting Dave

Dave

Dave may refer to:* Dave * Dave * Dave * Dave * DAvE , a C-language software development tool* Thursby DAVE, file- and printer-sharing software-See also:* Dangerous Dave, a computer game...

's extreme motoring gameshow 'Driving wars', alongside Colin Murray

Colin Murray

Colin Murray is a Northern Irish sports and music radio and television presenter. He is the current host of the BBC Television show Match of the Day 2 on BBC Two, and the BBC Radio 5 Live shows 5 Live Sport and Fighting Talk, as well as a show on BBC Radio Ulster. He has previously hosted regular...

.

Radio and Online

In 2010, Griffiths was a regular contributor on BBC London 94.9

BBC London 94.9

BBC London 94.9 is London's BBC Local Radio station, and part of BBC London. Broadcasting across Greater London and beyond on 94.9 FM, DAB, Virgin Media Channel 930, Sky Channel 0152 and also online...

, covering everything from motorcross to marathons. More recently, Griffiths guest presented on the live, online topical sports show 'Sports Tonight Live'.