Blue Peter's Radzi Chinyanganya Blue Peter

I started on Blue Peter nearly three months ago

and it has been absolutely incredible.

Today we're going behind the scenes to find out more about me,

like the fact that when I was a kid there's nothing I loved more

than to get all my mates round and have a big wrestling match

in my front garden, which my mum loved.

She didn't love, she hated it. Or the fact that, once upon a time,

I celebrated a goal that Arsenal scored by jumping off a chair

and then I broke my arm. Or the fact that, a few years ago,

people used to often confuse me as Aston from JLS.

Director's chair. It doesn't happen much any more.

Aston?

This show is a Radzi rollercoaster! First up, sport.

You'll get to find out what happened

when I met young sports stars from up and down the country,

who've all been nominated to be

Young Sports Personality of Year.

You'll see me hurtle down a skeleton bobsleigh track

at up to 70 miles an hour.

You'll also get to meet my family.

They are a mix of Zimbabwe and Scotland and, to me,

they're ace. And all that's coming up on today's show.

Today is a bit different because I'm going to give you

a guided backstage tour of the Blue Peter studio.

This is where the bosses sit, so I'm going to get out of here.

About 50 people work behind the scenes making Blue Peter happen.

For example, the lady in the check shirt there is the floor manager.

She helps keep me, Lindsey and Barney in line.

You've got a camera team, in charge of the cameras.

Behind that is Emma, she's in charge of all the design.

The awesome design on the set you see, that's all down to her.

She's really, really cool. But what actually happens on the show day?

Well, it's time to find out.

Wakey-wakey!

Rise and shine!

Morning. Welcome to Blue Peter. Time for make-up.

'Oops! It's often an early start for everyone when you're filming

'or on a studio day, so a power nap is sometimes necessary.'

Just two more minutes? No. OK.

'But we've got to dust off our sleepy eyes and get to read through,

'where we practise the day's script.'

It's all coming up on today's Blue Peter.

'And watch the films.'

'A recurring injury has come back to haunt me.'

'Time for a quick change and then make-up.'

Ta-dah!

We come in and we have make-up done very first thing.

Lindsey's takes absolutely ages,

Barney's takes ages and mine takes about 30 seconds.

See? Told you.

All done. Thanks, Claire.

Well, now that I'm made up, I'm ready to go live.

I'm also ready for any challenges that Blue Peter can throw at me.

I used to do a sport called skeleton bobsleigh.

It's fast, it's furious and it's pretty frightening.

And the Blue Peter bosses have challenged me to give it another go.

Oh, my goodness, my heart is absolutely pounding.

Oh!

And it's this that's got my blood pumping.

Skeleton bobsleigh,

a sport where competitors hurdle headfirst

down a twisty course of ice at speeds of up to 90mph,

with their chin just a few centimetres from the track.

It might sound scary, well, actually, it is,

but there's no bigger rush.

How do I know that? That's because, once upon a time, that was me.

I used to train for skeleton bobsleigh when I was at university

and, ultimately, I dreamt of going to the Winter Olympic Games.

And I've never lost my love of that phenomenal sport.

As a student, I trained here in Bath on the push-start track,

the only one of its kind in the country.

I was pretty good at skeleton bobsleigh,

but there's only so much you can learn on concrete.

To slide on ice, you need to head for the mountains.

Just outside of the Austrian city of Innsbruck

is the Eagles Olympic Sliding Centre,

almost a mile of high-speed ice track.

Three years ago it was my dream to come here with the GB team.

That didn't happen for me.

But today I'm going to get the chance to slide that very track.

I'm linking up with Team GB's Talent Squad

who are training for the start of the skeleton season.

But before they'd even consider allowing me

to make a full run of the track,

I had to prove that I still remembered the basic sliding skills.

So they sent me off to make a short, slow run

from near the bottom of the track,

steering, tackling corners

and trying to show that I wasn't as rusty as I felt.

Having done that, the man overseeing my run from the top of the track

and helping keep me safe is British skeleton ice coach Mark Wood.

Mark's taking me on a walk of the track

so that I'm familiar with its every bend and bump.

You'll feel these little waves, nothing to worry about.

You're going to feel it want to go.

That's OK, don't worry about it, it's fine.

Making you aware what could possibly go wrong,

and what could possibly go right as well. I appreciate that.

This is a big, massive left-hander, yeah?

So, as you go into it, it's just like punching.

We're not going to punch, we're going to punch with our shoulder,

we're going to punch into the sled.

'One of Mark's coaching techniques is to encourage sliders

'to visualise the course in their minds,

'helping commit every twist and turn to memory.'

Big corner two.

Down almost immediately into three.

Coming into four.

Small corner five.

Yeah. Six is just there.

Feel the first pressure, shoulder down. Release as it comes off.

Squeeze this pressure and then just let it come out.

By this point I'll be going at 30 or 40 kilometres an hour.

I'm going to have a lot of speed. There's a lot to think about.

'Then as we reach corner nine of the track,

'Mark points out THE danger area of the course.'

The key to get through and down the track is right here.

'If I'm going to run into trouble, it's going to be at corner nine.'

If you do get spilled off the sled,

you've got to try and keep a hold of the sled.

If you lose the sled, push it away from you and keep tight in.

The reason we're pushing the sled away from us

is so that it's accelerating and we're slowing down.

'Skeleton sleds hurtle down the track at incredible speed,

'steered only by the shoulder movements of people riding them

'and with no brakes.

'So when things do go wrong, they go very wrong.'

Oh, my goodness! That hurt.

'Thankfully, this Olympic slider wasn't badly injured.

'But my safety on the track

'will depend on me remembering exactly what Mark has taught me.'

OK? If you don't get anything else on this track apart from this,

that's all I'm really worried about, is this part. OK. All right?

He's going to be nervous.

He hasn't been on a sled for quite a while, right?

It's all going to be brand-new to him again.

You've got to imagine you're two inches off the ice,

your face is really, really close and you're going to be doing about 60mph.

And we can't guarantee anything. Once he's gone, he's on his own.

If anything goes wrong, he's got to get out of it himself.

Not many people choose to take up this sport.

It's fast, it's furious and dangerous.

And that's exactly why it first appealed to me.

But, at this moment in time, I'm not so sure.

There's a huge part of me that's actually scared.

I haven't done this for a very, very long time

and just crossing that finish line is going to be an exhilaration

that's going to be off the charts.

But, to be honest with you, number one is be safe.

But I can't think about that too much,

because that actually really does make me scared.

Now it's my turn.

I am about to go the same speed as a car on the motorway,

except I'm going face-first down the ice.

After just a couple of hundred metres, I'm really picking up pace.

Before I know it, I'm hurtling round the longest bend in the course.

And, once I'm clear of that,

I'm approaching THE danger corner ` corner nine.

And I'm through, on the sled and in one piece.

Now I'm on the home straight and I'm absolutely loving it.

Oh, my goodness.

Yes! Yes!

On the top of that run, I was thinking to myself,

"Am I going to do this?"

"Come on, Radzi! Come on, Radzi! Let's do it, let's do it!"

And I am so pleased I just did that.

Oh, my goodness, my heart is absolutely pounding.

I actually loved that. Oh, that was so good.

HE SIGHS DEEPLY

That was absolutely off the charts.

Thank you so much to everyone at GB Skeleton.

Without them, none of it would have been possible.

Particularly the coach, Mark Wood, he's a legend and, without him,

I don't think I'd have had the courage to go down there.

You may notice we're in the Blue Peter office.

One of the best things about being a Blue Peter presenter

is finding out about you at home.

We do that through lovely photos, stories and letters you send us.

And I absolutely love finding Radzi post.

Let's see what it is.

Oh, look at that.

They've made me my very own badge.

I'll tell you what, I'm going to wear that. Thank you.

Do you know what,

one of the very best things about being a Blue Peter presenter

is having post sent in from you at home.

I love it so much, so thank you and please keep it coming in.

If you want to find out how you can contact the show

or, more importantly,

how you can get your hands on your very own Blue Peter badge,

then just jump on to our website:

I think I've said this before, but I'm going to say it again.

I love sport. Actually, I know you at home do as well.

Over 5,000 of you applied for the brand-new sport badge.

You can imagine, therefore, how honoured I was when I was asked

to be on the panel for Young Sports Personality of the Year.

It has been another huge year for sport

and the nominations for the Young Sports Personality of the Year

have been flooding in.

I've been lucky enough to be part of a panel

who are going to determine the final three contenders.

Then there will be a secret ballot which will determine the winner,

who won't be announced until the Sports Personality of the Year

ceremony taking place live in Leeds.

We've got a tough job on our hands.

Let's get started.

I'm looking for

somebody who goes over and beyond being an amazing sportsperson.

We got 50 contenders to choose from.

That will go down to 10, then 3

and then our eventual winner.

If you look at the headlines, world, Europe, medal.

That's, for me, the bottom line.

I was honoured to be part of the panel. I was privileged, you know?

But it's tough to get it down to just the one person you want to win.

Jess, definitely, 100%.

I think there's lots of different criteria

of what makes someone a great young sports person.

All the people we're looking at

have won all sorts of national and international competitions.

For this year I think it's been a very, very strong year.

To go down to 10 contenders is very difficult, never mind three.

We're down to our three, then.

So we have

an athlete, a shooter and a golfer.

It's a real honour to be part of this year's panel, to be honest.

Hopefully we'll all agree on a worthy winner.

So, that's it.

The votes have been cast

and are sealed inside the envelope of destiny. I am so excited!

The winner will be announced live

on the Sports Personality of the Year ceremony.

But we can't wait until then.

We're here. The very first Sports Personality of the Year

took place way back in 1954, but that was in London.

This year's star-studded event is here in Leeds

and the capacity audience is over 12,000 people.

It really is set to be some celebration.

The atmosphere is really beginning to hot up.

Sadly, I'm not lucky enough to get to walk down the red carpet myself.

But I am going to get to meet those that are.

It's been another top, top year for British sport,

so I'm really happy just to be one of the nominees.

To be here, and to enjoy that

and experience all of these wonderful achievements, very proud.

It's always fun celebrating British sport,

so I'm sure it's going to be amazing.

I'm so excited. It's a dream come true.

As a kid, I watched it on TV and was, like, I'll be in that room one year.

How important is sport for children?

I think it's very important.

First of all, being involved in sport teaches people discipline.

For this year, Young Sports Personality of the Year,

there are three nominated girls.

What do you think that means for them?

I'm sure it means the absolute world.

I think it's nice to see more women involved.

Are you nervous? Maybe a little bit.

But I'm enjoying the whole experience.

It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so I'm just making the most of it.

To win it is really special, but to be nominated is saying,

what you've achieved this year is amazing.

It's just absolutely amazing.

I didn't even know I was going to be nominated in the 10.

So to have made the three is just surreal.

So I'm just happy to be here.

I'm not just here to watch.

I've got an important job to do as a seat filler.

That means when people leave their seats to collect awards,

I'll fill them in,

so that the arena audience

always looks full to the viewers at home.

But I'm not allowed to take the Blue Peter team with me. So...

We have a button-cam...

..and we have a hand-held cam.

And who are we going to meet? I'm very excited to find out.

The arena is full and I'm nervously waiting to fill my first seat.

Here we go.

Let's start with the rugby union and the Six Nations.

Oh, there I am!

And again!

Could you just wave to Blue Peter?

I'm enjoying my retirement.

'Oh, look, it's me!' Thanks very much.

So, I'm backstage waiting for the announcement

of Young Sports Personality of the Year 2013.

We know the top three, but the question is,

which of those outstanding sportswomen

will be crowned the winner?

The 2013 Young Sports Personality is Amber Hill.

APPLAUSE

I really can't believe I've won this award

out of so many amazing athletes that were nominated for it.

Amber Hill, how are you feeling?

Absolutely amazing.

I never would have thought I'd get this award.

It's just incredible, really. I can't contain my excitement.

What went through your head when they said your name?

Everything, I was just so excited. My mum was like, "Well done!"

Going up was a bit scary, but I just loved the whole experience.

It was amazing.

Thank you so much and congratulations

to all of the other athletes that were nominated for this award.

There you have it. Young Sports Personality of the Year 2013,

Amber Hill.

Back in the studio, there's no time to waste.

We've got a live show to do.

So, in the studio it's always quite frenetic here.

The cameramen are sorting out their shots.

The sound men, they're sorting out our sound.

You can see we have microphone packs.

OK, guys. Listen up, please.

This is a secret. You shouldn't know this.

We all have inner earpieces to hear our bosses speak to us.

So when things go wrong, or things go right,

they speak to us through one of these.

If you ever see a presenter do this when speaking

it's probably because someone's speaking to them

and it's thrown their train of thought.

You can see Barney.

When he starts rubbing his hands and walking up and down,

that means he's going through his script.

'We're nearly ready to go live.

'Now it's time to head off to see another important person

'who works behind the scenes.'

This is dubbing mixer Mike.

Mike has the coolest sound desk in the world. Hit it, Mike.

Certainly, look at that.

Look at that! I absolutely love that.

As well as making cool things light up and move,

the dubbing mixer also listens into the studio

to make sure the sound isn't too loud or too quiet.

When we're on the road and we film one of our stories

and you hear a voice like a narrator,

that's what we do right here. Cue Radzi!

While I crack on here, I think it's time

to find out a little bit more about me.

My family are an enormous part of my life.

They are brilliant and they have always been there for me.

Let's go meet them.

Hi, Radzi how are you? Yeah, good, Mum.

'This is my mum. She's from Dundee in Scotland.

'And, do you know what? She never tells me off.

'She only has to give me one of her looks

'and I know I'm in trouble.

VIOLINS SCREECH

'This is my sister and she's the trendy one in our family.

'She studies fashion in London

'and she's the one who knows how to tame my big hair.

'Time for the family photos.

'Cute or embarrassing? I'll leave that one up to you.

'Enough now!'

That is my dad on my very first sports day at school.

He came second. He's pretty cool.

'My dad was born in a country called Zimbabwe.

'He was the first person in his family to leave the country

'and he came to university in England to study.

'He gave me my love of sport,

'especially his favourites, tennis and athletics.'

My mum and dad don't actually live together any more

but he doesn't live far away, so I still see him pretty regularly.

Another big part of me is where I'm from, and that's Wolves,

or, if you're going to be proper, Wolverhampton.

I have some brilliant memories of this place.

It's my local tennis club, it's the place I had my first job

and then I went on to become a tennis coach.

First ball in eight years.

Still got it!

This is my old school.

I loved this place!

'I'm back to have a look around

'and see if any of my old teachers are still here. There's Mr Latter.'

You've done really well. Thank you very much, sir.

And I remember this guy.

Mr Jones was my design and technology teacher

when my school team won the Young Engineer of Britain Award

when I was only 17.

We have a few problems getting to the ceremony, though.

Remember we were about three or four hours late?

'Mr Jones chose me to pitch our car simulator device

'because he said I was good at presenting ideas.

'Looks like you made a good choice there, Mr Jones,

'as I am now a presenter!

'I've wanted to be a Blue Peter presenter since I was about 10.

'And you know how you sign each other's homework diaries

'with messages when you leave primary school?

'I asked people if they wanted me to sign my autograph

'so they could sell it once I became a famous Blue Peter presenter.

'But not many of them took me up on my offer.'

Now I actually am a Blue Peter present, people sometimes want it.

'It was a long journey to my dream job, though.

'I started out dressing up as a lion to be a mascot called Spike

'for UK Athletics and first started presenting at university.'

He's a clever parrot, this one.

'I presented for KISS FM

'and, combining my love of sport and telly,

'when I was 21 I appeared on Gladiators ` and won!'

He's got there, he's got there! He's won it against all the odds!

'2013 was a big year for me when I made it onto the CBBC screens

'presenting Wild, Match of the Day Kickabout

'and then I finally landed my dream job.

Hi, guess what? It's Radzi's first show.

Yes, it is. I really could not be much more excited.

'So, how do you make a Radzi?

'Well, you just need a dash of Scotland, a pinch of Zimbabwe,

'a massive splodge of awesome family,

'a sprinkling of sport

'and, of course, a centre of pure Blue Peter.

'So, that's me and my family.

'But I've also made some really good friends since I started Blue Peter.'

I feel like I've known Lindsey and Barney for years.

That might be due to the fact that we spent

nearly 14 hours together in a car for our first adventure.

That adventure was stone skimming and it was worth it.

Welcome to your first film on Blue Peter.

You know about this show's history, it is an incredible place to be,

and it gives you the chance to do some incredible things.

Yes, you can do massive challenges, meet amazing people,

do things you wouldn't do anywhere else. So, today...

We have brought you to the Inner Hebrides, Scotland,

and we have enrolled ourselves into a world championship sport.

World Championships? I'm not that good at football, you know.

Is it rugby, athletics?

BOTH: Stone skimming.

Yes, that's right, we are at the Stone Skimming World Championship,

which takes place once a year on the tiny Easdale Island.

Competitors travel from all over the world to take part

in this fun and friendly competition.

So we're here to take part and, who knows,

maybe one of us could become a world champion?

I'll be absolutely honest, I know nothing about stone skimming.

But look where we are. We are in the centre of the stone skimming world.

There are stones, there's water, perfect conditions

for a stone skimming championships.

We're just about ready.

If we stand a chance we should go and split up. Good idea.

Let's do it.

I'm off to find the best stone to skim with an expert stone skimmer.

Nine-year-old John MacFadyen is going to show me

how to find the perfect stone.

It's got to fit around your finger.

OK, it's got to fit around your finger.

Each stone used must be no bigger than three inches in diameter.

Try not to be too light or too heavy. Just in the middle.

If it's too heavy it's just going to plonk into the water, isn't it?

We've got a perfect stone. Radzi, what are we going to do with it?

Well, that's the stone, but how do you throw it?

My stone skimming expert is John's older brother, Alan.

Alan, could you give me some advice on how to throw these bad boys?

Go right down. Hold you hand up and release. And release? OK.

'Right then, Radzi. Get low, aim far and release.

'I think I'm going to need some more practice. Yes, you are, mate.

While you do that, I'm going to check out the competition.

People from all over the world travel to take part

but nobody has travelled further than Japanese TV star Festival Man.

You can get a really good distance on this competition.

This arm, very strong? Yeah. OK. Any tips on what to do?

Best of luck, thank you very much. Good luck.

A couple more practice throws and it's competition time.

Everyone gets three throws each and it has to skim at least three times.

The further you throw the better, because it's all about distance.

That's got to be it, hasn't it? Definitely three bounces.

So, it's Team Blue Peter. First up is Lindsey. Good luck.

First throw. Not bad!

Yes, that's one, I haven't failed. OK, here we go.

I think I'm getting the hang of this.

OK, two down.

Yes! Saved my best till last.

Not bad, I didn't fail.

So, my best throw was 19 metres.

But could the boys do any better?

Next up, it's Barney.

It's a big pressure gig, isn't it?

Quite a lot of skims, but not very far.

We can get further than that.

Oh, that was a good one.

OK, this is it.

Yes, yes, yes! It's a monster!

That'll do. That looked quite far.

Oh, yes. Rescued it on his last throw. 30 metres, I am well chuffed.

Now it's my turn.

Boom! Take a look at that.

I know we can go further, come on.

Oh, no! Go on!

This is the one, let's hear it!

CHEERING

No, no...

That was bad.

I also got 30 metres, so it's a draw between me and Barney.

OK, so none of us won the competition.

The winning distance was a massive 65 metres.

But we're proud of what we achieved and, most of all,

we had a great time.

Well, what a day it's been, half an hour of Radziness.

I hope you now know a little bit more about me.

But that's enough from me, isn't it?

It's now time to find out what's coming up next week's show.

Lindsey and Barney meet the awesome Pentatonix

to tackle beatboxing and singing a cappella.

# Video killed the radio star... #

And I'll be meeting astronaut Chris Hadfield,

who'll be answering all of your astronauting questions.

# Milking with Jedward Milking with Jedward... #

If we feed the cow chocolate, will it produce chocolate milk?

They've got big hair and even bigger personalities.

Yes, it's the terrible twosome Jedward

and they're going to be here on next week's show. See you then!