Toby Anstis | |
|---|---|
 Radio DJ and TV presenter Toby Anstis in January 2007 | |
| Born | 14 December 1970 Northampton, Northamptonshire, England |
| Occupation(s) | Radio and television presenter |
| Employer | Global |
Toby Anstis (born 14 December 1970) is an English radio and television presenter. He is a presenter on Heart and spin-off station Heart Dance.[1]
Originally from Northampton, Anstis was educated at Desborough School, an all-boys school in Maidenhead, Berkshire. He graduated in psychology and business studies from the University of Surrey Roehampton.[2]
Toby was adopted along with his twin sister as a child; his biological father was Italian and his biological mother, Gina, was English. He only met his birth parents as an adult and has commented that he was 'lucky' to have good adoptive parents.[3]
Anstis began his career on BBC1's Broom Cupboard.[4] He was the show's last presenter and also spent three years on CBBC. He worked on the music show The O-Zone on BBC1 and BBC2, co-hosted Children in Need for two years running, presented cricket films for Grandstand, and hosted live outside broadcasts on National Lottery Live for the BBC.
Anstis also presented the first series of Trust Me I'm A Holiday rep on Channel 5, has won three episodes of Pointless on BBC1, hosted TV Scrabble, and guested on TV shows such as Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Take Away, Celebrity Egg Heads, and This Morning, as well as guest-starring in Mongrels on BBC2, and co-hosting a Celebrity Through the Keyhole with Keith Lemon and appearing in the spin-off show Lemon La Vida Loca.
In 2020, during the COVID-19 crisis, Anstis joined the supergroup The Celebs with Frank Bruno and X Factor winner Sam Bailey to raise money for both Alzheimer's Society and Action for Children. They recorded a new rendition of Merry Christmas Everyone by Shakin' Stevens and it was released digitally on 11 December 2020 on independent record label Saga Entertainment.[5][6]