Television presenter and Strictly Come Dancing winner Ore Oduba has opened up about a distressing online scam that left him feeling “like a fool,” after he was tricked by someone impersonating best-selling self-help author and podcast host Mel Robbins.
In a six-minute video shared on Instagram, the 39-year-old emotionally recounted how his admiration for Robbins made him especially vulnerable to the hoax.
Oduba described how what began as a dream opportunity quickly turned into a harrowing ordeal.
A long-time fan of Robbins, whose book The Let Them Theory Oduba credits with changing his life, he had discussed its influence during an appearance on Loose Women.
Following the broadcast, he reshared the interview on social media and tagged Robbins in the post.
Shortly afterwards, Oduba received an email purportedly from Robbins and her team, thanking him and asking him to elaborate on how her work had impacted him.
The message appeared legitimate at first, but Oduba later admitted there were early red flags he had missed.
“Had I been wise enough,” he said, “I would have seen there were a couple of things that were a little bit off.”
“It just felt very powerful to have got that message at that time,” he said, holding back tears. “I lost my s**t in tears on an Avanti West Coast train from Birmingham to London, thinking that my whole life was about to change.”
Encouraged by what he believed to be a genuine invitation, he began to open up over email and shared deeply personal stories. However, things started to feel off when the sender urged him to keep the invitation confidential.
Oduba began to notice subtle discrepancies—like “Mel” being spelt as “Mell,” and a generic, AI-like tone in the language used.
Suspicious, he investigated further and discovered a scam warning section on Mel Robbins’ official website. There, he was able to confirm that he had fallen victim to an impersonation scam, one designed to exploit fans and public figures alike.
The revelation was a hard blow for Oduba, who had previously hosted Claimed and Shamed, the BBC programme that exposed fraudsters.
Reflecting on the irony, he said, “I’ve watched enough Watchdog to last a lifetime. That doesn’t stop me from being in the middle of it.”
He added, “I never thought I would be a person who would be scammed. I just feel like such an idiot.”
Using his platform, Oduba issued a heartfelt warning to others—particularly more vulnerable people—about how convincing scams like this can be and how quickly someone can “dig themselves into holes they can’t get out of.”
Support poured in from followers and fellow celebrities. Presenter Sean Fletcher wrote: “So sorry to hear this, Ore. I was excited and then so gutted for you listening to this. Important to share your story. Hope you’re ok.”
Another follower, Amandakbarnfield, commented: “Huge props for sharing this – it will hugely help so many people.” Meanwhile, yviemck1978 praised Oduba’s honesty: “Very brave to have shared this and very noble to have done so to warn others. That’s the biggest takeaway from this.”
“There was one point at the end of last year where I had no work lined up for the whole of 2025,” he told The Sun, before landing a role in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. “Up until that point, I was unemployed for all of 2025. It’s just quite terrifying.”
He added that life as a freelancer is filled with uncertainty: “If you’re holding out for something and you haven’t got that big chunk taken up, it just looks freaking empty. So, we’ve gotten very fortunate to have panto.”
Editing by M10News Entertainment Desk | Contact: entertainment@m10news.com
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