Riaan Venter-Garforth is a South African television presenter best known for hosting his own DIY shows, Die Nutsman and DIY Met Riaan, on SABC2.
Born in Cape Town, Riaan grew up in Worcester where he completed his schooling at the Technical High School Drostyd.
He went on to do four years of study for his HDE after which he spent eight years teaching woodwork and technical drawing at a high school.
He then spent time teaching at a special needs school, owned two restaurants and ran a woodwork company.
After an introduction to the world of the media through the Oudtshoorn Arts Festival he started building sets for magazine shoots.
He then moved to Cape Town and started his own set building company, building sets for international commercials and local television productions.
A friend at Visi Magazine then discovered Riaan for a show called Ou Lap se Rooi on kykNET. Here Riaan worked with Annemarie Meintjies who asked him to be the handyman on the show Huis Huis on SABC2 where he hosted a regular insert.
Riaan and Clive Morris of Clive Morris Productions realised the potential of producing a DIY programme with Riaan as the host. From an idea, to 96 episodes later, Die Nutsman was born.
Riaan also hosts a children’s programme on Tube (SABC 2) called Iketsetse where he shows children how to do arts and craft and simple woodwork projects by themselves.
Riaan was one of eight celebrities to dance in Strictly Come Dancing II. He and his partner
Hayley Hammond won the competition.
He was the co-host (with
Vanessa Jansen) of the SABC2 reality competition series Our House, which premiered on the channel on 29 August, 2008.
In 2011 she starred in the green consumerism show Greenline, on SABC3.
He currently lives Johannesburg with his wife
Michelle Garforth and two daughters.
