Image credit: DreamHack/Adela Sznajder
British esports talent Frankie Ward has spoken about her ambitions to host the popular Dota 2 event, The International (TI).
She was speaking to Dan Offen as part of his Dota 2-focused Position Six Podcast.
“There are two things I’d love to do this year,” Frankie said. “Counter-Strike may have its first major in over a year, so I’d like to do that. That would be the PGL Major that will hopefully take place in October or November.
“And I’d love to do TI. That’s such a big deal and I’d love to be able to say ‘I’ve achieved that’.
“The great thing about TI is you have your Dota talent among the best in the business, and you have other people come in, like Day[9] and Machine. So I feel like being invited to do that would show that I’m seen as one of the best at what I do.
“I did Gamers Without Borders, so I interviewed several different teams about the event. That’s the only Dota [work] I’ve done. I want to get to know the game and do a good job. It seems like a fun game community and I can totally get on board with that.”
Frankie is a well-known host that has worked at a number of tournaments in different games, from Intel Extreme Masters to DreamHack, the Overwatch League, League of Legends and more. And it seems that she’d like to get involved in Dota 2 more now, partly due to its community.
“The great thing about TI is you have your Dota talent among the best in the business, and you have other people come in, like Day[9] and Machine. So I feel like being invited to do that would show that I’m seen as one of the best at what I do.”
Frankie Ward
“Since I’ve said I wanted to do Dota, I have had people in the Dota talent scene told me they’d be up for helping me,” Frankie explained.
“It’s such a nice group of people, who I’ve shared a green room with in the past, and that kind of thing feels me with joy. I can learn to love any game, and Dota is obviously much more complicated to learn than other things, but I want to play it and get more involved.”
She also spoke about League of Legends, saying she doesn’t know if she’d ever get to work at Worlds “because that’s obviously a huge event as well”. But did say that the first esports event she went to was Worlds (at Wembley in 2015), and that it was “magic”.
But don’t worry, CSGO fans, all this talk of Dota doesn’t mean she’s leaving CSGO behind.
“I really do love Counter-Strike, the players and the teams,” Frankie said. “I think they have such compelling stories and I get to see their highest and lowest moments, and that’s a privilege. When I’m not doing it, I miss it.”
Frankie also revealed that she worked at more than 25 events altogether in 2019 and spent seven months away from home. She also spoke about her transition from the BBC to Twitch to what she’s doing now as a host in esports.
You can listen to the full Position Six Podcast here, as highlighted by JoinDota on Twitter, and follow Frankie Ward and Dan Offen here
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
