British esports host and personality Frankie Ward is returning to the live event stage at the CSGO PGL Major in Antwerp next month.
She’s been on maternity leave since the latter part of 2021 and said on Twitter that she’s really excited to be back working at a live esports event as a stage host. She will also be conducting interviews and working on other content.
Frankie also opened up about the challenges of being away from work on maternity leave, and how some people have responded to this.
“I’m really excited to be in Belgium next month,” Frankie said on Twitter. “The line-up is amazing, but of course there are others who would be incredible to share it with. Something that feels unique to esports is the celebration of when people aren’t included and that seems unecessary.
“Even not being part of events due to birthing an actual human being has been difficult – most people who work in esports live and breathe it, so to have that part of you cut off is really difficult, and to then have people happy you aren’t can be even harder.
“Think before you tweet is simple advice and something I don’t always follow, so maybe it would be more precise to say, ‘think before you tweet about someone else’.”
Frankie joins a host of other top-tier esports talent at the Antwerp 2022 Major, which kicks off on May 9th.
Other British talent includes interviewer James Banks, desk host Freya (who was part of the 2021 PGL Major), casters Machine, JustHarry, Hugo Byron and Vince (who said earlier this year he would no longer be working with ESL following the Saudi deal), as well as observers Jak3y, ItsRandall, and Zarx.
Notably, Belgian host Sjokz is also on board at the CSGO event, in favour of League of Legends’ Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) which also takes place in May, in South Korea.
Sjokz commented:
Earlier this month, Sjokz returned to CSGO to host the PGL European RMR with James Banks.
Last year, Frankie won a Women in Games Award, worked on GamesMaster and received criticism at the Dota 2 International, with personalities like Moxxi and Richard Lewis sticking up for her.
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.
