Anneka needs a new challenge... here it is

CHALLENGE ANNEKA SATURDAYS, CHANNEL 5 AND MY5 hh

RACE ACROSS THE WORLD WEDNESDAYS, BBC1 AND BBC IPLAYER

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It’s fair to say shows like Race Across The World – in which five teams of two (far left) compete in a sort of mega Duke of Edinburgh challenge – owe a lot to Anneka Rice (near left) and her iconic 90s show. Challenge Anneka was appointment-toview TV and so different from anything that came before it.

Rice was dynamite, all silky blonde hair, cut-glass vowels and bags of enthusiasm, plus she looked excellent in a boiler suit. None of that has changed, but

I’m not sure Challenge Anneka isn’t one of those shows best left on a shelf marked ‘nostalgia’.

This remake feels knowingly retro for me, as though all the producers thought they had to do was dust off the original format and bingo. But given how reality TV has moved on, it’s not enough.

She’d have been better off presenting Race Across The World, which could do with an anchor. The teams must travel 16,000km in Canada without smartphones or credit cards and a finite amount of cash, in pursuit of a £20,000 prize for finishing first.

It’s the personal journeys that make it interesting – a father is trying to teach his spoilt daughter about the real world; one girl is coming to terms with losing her sight. All this while traversing a country where hitchhiking’s illegal (who knew?) and without modern accoutrements. If only they had Rice to help them...