Let’s face it, Challenge TV is pretty tacky. Repeats of old gameshows hosted by ageing second-rate celebrities is never going to be anything but gaudy. But that’s okay because it’s funny: attempting to lend more gravity to what must be the first ever (or, at most, second) Challenge TV Gameshow Awards ceremony by referring to it as prestigious is quite funny; and the ‘hilarious’ captions tagged to comedy images from the ceremony night are also tragically funny, albeit in an unintended way. That’s enough of a dig though, as it’s all perfectly harmless; in small doses.
The channel’s website is befittingly tacky with a bright red and yellow background to all of its pages, and some cheesy photos of Andrea Boardman (presenter of Prize Time) floating awkwardly around a biography of the lady herself. The site’s showpiece is the ‘lavish’ awards ceremony which saw Michael Barrymore’s Strike It Rich scoop the Best UK Prime Time Game Show award. Boasting appearances from the likes of Pat Sharp and Les Dennis, it really was a night of “the stars, the glitz and the glamour”.
A daily online quiz called Prize Time can be entered by users who register, the winners receiving a ‘stunning’ Challenge TV telephone. There is also a pitch for Challenge TV’s exclusive gameshow, Endurance TV which features masochistic contestants undergoing a series of squalid physical endurance tests. Throw in a TV listings guide which only shows Challenge TV programmes and Shop of CTV merchandise and that’s about your lot. No frames, no Java; not even an interview with Keith Chegwin.
Reviewer: Scott Billings
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