Anneka Rice

***Anneka Rice*** (born Anne Rice; October 4, 1958) is a British television and radio presenter. Rice adopted the name "Anneka" when she joined the British actors' union Equity, as her birth-name had already been registered with that organisation.

Rice was married to theatre boss Nick Allott, with whom she has two sons. Allott and Rice split in 1992 after she began an affair with TV executive Tom Gutteridge. They parted six months after her third son was born in 1997. In 1994 Rice presented Capital Woman, a weekly women's magazine programme for Carlton Television (ITV), which, like Challenge Anneka, was produced by Gutteridge's company Mentorn. Later she also presented Holiday for BBC One.

Rice decided to quit television to spend time with her three children, and spent five years studying painting at Chelsea College of Art.

Find out more at annekarice.tv.

### Television

Rice began her television career as a trainee for the BBC World Service. At the age of 19 she moved to Hong Kong, where she presented the news on English language television station TVB Pearl. Upon returning to the UK three years later, she worked as a secretary in the BBC Children's department.

In the 1980s, Rice appeared on CBTV, a Thames TV magazine programme for younger viewers presented by comedy duo Jim Sweeney and Steve Steen. In 1986, she co-presented ITV travel and holiday show Wish You Were Here..?In early 1987, Rice the presenters of ITV's breakfast programme Good Morning Britain.

#### Treasure Hunt

***Treasure Hunt*** was a UK game show, based on the format of the French show La Chasse au Trésor, created by Jacques Antoine. It appeared on Channel 4 between December 28, 1982 and May 18, 1989 and was revived by BBC Two in 2002.

A team of two contestants in the studio, had to use a library of maps and reference materials to solve up to five clues, and communicate instructions via a radio link to a skyrunner who had the use of a helicopter. Although viewers could see the skyrunner, the contestants could not, and all communication between them was by sound only. The contestants were given the first clue for free, the solving of which would lead to the location of the second clue and so on until a trinket or other significant object was found by solving the final clue. The contestants won a higher cash prize each time they solved a clue correctly. This was all done against the clock. Even once the contestants had solved the final clue, the skyrunner still had to confirm they were correct, by reaching the final target. On a few occasions, the contestants solved all five clues with time to spare, in which case, a bonus clue was given to the contestants. This typically resulted in their winning a bottle of champagne.

In the original version, the presenter was former BBC newsreader Kenneth Kendall and the "skyrunner" was broadcaster Anneka Rice. In the first series, Kendall was joined briefly in the studio for the handover of the first clue by the original clue-setter, Ann Meo. From the second series onwards, this role was expanded, another studio-based person acted as adjudicator, giving the contestants tips on how they were doing against the scheduled time, and providing additional information about the locations visited. In series 2, this was Annette Lynton ("Nettie") and from series 3 onwards, TV-am weather girl Wincey Willis. In 1988, Rice left to have a baby, and her place was taken by tennis player Annabel Croft. In this series, Willis was promoted to sharing main billing with Kendall. Croft was billed as "Guest Skyrunner" for the first episode of the series, and it was stated at the time that Rice would return after giving birth, but it turned out to be the show's final series and the "Guest Skyrunner" credit was dropped.

#### Challenge Anneka

Rice hosted the BBC's Children in Need appeal on November 27, 1987 during which she tested an early version of her next project, ***Challenge Anneka***. Anneka has to arrange a symphony orchestra to play the 1812 Overture in the middle of the River Thames to a backdrop of fireworks and ice dancing. The idea had been devised by Rice herself and the show officially launched in 1989 on BBC 1, running from September 8, 1989 to October 15, 1995.

The format of Challenge Anneka involved Rice being given a task to accomplish within a certain period of time, usually two or three days. She was supposed to have no knowledge of what the task of each particular episode would be before it began, and would have to organise its accomplishment by persuading companies and people to contribute their time and resources for free. The task would usually be in aid of a charitable cause, for example building a play area for children within the local community, or something similar.

Rice would be based during the 'challenges' in a large blue truck, and for her frequent trips to persuade companies and people to take part she initially employed the use of a Volkswagen based beach buggy, and then went on to use a kit built Dakar 4x4 vehicle in the 1990s. For series 6 and 7, she had a dog called Pedro. She was also distinguished by her frequent use of her mobile phone to organise the projects, years before they became common everyday objects for people in Britain.

Most of the popularity of the series came from the tension of whether Rice and her teams of volunteers would accomplish their tasks before the deadlines set. Sometimes they would fail, but usually on such occasions those who had agreed to help out would carry on the following day to complete the work.

The format was sold to many European countries, each with a different host. In the late 90s, the show was produced in the United States as Challenge America (ABC), hosted by Erin Brockovich.