Who could host Blockbusters for Challenge?

The legendary quiz is returning to television after a decade away, however who could step into the shoes of the likes of Michael Aspel, Lisa Tarbuck and the legendary Bob Holness?

The game saw a board of letters inside hexagons which the contestants had to work across. The winner was whoever reached one side of the board to the other. ran on ITV for a decade before moving to Sky One, with an adult version having a brief spell on BBC Two.

The longest running host was the late Bob Holness who was always going to be a tough act to follow, and indeed Blockbusters will forever be associated to the host.

So do Challenge reinvent the wheel or play it safe with some well known quiz hosts? Here’s a few that the ATV Today team banded about.

 

Eamonn Holmes

With the Challenge channel owned by Sky it wouldn’t be so difficult to lure over the Sky News anchor. Holmes is no stranger to game shows, his most notable is the successful JetSet quiz for BBC One.

While his personality might work, it appears our Eamonn doesn’t have the self humour that Bob had, after all he didn’t like those jokes about him by the BBC Impressions show, so no ‘fierce hungry so I was’ comments.

 

Richard Arnold

A stalwart of cheap game shows, mostly on Challenge. If the budget is low and they’re not fussy for quality give Arnold a call.

The former GMTV expert, in what we’re not sure, has hosted games such as Soapstar Superchef, Take It or Leave It and Loose Lips. Hopefully Sky will leave it, leave it well alone.

 

Jeff Stelling

Recently departed Channel 4 game show Countdown in December after taking over from Des O’Connor in 2008. Reports suggest he later regretted quitting the show to concentrate on his Sky Sports presenting duties. Another at Sky who fancies a game show and is working for the company. Why not?

He’s the same sort of age that Bob was at his peak of Blockbusters, but whether he can cut it with the youth is another matter. Having said that the new series of Blockbusters is once more taking a wider age range so it may not be so important.

 

John Barrowman

He’s the television equivalent of a rash. Well at the BBC anyway. If there is a show for him to appear on, he’ll appear on it. Thankfully though Barrowman does have all-round talent. He can sing, dance, present and act. So rather than invest in talentless cheap presenters, he could bring something to it.

The downside possibly would be Blockbusters would become more about him, rather than the contestants. That isn’t good.

 

Chris Tarrant

He seems to only do the Celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionaire these days, which are few and far between. He’s got a cult status thanks to children’s show Tiswas and has a sense of humour required for those rounds, which may have bizarre answers.

There isn’t any downsides we can think of other than he may be far, far, far too expensive for Challenge’s budget.

 

Fern Britton

If it was to fall to a woman there is the mighty Fern. Host of long running cookery challenge Ready Steady Cook she’s proved her worth in a fast paced game situation. She also co-hosted the revival of game show Mr and Mrs for ITV.

As a long running host on This Morning she proved she had a sense of humour and also a sympathetic side. Another with the experience to hold a quiz together.

 

All suggestions welcome below.