Famous and Fearless

Famous and Fearless is a reality game show series in which 8 celebrities compete in extreme sporting events to win money for their respective chosen charity. It aired in January 2011 on Channel 4 and was presented by Chris Evans and Clare Balding with Jack Osbourne appearing alongside them as a guest in most shows.[1] The commentator of the events was Nick Fellows. The winner was Charley Boorman. The live part of Famous and Fearless was broadcast from the Liverpool Echo Arena, where all the Head-to-Heads and other events happened before an arena audience.

Famous and Fearless
GenreReality game show
Presented byChris Evans
Voices ofNick Fellows
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes6
Production
Running time95–120 minutes
Production companyPrincess Productions
Release
Original networkChannel 4
Original release2 January (2011-01-02) –
7 January 2011 (2011-01-07)

Celebrities

Eight celebrities competed, split into two divisions – boys and girls. On 7 January 2011, Charley Boorman won the boys' group and Kelly Holmes won the girls, with the former becoming the overall champion.

Celebrity Known for
Charley Boorman Actor and TV adventurer, presenter of By Any Means, Race to Dakar, Long Way Round and Long Way Down
Jenny Frost Singer, former member of Atomic Kitten and presenter of Snog Marry Avoid?, former I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! contestant
Jonah Lomu Former rugby union footballer for the All Blacks from New Zealand
Kacey Ainsworth Actress, played Little Mo Slater in EastEnders
Dame Kelly Holmes Olympic gold medallist
Rufus Hound Comedian and TV personality, winner of Let's Dance for Sport Relief
Sam Branson Son of entrepreneur and Virgin Group owner Richard Branson
Sarah Jayne Dunn Actress, played Mandy Richardson in Hollyoaks

Events

Day 1

Day 2

  • Mini Moto (Girls)
  • Powerboat (Boys)
  • Monster Truck Assault Course (Head to Head)

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6 (Finale)

Charley Boorman beat Dame Kelly Holmes in Demolition Derby to become the eventual winner of Famous And Fearless.

Reception

Famous and Fearless received mostly negative reviews from British media outlets. Stuart Heritage of The Guardian stated that the contestants were not celebrities and the events were not extreme. He went on to say Celebrity Big Brother's successor may have been more successful if it had been 'a mindless Saturday evening ITV show.'.[2] The Independent claimed the show was too noisy and mislead viewers with its title, suggesting 'Vaguely Recognisable and Game for a Laugh' or 'Who's That and Why Is That Dangerous?' as more fitting titles.[3]

Ratings
Episode Date Rating (Millions)
Episode 1 2 January 2011 2.27[4]
Episode 2 3 January 2011 1.73[5]
Episode 3 4 January 2011 1.63[6]
Episode 4 5 January 2011 1.70[4]
Episode 5 6 January 2011 1.30[7]
Episode 6 7 January 2011 1.44[8]

Cancellation

In February 2011, it was reported that the series had been axed after one series due to poor ratings.[9]

References
  1. Famous And Fearless Archived 7 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine Channel 4
  2. Stuart Heritage (4 January 2011). "Famous and Fearless: scarily bad TV?". The Guardian.
  3. Thomas Sutcliff (7 January 2011). "Famous? Fearless? A format too far?". The Independent. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
  4. Top Weekly Programmes Broadcasters Audience Research Board
  5. Andrew Laughlin (4 January 2011). "'Silent Witness', 'Suspicion' tie at 9 pm". Digital Spy. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  6. Andrew Laughlin (5 January 2011). "'Silent Witness' beats 'Above Suspicion'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  7. Andrew Laughlin (7 January 2011). "'Not Going Out' returns with 4.7m". Digital Spy. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  8. Paul Millar (8 January 2011). "BBC One's 'Hustle' back with 5.7m". Digital Spy. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  9. Ryan Love (21 February 2011). "Channel 4 axes Famous and Fearless". Digital Spy. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
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