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Challenge!
National treasure and television pioneer Anneka Rice has had an action-packed career jumping out of helicopters, racing against the clock on Challenge Anneka and inspiring millions with her boundless energy and much-loved jumpsuits. But the daring spirit on screen was forged in a very different kind of challenge.
In this candid memoir, Anneka opens up for the first time about her unusual childhood, revealing how the crippling loneliness she felt as a child and the teenage years she spent running her household sparked the fierce resilience that would later define her.
With her trademark warmth and wit, she shares the vibrant, transformative possibilities that emerged from her arrival, aged twenty, in Hong Kong on a one-way ticket, knowing no one, and describes the epiphanic moment that made her realise she was part of something much bigger than herself – and that being useful was the key to her wellbeing.
Full of heart, humour and hard-won wisdom, this is an astonishing story of adventure and survival, of personal battles and public triumphs. It's a manual on how to reinvent yourself, throw caution to the wind and take the path full of jeopardy. It's mad, bad and dangerous and should come with a don't try this at home.
Anneka Rice is donating all her author royalties to Alzheimer's Research UK
In this candid memoir, Anneka opens up for the first time about her unusual childhood, revealing how the crippling loneliness she felt as a child and the teenage years she spent running her household sparked the fierce resilience that would later define her.
With her trademark warmth and wit, she shares the vibrant, transformative possibilities that emerged from her arrival, aged twenty, in Hong Kong on a one-way ticket, knowing no one, and describes the epiphanic moment that made her realise she was part of something much bigger than herself – and that being useful was the key to her wellbeing.
Full of heart, humour and hard-won wisdom, this is an astonishing story of adventure and survival, of personal battles and public triumphs. It's a manual on how to reinvent yourself, throw caution to the wind and take the path full of jeopardy. It's mad, bad and dangerous and should come with a don't try this at home.
Anneka Rice is donating all her author royalties to Alzheimer's Research UK
352 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 8, 2026
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October 17, 2026
I was left rather breathless after reading this. Anneka Rice was a household name between 1982 and 1995 with her TV programmes Treasure Hunt and Challenge Anneka. They were both revolutionary at the time, particularly Treasure Hunt. When she audtioned, Rice found her rivals were famous sportsmen, who naturally ran as fast as they could. The camera man and sound engineer, following behind them, couldn't keep up. Anneka, who had just run a marathon, realised this and slowed down. She was a shoo-in.
She became an overnight sensation at a time when young women were never the stars of TV shows.
Anneka had a lonely childhood. Her parents largely ignored her. She became entirely responsible for the management of the household, and getting her sister through school, at quite a young age. At 19 she decided to go to Hong Kong to flee from a relationship breakup. She arrived there with nowhere to stay and hardly any money. Fortunately a man who helped her at the airport offered her a room for a couple of days. It was entirely innocent, and the two days turned into a couple of years. In Hong Kong she became a PR and newsreader, while doing many other jobs at the same time. Returning to the UK, she was disappointed that her experience was outweighed by her young age. She was considered too young to be a BBC newsreader.
“I’ve channelled Piglet for more than 60 years and have found this a source of much comfort,” she writes.
Annie ( she became Anneka during Treasure Hunt, when Equity received complaints from someone else called Annie Rice) became a BBC trainee, and got into radio at the BBC World Service.
After hitting the height of fame with her two TV shows she literally disappeared overnight to dedicate herself to bringing up her children.
A regular now on BBC Radio 2, and a former Strictly competitor, Anneka is at 67 a Samaritan volunteer and and has been awarded an MBE for services to charity and broadcasting. Her memoir is eminently readable, full of anecdotes and jaw dropping achievements. She urges us all to be kind, and to take risks in life.
She became an overnight sensation at a time when young women were never the stars of TV shows.
Anneka had a lonely childhood. Her parents largely ignored her. She became entirely responsible for the management of the household, and getting her sister through school, at quite a young age. At 19 she decided to go to Hong Kong to flee from a relationship breakup. She arrived there with nowhere to stay and hardly any money. Fortunately a man who helped her at the airport offered her a room for a couple of days. It was entirely innocent, and the two days turned into a couple of years. In Hong Kong she became a PR and newsreader, while doing many other jobs at the same time. Returning to the UK, she was disappointed that her experience was outweighed by her young age. She was considered too young to be a BBC newsreader.
“I’ve channelled Piglet for more than 60 years and have found this a source of much comfort,” she writes.
Annie ( she became Anneka during Treasure Hunt, when Equity received complaints from someone else called Annie Rice) became a BBC trainee, and got into radio at the BBC World Service.
After hitting the height of fame with her two TV shows she literally disappeared overnight to dedicate herself to bringing up her children.
A regular now on BBC Radio 2, and a former Strictly competitor, Anneka is at 67 a Samaritan volunteer and and has been awarded an MBE for services to charity and broadcasting. Her memoir is eminently readable, full of anecdotes and jaw dropping achievements. She urges us all to be kind, and to take risks in life.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review