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Record Breakers legend break silence on show’s shock return as she hits out at ‘ageist’ TV industry
Holly Willoughby's husband, Dan Baldwin, is behind the reboot
A RECORD Breakers legend has broken their silence after it was revealed the iconic television series is returning - 24 years after it last aired.
Cheryl Baker, who hosted the show for 10 years between 1987 and 1997, has revealed she'd love to feature in the reboot.
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We exclusively revealed that the programme, which now has the working title World Record Breakers: The Rivals, is being modernised by Holly Willoughby's husband Dan Baldwin's production company, Hungry Bear.
Speaking exclusively to the Sun on behalf of , Cheryl, 71, said: "I would love to be a guest on that because I did it for so long.
"If they wanted someone to be, not necessarily a presenter, because there's always somebody younger than me. It's a very ageist industry in television.
"But it would be nice if they had me as a roving reporter or something like that. So that would be nice but no one's spoken about it so I doubt it's going to happen."
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Hungry Bear has had great success rebooting Gladiators, which is once again a Saturday night force on television.
And Cheryl sees no reason why Record Breakers won't match it with a few tweaks to the format.
"It needs to be jazzed up," she said. "It needs to be more exciting than it was.
"But definitely I think there's a place for a programme like record breakers again. It just needs to come into the 21st century."
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In recent years, the likes of Angela Rippon, 80, Debbie McGee, 66, and Michaela Strachan, 59, have excelled on Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing On Ice, respectively, proving mature women can more than hold their own on primetime telly.
But while she's hopeful of change, Cheryl believes it's still difficult for for women of a certain age to land a mainstream gig on the box.
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She said: "There's a lot of people out there, like me, that have got an awful lot of experience and they don't get the opportunity anymore.
"But it would be nice if it's changing to include all ages and all nationalities. It would be nice if it was like the Eurovision Song Contest and it included everybody."
Roy Castle was the original Record Breakers host when it launched in 1972 and worked on it for two decades, before Kriss Akabusi replaced him in 1993.
The programme showed people trying to break British and world records and featured interviews with champions.
A TV source recently told us: “Record Breakers was an incredibly successful format, running for three decades and garnering millions of fans of different generations.
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“It worked so well because it could feature record attempts ranging from feats of bravery and impressive sportsmanship through to the downright mindboggling.
“And the spirit of the show remains strong.
“Every day the TikTok generation are doing pranks and stunts online so it feels like a no-brainer.
“It is also incredibly family-friendly so would be ideal for that primetime Saturday spot.
“It’s very early days, with the show in development, so no channel is yet officially attached nor any celebrities in the frame as host.”
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