Comedy Central commissions "non-scripted entertainment series" hosted by Bradley Wiggins

Bradley Wiggins is to front a new Comedy Central show in which British athletes will take on members of the public in a series of challenges related to their respective sports. Gods of The Game will be shot later this summer and broadcast next year.

C21 Media reports that Wiggins will be on hosting duties. Former cyclists Chris Hoy and Joanna Rowsell Shand will also feature, along with Mo Farah, Rebecca Adlington, Nicola Adams, Jimmy Anderson, Tim Henman, Tommy Fleetwood, Ben Cohen, Max Whitlock, Sam Quek, Raymond van Barneveld and Hannah Cockcroft.

Each of the five 30-minutes episodes will see the athletes (the “gods”) take on contestants (the “mortals”) in what are billed as “unique challenges based upon the impressive skills of each sporting legend.” 

Contestants get to choose how much of a head start they’ll need and the bigger the advantage they claim, the fewer points they’ll get.

The show is being produced by Mad Monk, who created Channel 4’s Banzai and Sky One’s Wild Things.

“We know that people love sport and they love comedy so taking the two genres and combining them reflects our ongoing commitment to finding funny in new places,” said Louise Holmes, general manager at Comedy Central UK. “We have a truly incredible line up of athletic names who we know can take the heat when under pressure, but we’ll have to see how they fare when tasked with comedy versions of their sports.”

Wiggins seems to have found a comfortable post-retirement home for himself at Eurosport, where he has recently been providing offbeat punditry from one of the race motorbikes as well as producing a regular podcast.

His ventures into light entertainment have tended to be rather less glorious up until now. His 2017 appearance on The Jump, for example, ended with a broken leg.