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Our Everest Challenge review – Ben Fogle, Victoria Pendleton and some vertiginous cliches

Only one of these two makes it past halfway in this gruelling spin on the celebrity challenge show. Plus, the Coco Chanel story is better than fiction

Ben Fogle has achieved something noble and profound: he has made those series where semi-famous people sweat over contrived ordeals, such as pretending to be an Edwardian serf or going on quite a long walk, look even more trivial. In Our Everest Challenge With Ben Fogle & Victoria Pendleton (ITV), the adventurer and his Olympian pal literally try to climb Mount Everest. It’s very much the Everest of celebrity-challenge documentaries.

Not that the majestic enormity of the task means we’re immune to the tropes of the form. Early on, Fogle ticks off the obligatory shot of him discussing the project with his family, to give us a sense of both the sacrifice involved and the desirability of his house: on the latter point, he has got a kitchen-diner the size of a squash court. In Kathmandu, “Vic” masters the art of banal scene-setting by reacting to a blessing they receive from a local lama: “For me, it’s pretty unique.” Fogle adds a sprinkle of sea salt to the reality-TV cheese by talking about Everest as if it were a human woman, like a smooth, randy yachtsman. “I’ve dreamed of climbing her, ever since I was just a boy.” Crikey. Can he pull it off?

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