Anneka Rice 1988, being replaced by former tennis player Annabel Croft. Rice hosted the BBC's Children in Need appeal in 1987 and tested an early version of her next project, "Challenge Anneka". This had been devised by Rice herself and was launched in 1989 on BBC 1. It ran for a further five years. On 9 June 2006, it was announced that "Challenge Anneka" would return, but this time on ITV. The first of three specials was broadcast on Boxing Day 2006. A further episode was aired on 6 June 2007. As a result of her owning the rights to "Challenge Anneka"
Challenge Anneka just 10 days, survived for many years. "Challenge Anneka" returned in 2006 with a 'one-off' special on ITV, on Boxing Day and featured the team helping World Vision to rebuild a maternity clinic, a cricket pavilion and a children's play centre in Sri Lanka after the 2004 Tsunami disaster. There were plans for two more UK specials in 2007 - Rice walked on stage, along with television crew, during a McFly concert in Cambridge, and asked the band if they would record a single for charity - this formed part of the Challenge Anneka challenge recording an album to raise