A sadistic delight: World’s Toughest Race – Eco-Challenge Fiji reviewed

Few things better capture the crazed cognitive dissonance of our age than this: that while we cower behind masks for fear of a virus so harmless in most cases that you don’t even know you’ve got it, we watch shows like World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji and think: ‘That looks fun. Wouldn’t mind having a go at that one day, if I had the money…’

This year’s Eco-Challenge — don’t be put off by the name: like the James Delingpole Eco TV column, as it’s now officially called, it’s just a marketing device to gull idiots (not you obviously) — comprises a 416-mile, 11-day race by 66 teams around Fiji, across shark-infested seas, down white-water rivers, up flooding canyons, abseiling down waterfalls and so on. It has been revived after several years’ hiatus with the added cruel twist that at any moment, jumping backwards and performing multiple somersaults from his helicopter before landing next to you in his special knee–reinforced trademark adventure trousers is the beaming figure of Bear Grylls to ask just how you’re feeling.