Channel 4 announces celebrity host of new reality show Rise and Fall set to take on The Traitors

GREG James has been announced as the host of Channel 4’s huge new reality show Rise and Fall.

The 37-year-old presenter, who is best known for his BBC Radio 1 breakfast show, will be in charge of the game show that brings together the drama and deception of BBC smash The Traitors with the social experiment of Big Brother.

Makers say Rise and Fall looks at how far each of us might go to make it to the top, to gain power, and use our power to influence people.

The game, which will be played across 18 episodes, follows the fortune of players who all start as equals but will quickly find that some have power and some do not.

Through a series of games and challenges anyone can rise to a position of power but by the same token, anyone can fall.

Each player’s position in the game determines what level of the Rise and Fall tower they live on.

It is set in a glamorous tower building in London, with the powerful living in an opulent penthouse and everyone else living in a basement workplace.

Only one person with power can win the prize fund at the end of the game.

The show is made by the people behind The Traitors, which became a huge hit for the Beeb with Claudia Winkleman at the helm.

Alf Lawrie, Head of Factual Entertainment at Channel 4, said: “Society is made up of the haves and the have nots, those who have power and those who don’t.

“In this fascinating new reality format, we’re going to see how power is gained, what happens when power is lost and how the quest for power can bring out the best or worst in people.”

Vivienne Molokwu, Senior Commissioning Editor for Channel 4, said: “Rise & Fall is the ultimate test of the adage that ‘power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’…

“A deliciously distorted reflection of real life, as the underdogs battle to improve their lot and the topdogs battle to maintain the status quo, this series offers a fascinating prism through which to watch human behaviour at its best and worst.”

Mike Cotton, Deputy Creative Director of makers Studio Lambert said: “Since the 1980s, the UK has become a much more unequal society.

“With politicians seemingly writing their own rules and billionaires putting profit over people, we wanted to find a way of exploring this in a show which viewers would find entertaining and thought-provoking.

“We will discover the moral dilemmas faced by those holding the power as they set challenges for workers and see how they behave when they know their hard work largely benefits those who rule them.”