RV Rampage is an exhilarating new 10-part series for the Travel Channel that began airing on Monday this week. Jam-packed with daredevil adventures, fascinating insider knowledge and showcasing the very best of New Zealand, the show pits five teams from around the world (including South Africa) in one of the toughest competitions of their lives.
At the centre of the action are its two presenters, Amanda Byram (you may recognise her form Total Wipeout) and Henry Cole, motorcycle fanatic and presenter of World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides. Travel Channel caught up with the pair and chatted to them about the show.
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RV Rampage on Travel Channel
Amanda Bryam
Q: What was the appeal of presenting RV Rampage?
A: It was a no brainer. I’d never been to New Zealand before and the concept of the show is it’s an adventure, reality, travel game show, which are all the things I love. Coming off the back of Total Wipeout I really wanted to be able to do something that was fun and adventurous, and also watch people fall flat on their faces again!
Q: Do you think the challenges are harder than the Total Wipeout challenges?
A: They’re so different. Wipeout was difficult as you couldn’t practise for it – the challenges were obstacles people had never done before. Whereas there are elements of things like skydiving, kayaking and zip-lining that people may have done. However overall the fact the RV Rampage contestants have to do challenges day after day for five weeks rather than the two days for Wipeout was mentally and emotionally exhausting.
Q: How does RV Rampage test the contestants?
A: It tests that element of human condition like Big Brother does, as people are stuck in close confines of an RV with three other people. It really puts the different couples’ relationships to the test because I don’t think they have ever spent that much time together. They really had to face their fears too.
Q: Which of the challenges did you find the scariest?
A: I’d never done any of them before but I got to do zip lining, skydiving and I climbed a 100ft wall in Fox Glacier, which was amazing. I also did the 134metre Nevis bungee jump, even though I’d never wanted to do one. It was very last minute but I thought I’m never going to forgive myself if I don’t do it! I had all these guys come at me like a Formula 1 car clicking all the shackles on, then I had to get a crane out to the middle of the canyon, and I just remember thinking I don’t know how I’m going to do this. Then one of the guys said ‘It’s better than sex!’ and I said right let’s do it – push me! It was unbelievable.
Q: What’s your biggest fear?
A: Apart from death, I would have said heights at one point but I think I’ve pretty much overcome that now. Also being really alone, like all of my family and friends gone and not being around any more. A physical fear would be being buried alive. I’m pretty macabre aren’t I!
Q: Did you and Henry get on?
A: We’d never met before and we don’t really have very much in common but when we first met we both said you’re a friend for life. Sometimes it’s not the people you assume you’re going to connect with, and we found we’ve got an awful lot of similarities. We had such a laugh together. I’d tell him about my boy troubles or lack of men, and although he’s a guy’s guy, he’s such a girl’s guy as well. He’s going to teach me how to motorbike ride, which will be amazing.
Q: Have you met Henry’s family yet?
A: No, I was supposed to go down around Christmas but then I went home to Ireland early because my sister had a little baby, then our paths kept crossing. He told me his boys are big Wipeout fans so I’m having them made up crew Wipeout t-shirts! I’d like to go to their place in the country and meet Janey his wife as well.
Q: What else have you got lined up this year?
A: I did some coverage of the Oscars for Sky and stood in for Simon Rimmer on Sunday Brunch recently. I’m passionate about health and fitness too, so I’m really focused on that and have been writing blogs and tweeting, which is really gaining momentum. I’m often asked for advice and it’s a whole other sense of achievement feeling like you’ve actually helped someone. It’s like my hobby so I’m not doing less TV stuff by any means.
Q: How much exercise do you do a week?
A: I try to do something every day even if it’s just a really relaxing yoga class. I train with weights about two to three times a week and then weekends I do try to take off. At 41 you can do the kind of training I do. I hear 25-year-olds saying I’m too old to lift weights or do whatever, and I’m like no you’re not! I like to be able to get women to bully up and stop moaning about exercise.
Q: Do you have an ideal presenting job you’d like to do?
A: I’ve been so lucky to do such a wide variety. I’ve done big live reality shows in America and Wipeout, which was a format unto itself and a fun off the cuff game show. My forte is live edgy studio stuff so any of the shiny floor Saturday night shows or magazine shows really float my boat.
Q: Where do you find the most beautiful place in New Zealand?
A: That’s such a hard question. I think Walt Disney must have sneezed all over it because it’s so vivid and magical – you expect Peter Pan and Tinkerbell to be flying around! It’s all so completely different but I loved Wanaka in the South Island and Milford Sound further south. Fox Glacier was a highlight for me too as it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. It makes you realise how tiny we actually are.
Henry Cole
Q: What was the appeal of presenting RV Rampage?
A: I’ve spent most of my career presenting motorcycle shows on my own, so to co-host a reality show is like – why would I do that? But then I was told the other presenter would be Amanda Byram and my kids and I absolutely love her from Total Wipeout so I thought bollocks, I’ll do it! But do I have to drive one of these RV’s? As a motorcyclist I despise, fear and scorn anyone who drives one! I thought I might as well give it a go. And I can’t tell you driving one was an experience I enjoyed – apart from the company, who was Amanda. We didn’t sleep in the same RV just to clear that up, we just drove one together.
Q: What’s the premise of the show?
A: It’s 10 contestants made up of five couples of different nationalities, whether brother and sister, best mates or couples, and they drive three RV’s from Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand all the way down to Queenstown in the South Island. Everywhere they stop they do a Rampage challenge and a Tourist challenge to sort the sheep from the goats. The most successful wins a cash prize of £5,000. New Zealand is famed for its extreme sports so obviously there was a lot of those, which some were more terrified of than others.
Q: Were there times you thought the contestants might not complete the task?
A: There were plenty of times. They were really taxed and people face their fears like they’ve never done before. There was one contestant who when it came to the bungee swing in Queenstown, I was actually kneeling down before him pleading for him to do it – whether he does it or not you’ll have to watch the show. There was excitement to be had at every corner.
Q: What were the highlights for you?
A: For me being an old fogy travelling all my life for work, to see these people immerse themselves in New Zealand and love it as much as I’ve done was amazing. Amanda had never been there either so everywhere we went she was saying check that out! Amanda was another highlight as she’s a top chick. We had a complete laugh together and I’ve made a real friend there, even though she and I are chalk and cheese. I’ll roll in to town and go and have a burger and she’ll go and juice her vegetables.
Q: What did you learn about her that not a lot of people know?
A: That she is a woman who will face her fears like I’ve never seen someone do. She’s got balls. When she did the bungee jump, she just threw herself off it – it was incredible. Then she said right, I want to do a skydive now! So we jumped out of a perfectly serviceable plane at 15,000ft in Queenstown and she loved it. In five weeks I didn’t hear one squeak of moaning from her either, and you can’t say that about every presenter can you?
Q: Which of the challenges had you done before?
A: I’ve done skydiving, bungee jumps, I went out on the tower in Auckland to say come on out you come! I’ve been down a lot of caves in my time but I’ve not done white water rafting or anything like that.
Q: What are your fears?
A: Mediocrity. It scares me greatly people conforming and going about their business without actually wanting to immerse themselves. I see a lot of people who are just going through the cogs of life and when you get to my age you realise that no one gets out of here alive. You’ve got to enjoy every damned day to the best of your ability. Fear is temporary, regret is permanent – I think you have to sometimes believe that. I also have a slight fear of Black Widow Spiders.
Q: How does driving an RV compare to a motorbike?
A: Although it was quite fun being in an RV, driving them was a nightmare. They’re so slow and handle like a wheelbarrow. New Zealand is the best country in the world to ride a motorcycle in my view and there am I clogging up the roads with an RV. People would recognise me at petrol stations and ask, “Henry what are you doing?” I was like don’t look ok, you haven’t seen me!
Q: How often do you travel?
A: In total I’m away for about four months of the year. It is crazy and it’s going to get worse – we’re just about to film a show in the Balkans, and then we’re going to Malaysia, then Bonneville Salt Flats, then Poland and then quite a bit of time in Los Angeles on another project. So I’m all over the place. I work eight days a week.
Q: How does you your family handle you being away so much?
A: My wife Jane is hugely long suffering. I was a news cameraman when I first met her in 1994 so consequently she’s used to it and says I was like that when I first met her. My boys Charlie and Tom are nine and seven, and they accept that Daddy goes away. I always get a bit unhappy leaving and when I went away recently, I was at the door and said, “See ya Tommy, take care mate”. And he goes, “Yeah ok Daddy, see ya. Mummy can I have a sweetie now?” He doesn’t give a monkeys. While I’m away I speak to them every night if I can.
Q: Are you reluctant to go abroad when you go on holiday?
A: Yes but at the same time we go to a little villa in Italy that we rent every year and it’s great seeing the kids having a good time. I only take a week’s holiday a year apart from Christmas. Although I’ll do a deal on Christmas Day if someone’s on email.
Q: What do you take with you when you travel?
A: My passport, a crash helmet, cigarettes, my ipad and headphones as I’d never subject anyone else to ‘80s punk, a satellite phone so I can make a call anywhere in the world, and six credit cards so one of them works. The key to travelling well is not plan anything meticulously – to leave plenty of opportunity as you never know where you might love and want to hang out for a couple of days.
Q: Where do you find the most beautiful place in New Zealand?
A: The whole of it. I think the South Island is one of the most breathtaking places on earth. It’s like Scotland on acid! The North Island has the most incredible places as well and when I first went, I kept thinking how does this get any better like people kept on telling me that it would. I’m very lucky.
