US travel show for Sean Lock and Jon Richardson

Sean Lock and Jon Richardson are to embark on a travel series for Channel 4, in which they have to live in the wilds of America.

The 8 Out Of 10 Cats team captains will explore ‘places corporate America fears to go’ in the series, titled Hillbilly Holiday.

Over three hour-long episodes, they will go alligator-hunting with the cajuns of the Atchafalaya Swamps in Louisiana, pan for gold in Alaska and brew up moonshine in the Blue Ridge Mountains

A Channel 4 spokesman said: ‘Staying a week in each location, they will need to win over the locals who often ain't too keen on outsiders.

‘They'll need to pepper the gumbos of red-necked survivalists, dill the pickles of Baptist snake-handlers and be educated in the ways of a nudist hog-trapper.’

Channel 4's head of factual Ralph Lee said: ‘Lucky bastards! It's one of the hardest parts of a commissioner's job to send other people on journeys you'd really like to go on.

‘But we'll make sure they have a properly hard time and insist that it's all got a profound anthropological purpose.’

Channel 4 Head of Entertainment Justin Gorman added: ‘It's a brilliant project. Sean and Jon are amazing talents and we will get to see a whole new side to them.

Meanwhile, Richardson and Lock are to go head-to-head in another celebrity Countdown special.

It follows the 8 Out Of 10 Cats version of the quiz show that aired on Channel 4's Mash Up earlier this year. In that clash, presided over by Jimmy Carr, Richardson triumphed 45 points to 21.

Published: 5 Jul 2012