Paddy McGuinness and Freddie Flintoff are to front a series of 'Total Wipeout' classic moments.

Paddy McGuinness

Paddy McGuinness

The 'Top Gear' co-hosts have signed up to voice classic episodes of the game show - which sees contestants tackle an extreme obstacle course in an attempt to win £10,000 - in a new six-part series titled 'Total Wipeout: Freddie and Paddy Takeover'.

Paddy, 46, said: "Now more than ever we need to laugh at people bouncing off those big red balls. I'm so happy to be involved in bringing this classic show back."

Freddie, 42, added: "I can't wait to be involved with this brilliant show and to have a laugh watching people fumble with those balls."

The original show - which was presented by Richard Hammond and Amanda Byram - ran for three years before it was cancelled in 2012.

The programme sees a group of 20 contestants compete to beat each other over three stages of moving assault courses based in large pools of water or mud, and they try to avoid being wiped out from the competition.

The three remaining contestant fight for the prize money in the Wipeout Zone made up of five to six obstacles.

A source told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre TV column: "There has been a rush to try to fill slots in the schedule after the pandemic caused havoc with filming.

"During lockdown there has been a huge spike in the hits on old episodes of 'Total Wipeout' on YouTube, so bosses came up with this idea."

The new show will be recorded from the hosts' own homes during lockdown, but BBC bosses are yet to announce a date when the series will air.

The source added: "Paddy and Freddie are voicing the series from their own homes and it'll be packaged together by a team remotely. It's a genius move in what's been a really tough time for all broadcasters."