The Faking It reboot is still irresistible TV ...Middle East

Ever since The Traitors became a cultural phenomenon, broadcasters have been racing to copycat the BBC show’s mendacious, cat-fishing vibe – most recently in ITV’s dull and over-complicated Genius Game.

A much smarter move is 5’s decision to reboot Faking It. The 25-year-old TV classic virtually invented the factual entertainment genre and remains an irresistible formula.

A take on Pygmalion/My Fair Lady, the idea is to train people in polar opposite jobs and try to fool experts in the chosen field. “Vicar to Car Dealer”, “Lawyer to Garage MC”, and “Bicycle Courier to Polo Player” were typical episodes from the original six series.

The reboot begins with Rex, a 27-year-old luxury estate agent from Surrey. With his Hugh Grant floppy hair and public-school manner, Rex is given four weeks to pass himself off as a hard-nosed market-stall trader, exchanging banter with punters in Bolton. “Where is Bolton?” asks Rex’s friend Annie in a scene straight out of Made in Chelsea. “Somewhere up north,” reckons Rex.

That might seem laughably ignorant, but the producers have made sure that Rex is not an archetypal southern snob. Whatever his reasons for taking part – he says he’s after a challenge, but perhaps he’s hoping for a future in reality TV – Rex comes across as open and likeable.

And Faking It may pivot on social and regional differences, but in a big-hearted, unresentful way. This is escapism, not class warfare. And as long as you don’t take it too seriously, the almost stereotypical extremes make for rich entertainment.

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The initial impression made by Rex on Tony, his mentor at Bolton Market, is that he’s “a bit soppy and perhaps too prim… we’ll knock it out of him. It’s Bolton Market, not ‘Arrods”.

After a week of 10-hour shifts on Tony’s meat stall, Rex is dispatched to Essex to learn the art of selling from Thomas Skinner – the cheerfully wide contestant from the 2019 series of The Apprentice.

Thomas teaches Rex how to “call out” to punters (ie attract their attention) and arrange his stall in an enticing manner. Watching his pupil in action, Thomas observes accurately that Rex is acting less like a market trader and more like “a vicar greeting his congregation”.

Next, it’s the turn of dialect coach Elspeth Morrison, and Rex’s newly minted northern accent is tested by having him compere a pub quiz in Bolton. “Not once did he sound from Surrey,” says Tony approvingly. “Jamaican, Indian, Pakistani and Geordie, but not once from Surrey.” It’s also decided (thankfully) that the floppy hair had to go. Rex’s barnet gets its first ever encounter with clippers, before fake tattoos are applied to his forearm and neck.

Then, in the show’s time-honoured format, three seasoned market inspectors are asked to rate different stall-holders before it’s sprung on them that one of them is actually a Surrey estate agent. Rex (now wisely renamed Rob) passes muster and, watching on monitors, Tony, Elspeth, and Tom pump the air in delight.

Sure, the result never really seemed in question, but Faking It is all about the journey and the personalities. Tony seems genuinely pleased to inject a bit of northern into Rex, and Thomas is one of my all-time favourite Apprentice candidates.

While The Traitors walks a fine line between cruel and exciting, Faking It is all about the feel-good factor. I just wonder what Rex’s millionaire clients will think of his more butch haircut – or perhaps he’s grown it out again by now.

‘Faking It’ continues next Tuesday at 9pm on 5.

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