Here Comes The Challenger

His name is Eric Don-Arthur but you can call him The Challenger! Eric is one of the very few people in the media who enjoys the eminence that comes with his trade. He anchors Sunrise, one of the most highly rated programmes on Ghana television.

Always looking confident, Eric has a great sense of humour. He is fluent and has a great deal of command over the queen’s language, making him a delight to watch. His firmness and courage makes him one of the best in his line of work. Eric is simply good and a bracing talent.

Eric, born to a Ghanaian father and a Russian mother in the late 1960s, will for the next thirteen weeks host season three of the most educating and rewarding reality game show on Ghanaian television The Challenge. He takes over from Kojo Oppong Nkrumah who hosted the two previous editions of The Challenge.

Eric was born and grew up in the Russian capital, Moscow and when his family relocated to Ghana the young lad was left to struggle with a cultural change, moving from a xenophobic country to a more hospitable one and a change in his principal language from Russian to English.

‘‘I was very young then, about 8 years when we moved to Ghana. Everything was so new and the attitudes were different. Russians shy away from strangers and here I was in a place where people always want to get closer to you’, Eric recounted.

After Achimota School and further studies in London, Eric has been comfortable in advertising design, production and photography. He worked with renowned designer St’Ossei and became a director of Silhouette, Ghana’s first model agency. Eric’s entry into TV was not a deliberate attempt, rather one he usually refers to as fortuitous.

‘‘I accompanied a friend to TV3 to audition. He gave up when we got there so I decided to give it a try. I was later called to host then prime-time entertainment show Gold Blast. I did that until it was repackaged into Music.

Don-Arthur draws inspiration from the life and teachings of Jesus, the music of Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Paganini and Karajan, the paintings of Michelangelo and Aivazovsky, the applied design of Issey Miyake and Frank Lloyd Wright, the photography of Ansell Adams and the writings of Paul Coehlo mean a lot to him.

Eric brings to The Challenge not only his vast experience as an amazingly brainy television presenter but a fresh breath of ingenuity and refreshing excitement.

The Challenge airs every Sunday on GTV at 2.30pm, e.TV at 4pm and GhOne at 4pm. It continues with a 30- minute eviction episode on GTV on Tuesdays at 9pm, Wednesdays on GhOne at 7.30pm and Thursdays on e.TV at 10pm. The Challenge season three is produced by The British Council and TIGO in association with the Robert Gordon University and University of Westminster. It is supported by SIC, IPMC, Pro Credit, 3E Quantum and Gsocialize.com.

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