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Children In Need 2022 will see UK Junior Eurovision contestant perform live

There will also be specials of The Weakest Link and Blankety Blank as part of the charity show.

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Junior Eurovision 2022

Children In Need will return with the UK’s contestant for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest performing on stage, as well as specials of BBC game shows.

The UK is competing for the first time since 2005 in Junior Eurovision with 13-year-old Buckinghamshire schoolgirl Freya Skye.

She will perform the song Lose My Head live for the very first time at Children In Need after being selected to be a contestant by CBBC and BBC Studios Entertainment and Music.

Olivier Awards 2019 – London
Jason Manford will host Children In Need for the first time (Ian West/PA)

The annual charity event is hosted this year by presenters Ade Adepitan, Mel Giedroyc, Chris Ramsey, Alex Scott and for the first time, comedian Jason Manford.

Manford, 41, said: “It’s a charity that helps children from lots of different areas and backgrounds, but specifically for me, being from a background – an underprivileged background myself, being able to help a charity that helps those children means a lot to me.”

Romesh Ranganathan, who replaced no-nonsense quizmaster Anne Robinson as the host of The Weakest Link, will also run a special edition of his show as part of the event.

TV presenter Bradley Walsh will also host a children’s takeover of Blankety Blank with contestants such as EastEnders star Maisie Smith and John Whaite.

Celebrities will again take on Graham Norton’s infamous Red Chair where they have to impress children, otherwise, they face getting flipped out of their seat.

The Repair Shop team will share the story behind a very special restoration and, in a TV first, reveal the results of the repair on stage.

Performances will be given by Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi and dance troupe Diversity.

The Weakest Link renewed for another series
Romesh Ranganathan will run a special edition of the BBC One show (Ian West/PA)

The BBC Children In Need Choir will also perform Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

A DIY SOS special will see Nick Knowles and his team build a brand-new home for BBC Children In Need funded project, Getaway Girls.

The new building with a creche, a music and media studio and counselling rooms provides a safe space for vulnerable girls and young women living in Leeds.

The rickshaw relay rides again as Matt Baker and a team of five young people take on the challenge over five days.

BBC Children in Need
One Show presenter Matt Baker doing his Children In Need rickshaw challenge in Scotland (Danny Lawson/PA)

Baker has raised £43 million for BBC Children In Need in 12 years by doing the cycling relay.

He said: “I don’t do any training at all. It’s all part of the fun of it.

“It’s the conversation that keeps me going.”

A one-off documentary on the history of the challenge airs on November 15 on BBC One and iPlayer.

BBC Children In Need is on November 18 from 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be broadcast live from Yerevan, Armenia, on the BBC for the first time in 20 years on December 11.

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