So! The Krypton Factor returns at 7:30pm tomorrow night (that’s Tuesday), and if you didn’t read our recording review from a while ago (I’ll try and have it up soon) you may wonder what’s in store:
- The semi-final and final was filmed in front of a live and in shot audience. I have no idea if the heats were also filmed in front of an audience.
- Mental Agility is back in The Kube. It’s 45 seconds now. There is more chat afterwards.
- Observation works a bit differently – everyone gets two questions, correct answers earn two points for the round, wrong answers are thrown over and incur a -1 penalty.
- Physical Ability on an all new course. Now, if you’re expecting something like the original assault course from the eighties, you’re going to be rather disappointed – it’s similarly cross-country to last year. But it is a marked improvement on last year – all contestants go together, and once the hill running is over the back half of the course has lots of proper obstacles. So stick with it if it feels a bit boring at the beginning.
- There is no Intelligence round. Yes, I think that’s a silly idea as well.
- General Knowledge has increased to 90 seconds. The old-style question threading that seemed a bit loose last time has been tightened up, if the Grand Final is anything to go by.
It is a bit of a mixed bag really.
Well, that’s one way of restoring the balance between mental and physical to be closer to what it was in the 80s.
…Shame it’s also the worst way.
That Mental Agility test looked bloody hard for the first of the series.
Is minus points on Observation a new thing?
As is the shift from round of individual questions followed by five on the buzzers to two rounds of individual questions, both of which work to nullify the successful tactic someone used last year of ‘establish a lead then lock out all opponants,’ so well done there.
Lack of Intelligence is a disappointment, but I think compensated for by the improvements to both the Physical Ability and Observation rounds, and the way the show doesn’t feel any slower paced. So, 7/10 still.
That tank of cold water looks a bit harsh when you’re already out of breath!
Considering there were only 4 tests there, I didn’t mind. Dind’t really notice any gaps as such. I’d still like it back though.
Yeah, that did surprise me. No Intelligence round… And yet seemingly no padding compared to last year in pace (although the Mental Agility round is far too talky still, but that was a problem last year as well.)
Forgot about it despite reminding myself a couple of hours before. I know it’s on ITV4 again either tomorrow or Thursday, so I can forget it again then!
Possibly on ITVPlayer as well, but I’ve never been able to get that to work myself.
No, I’m not even going there.
And I don’t blame you for that one bit.
I did. Once.
Never again.
Repeats? They’ve got repeats all over…
* ITV4, 7.25 Wednesday evening
* ITV, 11.25 Thursday night (for viewers in England and Wales only)
* ITV4 again, 6.20 Saturday evening.
Don’t forget and miss it.
Yeah – actually not as bad as I had feared. Certainly there was little of the chat after the Mental Agility round suggested by the final, but a lot of assault course reminiscing and ooh look, some bits to camera at the end.
My gut feeling says there absolutely should be an intelligence test, but I’m almost disappointed the show still managed to work fairly well without it.
Yeah, it wasn’t terrible – which was what I was expecting. Actually, wasn’t too bad. It would be great if the intelligence test came back.
The assault course is epic, even though it’s still woody, the fact that they are now side by side makes it fine. Does the assault course change for the later rounds (i think it used to get tougher for the finals, didn’t it?)?
No to both questions, I’m afraid.
If they’re only going to have 4 rounds they should switch the one round (Observation I guess) to Intelligence in the semis, then perhaps response in the final.
I got very scared when the words “Win £5000” appeared on the screen expecting a long winded call and lose explanation but it didn’t happen (On ITV Player anyway). You have to go to the website to find the details, which is fine by me.
Didn’t appear in the TV broadcast either. Nice work ITV.
ITV Player has actually improved massively since I last used it, it seems to be flash based now instead of the horrible Silverlight.
Frankly it feels a little empty without Intelligence, but weirdly not nearly enough to stop me from enjoying it. Like others have said, that’s a little annoying.
I think there’s a lot of improvements that could be made for a possible 3rd series. Firstly I’d suggest a possible weekend slot (Sunday preferably, this isn’t a Saturday show) and an extension to 45 minutes, allowing them to keep in the chatty bits while also giving time to fit in Intelligence and possibly Response (in its cerebral assault course form) as well.
I tuned in after the explanation of the Mental Agility round, and watched the last three contestants do it, and completely failed to work out what on earth they had to do… Any help?
Sure. It is called Sub-total. At the beginning the box starts at 0. Add the numbers that drop into the box, subtract the ones that fall out. The answer is what the box starts on for the next question.
So for example, the total after one answer is 24.
8, 3 and 7 drop into the box, totalling 18 and making the total 42. Then 14 and 5 (19) drop out to make the total (and correct answer) 23.
The skill in it is both memorising the numbers as they enter and leave the box and being able to add/subtract them quickly enough to rack up a high score in the 45 seconds. As a mental agility test it’s almost perfect in my eyes.
Ooh yes, sounds interesting (and hard!). Might watch another repeat and have a go.
You can play a version of it on the main site (http://www.itv.com/thekryptonfactor) although it’s quite a bit slower than it is on television. Quite good fun, though.
finally caught up with it.
Still think the time is there for the intelligence test. they play it all at once anyway, so even with a tiny edit, and very little chatte, and id appreciate it. i suppose the inclination to spend the money on it was at play.
the assault course was much improved. The bright colours made me worry at first, but it was fine. a couple more obstacles chucked in next series if you please itv/sage business solutions.