Back to the Bar

June 2009

30th June 2009

If you've got two hours spare this evening and you fancy watching a show in French that isn't Fort Boyard, all new Carte aux Tresor started last night. We haven't watched it yet.

The Clipton Factor: You Bet!

Now, I saw this years ago and I've been V+ing every episode on Challenge over the last six months waiting for it to come round again. And come round it did! It's comedians Alexander Armstrong, Ben Miller and Tony Gardner doing a challenge on You Bet! in 1995, before they were famous. Will they win an ultra rare Kelly Award?

29th June 2009

Breaking Stool Pigeon news: "A Bothers Bar regular is a contestant on The Fuse, and they are quite confident it's better than The Chase."

Let's be warned though, every time I've read a a write-up of any new show by someone who's been a contestant, they never fail to point out that they "think it's a brilliant format," so we'll wait and see.

The Chase, then.

Right, I'm writing this blind of other people's comments.

A team of four people who attempt to win as a team but will lose as individuals go up against The Chaser in a general knowledge quiz. Bradley Walsh hosts.
One by one each indivudual attempts to put money in the team bank. Their round begins with one minute of quickfire questions, each one worth £1,000.
When the minute's up, The Chaser comes on and walks to his seat at the top of the board (this is a fabulously irritating shot we see no less than five times throughout the episode. Couldn't The Chaser just be in his seat all the time?). Today it's Mark Labbett of The People's Quiz fame, Shaun Wallce of Are You An Egghead? fame is also promised. Mark will give a disdainful comment in quite an unconvincing manner, although I suppose acting ability isn't the producer's primary concern. He's much more convincing congratulating people.
The board has eight steps on it like a ladder. The Chaser starts up the top (effectively on rung nine). The money the player has earned lies on rung six. If the player wants, they can start a rung beneath, and The Chaser will offer a fairly derisory sum. However, if the player is feeling particularly brave, The Chaser will offer a decent five figure sum if they fancy starting on rung seven.
Starting points decided, it's now a race down the ladder. Three-choice multiple choice questions are asked and contestants and Chaser lock their answers in, starting a five second clock once one of them does so. If the player is correct, they move down a rung. If the Chaser is correct, they move down a rung. This continues until the player gets the money down to the bottom where it goes into the team's bank, or the Chaser catches up with them, in which case they're out of the game and leave with nothing.
Because making it to the end is quite important, the idea of the headstart offers is to become more derisory or compelling as the team goes on.
Once all players have had their go, the players that remain in the game now race to the exit. They're given a two step headstart on the Chaser, and are asked quickfire questions for two minutes against the clock. Each correct answer earns another step. The team play on the buzzers for this, which seeing as they're playing as a team seems a bit odd, but I suppose it's the quickest way to determine who wants to answer a question.
Time up, and now the Chaser gets two minutes to catch up with them. Each correct answer brings him one step closer to the team, but if he gives a wrong answer the clock is stopped and the team can attempt to answer the question, being correct pushes the Chaser back a step.
If the Chaser catches up with them within the two minutes then it's no money but thanks for playing. If the team escape, they split the money equally between them.
Right. On paper this sounded quite exciting, and quiz fans should be happy that there's comparatively little messing around and chatter compared to similar tea time formats.
However we think it's missing something in the execution. The way we'd imagined it would be answering questions to progress up a money ladder (represented with actual steps with something like £500 on step one and £50,000 on step nine) with the contestant either opting to stop, possibly by hitting a big red button or something, or being forced to stop by getting a question wrong. At that point some exciting music starts playing and The Chaser literally comes after them by coming down the steps rather than a computer graphic. Is that a bit cheesy? Answer: probably. The current beds are remarkably low key. For a show called The Chase, it doesn't seem to have a lot of life in it.
The endgame is OK though. Maybe give the uestions to each team member alternately? It IS weird buzzing in.
This from a Stool Pigeon: "Contestants in The Chase were advised beforehand to "answer back", if the Chaser dealt them some banter. This should make for some interesting exchanges..." Wonder how much is scripted.

The Chaser's War on Everything

The Chase begins its two week run Monday from 5pm on ITV1. I thought I'd provide a new box.

At a glance: Fort Boyard in the US will be happening right after the Intervilles, The Chase. Winning Lines.

28th June 2009

Well the first e-mail I got from a French chum was basically "urgh, I didn't like it."

Fortunately, he is wrong, Fort Boyard 2009 is (generally) really really good. In truth, I've still got some episodes from the past two years to watch because I was a bit bored - even the best shows need a kick up the backside occasionally. But tonight felt a bit like being 14 again.

We have evocative new 3-D titles, lots of swooping around the fort, and an exciting control room. This is where a lot of the fans issue seems to stem - the show has taken a more naval steampunk-esque direction of late - this was hinted at with the redecorated snake pit last year - there's a sort of idea I think that technology has no place on the fort. But I think this is rubbish, what's being used is very much in the spirit of the 1890s, not the 1980s, it's all gears and iron and rust and levers. Fort Boyard's been all about rusty iron since the beginning so what's the problem here? Lack of magic? But that's always been more covert than overt, besides, what's apparently powering everything? Basically, it's Lord Fear's technosorcery does Fort Boyard.
The water test is mildly diverting for the two minutes it takes up - find a code split into two around the fort before a tube of water runs dry. If they manage to fill a cup with water they have left, they get an extra test after the alloted time. It sounds like they get a choice of test too - agility or 'felicite'(?) Strength? Skill?
45 minutes to get as many keys as possible. Exciting new clock graphic. It's all gears and excitement. Progress is charted by Passe-Muraille on the walls, but this is largely very pointless and serves only to act as an inadvertant spoiler in publicity. Filming is very much evolution rather than revolution - the split screens are back, key collection graphic arguably less interesting than before. Running round the fort music very good, but I'd suggest some of the new beds a bit full-on. 5 keys is the minimum requirement, any less and players will need to be sacrificed to Mr Tchan before the treasure room.
Laboulle gets a mention but is apparently nowhere actually to be seen. Mr Tchan seems to be doing all the actual prison based duties. This is a real shame. New prisons seem to be in a retro actually-a-prison style, like they used to be. Surely this is good? Mr Tchan's game has also changed - it's no longer a tangram puzzle, instead the player must recreate a rotating pattern using two-coloured bars. I thought this seemed quite easy, although they seemed to have a lot of trouble with it.
Room of Challenges - prisoners must find codes by playing unpleasant games to open boxes of metal triangles. All prisoners get released, but if you don't win the game then Mr Tchan will take you away at the Treasure Room - effectively a sacrifice. If they don't have prisoners, the team can select who plays. The metal triangles all have holes in them, which relate to a large peg board made up of triangles of three different colours, relating to the three different boxes on show. Only one of the boxes has bonus Boyards that are gettable, they are blocked by a pane of glass in the other boxes. To eliminate wrong boxes, the team have about a minute to cover the board with the metal triangles they've won. When a colour is fully covered, that eliminates the box. So if you don't win both games or if you don't fit everything then you will have to make a guess at the end. This makes more sense than I've made it sound.
The most surprising change with the adventures is the music - it sounds like all the old tunes have been reversioned to sound a bit more naval and dramatic. This is controversial. However, I like what I've heard so far and I'm intrigued to hear what they might have done with the other games. And why not? Variation No 1 (played during the Tyrollene game with the ship) is the best tune after all, and that's always been tied closely to the main theme. Not a massive fan of the new clue clock graphic though I don't think, gears are all well and good but it's not been worked in the same clever way the main clock has. Maybe they should have tried gunpowder?
The Council seems to have lots of new games, but is rather pointlessly accessed through a tunnel. Passe-Muraille gets to shut a door. However the team effectively wagering treasure room time on the outcome of a game lends to some mildly interesting strategy. And the base time is three minutes not 2:30 as originally thought. After seeing the game the rest of the team looking on from a different room choose what the game will be played for by pulling a lever - 10, 20, or 30 seconds, and one is to avoid a 15 second penalty if the game is lost. Each prize can only be played for once. I used to find the Council quite boring, but my interest is piqued again.
Treasure room is the same as it has been for the last few years, except you can't exchange clues for keys, but if you have more than seven keys you can exchange them for clues. The period of grace between the time Minne pulls his lever to start the game and Felindra getting the tigers away that teams enjoyed in 2008 has been removed again.
Once again, the team also collect keys in the treasure room to open up the bonus box at the end but if they have more than one bonus box with them they'll have to make a choice as to which one they're going to attempt to open.

And that's it! I thought the show was getting a bit bloated in its old age (which was one of the reasons I thought it went downhill in 2002), but the new things work quite well and don't feel as though they outstay their welcome. Please direct all proper discussion to The Watchtower on the left.

27th June 2009

Clip Boyard

The Summer starts here!!!!!1 The first episode of Fort Boyard 2009 goes out on France 2 this evening, followed by an exciting retrospective they do every five years. Fingers crossed, they should be found on the official France 2 site, and this year you can watch the episodes on a full screen rather than a window. Wooh! If you move your eyes to the left, you should see a new place to direct all FB09 discussion for the Summer.

However, Michael Jackson died this week. What game could be use to tie in with this historical event? And it hit me, Jackson did the Moonwalk, Tapis Roulant has some people on a conveyor belt. Brilliant! This clip comes from the legendary hosts special from 1996 which was one of the episodes on the Best of DVD that was released years ago.

If Jacko hadn't passed away this week we'd have done Douches because it's Glastonbury weekend. Ah! Humour.

In other news, thanks to Paul for finding out that Challenge TV will start showing Fun House from next Sunday at 8:30am.

Unexpected Big Brother media career cameos of our time #1

Gos from Big Brother 4 (you know, the chef) talking about Michael Jackson on Stephen Nolan's Radio 5 Live show this morning.

At a glance: A new Turkish show called Repent or Die! or something, amusing descriptions of the Fun House endgame of our time, Pointless. Chinese Price is Right, Total Wipeout series two starts next Saturday, The Banker doesn't use Twitter, Top Divided statistics.

25th June 2009

Yes I know it's about time

As you may or may not be aware of, I have a proper real actual job which stops me from updating the site with every bit of news that arrives, and even then only the properly interesting stories get the front page treatment. Sometimes it can be days between proper updates.

But during the time between updates, the comment boxes are a hive of activity of news and opinion and I've always attributed equal (if not more) weight to them in the Bother's Bar experience. Despite this, not every one reads each one religiously, and it's difficult to know if a topic has come up or not.

So I'm trialling something out for a bit - once an evening (or at the very least when I put a new box up) I'm intending to write an at a glance digest of the previous box so you'll have a better idea as to whether a subject is covered or not. All I ask is that once a new box is started, direct all discussion into it. Let's see how it goes.

Big Brother's Live Nominations

This was really good! In a show that appears to be losing touch with its dwindling viewership, I enjoyed the idea that we're being shown something live and relevant that's something only really Big Brother can do. I've always found it a bit strange that viewers and housemates are forced to be a day behind the producers with regards to nomination results. Sod the narrative, just find some way to tell us on nominations day or better still, make them live every week. Big Brother should be all about the up-to-the-minute.

With all the sprinting to the diary room (everyone having just 90 seconds after their name is called), it was also just the right side of ridiculous.

23rd June 2009

The Clipton Factor - Celebrity Countdown

Sorry we've not done an awful lot, we've got swine flu coming on or something (i.e. I'm sneezing a lot). Anyway, in honour of friend of the Bar Ryan from Canada who will be competing on Countdown in November, here's the final three rounds of the first episode of one series wonder Celebrity Countdown from 1998. This week it is Des Lynam vs Sian Lloyd with Magnus Magnusson in Dictionary Corner.

If the scores look a bit low, do bear in mind that it was only a seven round contest - letters, letter, numbers, letters, letters, numbers, conundrum.

At a glance: Countdown font, BBUS rumours, Sarabande jackpot win, US Superstars, Divided and Quiz Time at 5, what's going to be on 4oD?, Crystal Maze theme with a Donk in it, Big Brother live noms, new official Fort Boyard site, Pointless with Alexander Armstrong. Eva Longoria on Fort Boyard.

21st June 2009

Youtube playlist FRENZY!

People have asked me for it for sometime, so I've done some Clip Boyard playlists!

For all the tests I've uploaded, click on this link here.
For all the adventures I've uploaded, click on this link here.
For miscellaneous stuff, click on this link here.

God, it's a wonder Adventure Line haven't "sent me a friendly e-mail" before now.

Meanwhile we got sent a link to this a little while ago and haven't quite got round to watching it yet. It's got Youtube playlists for both Spanish and Itialian versions of El Grande Juego de Oca, but perhaps more interestingly a show called La Noche de los Castellos which we haven't got round to watching yet but promise to do so tomorrow.

20th June 2009

Clip Boyard

OK, the more eagle eyed viewers might have noticed that this year's exciting choice of font on the show is Serpentine, which is the same font they used on The Mole in the UK. So with that in mind, here's Taupe (Mole) from 2003, although it was played between 1999 and 2003.

In other news:

There's a documentary about Island Records on Channel 4 at the moment, and I *finally* get the "stool pigeon ha cha-cha-cha" reference. --not so anonymous Chris M. D.

To be honest, a perfect recollection of Kid Creole and the Coconuts lyrics is the bare minimum I'd expect the average bar punter to have. No, this actually came about by accident after a nicely timed edition of Ashes to Ashes Singalong on the BBC Red Button.

Meanwhile, I Survived a Japanese Gameshow returned to US screens this week, and they know which side the bread is buttered - now it's three games every week, two ridiculous team challenges (winning the first one gives an advantage for the second reward/immunity one) and an elimination challenge. Obvious US reality storyboarding strikes again, but it doesn't stop the meat the of the show being entertaining.

18th June 2009

Tepid Topic: Law of the Playground

So! Have you ever noticed that lots of the really big shows in recent years have been basically big money versions of the sorts of fun games you used to play at school at break times and that?

Deal or No Deal is basically Big Money Chicken.
Big Brother is basically Big Money Playing In A Wendy House.
The forthcoming The Chase is basically Big Money What's The Time Mr Wolf?
Copper Rose of Montreux winner Accumulate is basically sort of Big Money Sort of Conkers.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is basically a Big Money GCSE Module Exam.
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader/Ten Year Old is basically Big Money Being In A School.

So bearing all this in mind, what's the next great show success story going to be based on? What did you used to play at school that could be turned into the Next Big Thing?

In other news, we're probably not going to be able to see I Survived a Japanese Gameshow or Wipeout until the weekend, but feel free to comment on them.

16th June 2009

The Clipton Factor: Sub Zero

Alright, we were talking about the Big Brother laser task last week weren't we? So let us glide very tangentally to 1999 kids show Sub Zero, for reasons that will become apparent when you watch the clip i.e. it has some lasers in it. But not just any old lasers - oh no - but virtual ones because the virtual camera technology used on the virtual adventure had never been used on television before. It was basically Knightmare without the helmet. These days of course the technology is mainly used on Jeremy Vine's sections on election broadcasts.

But who designed these adventures, eh? Who were the first people to do something properly with this fledgling technology? Well basically it was Bother's Bar regulars David J Bodycombe, Chris M Dickson and a 17-year old Brig No Middle Initial Bother. The adventures were themed, this one is the spy one if I remember correctly (i.e. it involves a torch, a camera and some lasers. And a kennel.). I don't think it holds up terribly well (although it was very exciting at the time), and it's a pity more gameshowy stuff wasn't made of the technology really. I have not done telly since.

The Quiz Factor

Alright then, apparently according to Quizzing, ITV are apparently about to trial two quiz shows: The Fuse and The Chase in the 5pm Divided slot (whose six-week run finishes soon). The object is the more popular show gets a full commission. We don't know all that much about either show, but that's not going to stop us speculating wildly.

The Fuse is going to be hosted by rugby player Austin Healey (that's not speculation, it's fact). What we've gathered is that six people try and build a bank in a manner not dissimilar to the end game on Battle of the Brains (the team have to all get a question right consecutively in order to win). People are eliminated along the way, there's a fuse involved, it's going to be Team Quiz Pass the Bomb isn't it? If this doesn't get past its two week pilot, it will be a short Fuse. Thanks.
The Chase we know very little about, only that the premise involves a team going up against a quiz champion in an attempt to win £100,000. We reckon it's basically going to be a grown-ups version of above-average kids quiz Eliminator, except that instead of a dressed up man chasing a team across a game board moving at a set pace, the quiz champ will have to earn squares by answering questions.

See how hilariously wrong or brilliantly right we are in the next month.

14th June 2009

Sunday Stuff

I really enjoyed Big Brother's new eviction interview panel thing - this week with Dom Joly and behavioural expert Judi James joining Davina. It was interesting and insightful in a way that eviction interviews haven't been for a fair while. Past housemates are promised on the panel, so look out for Endemol ruining it with Nikki off of BB7 inevitably in the future.
Wednesdays are exciting! If you're American - not only is Wipeout on, but series two of Golden Rose and therefore Best Show of 2008 I Survived a Japanese Gameshow begins this week as well.

13th June 2009

Clip Boyard

Two weeks to go!

In reference to a conversation earlier in the week, here's French pop group L5 with their team from 2004, in particular this year the Maitres des Tenebres had some rather more unusual challenges in store for the team who wanted to get their prisoners released. We approve of the cages on rails. Apologies in advance for editing out the second game for time, Bâtonnets, but we have actually showed that already in the second part of the first ever visit to the Council in 1995. The creature based games on show were only played this year (although the details on the 2009 show suggest they might be bought back), and the games shown are Crapauds, Rondelles de bois, and Aquarium.

12th June 2009

How interesting!

Thanks to Tim for this little story in the last comment box, which probably deserves a wider airing:

"A nice lady at the Divided audition told me their friend had been on TCoM and rather unexpectedly made a target of £80,000 (the woman that went "I'm gonna go with silver" in the promos) which I can only imagine they were saving up for the grand finale. I hope for her sake they'll still honour the payment in spite of it not being broadcast."

Goodness.

The Bother Series of Poker is over.

Well, with Ongame's change of software that stops private tournaments, and having already mucked people around with the whole PokerRoom/BWin thing earlier in the year, I've taken the decision to end The BSoP early after just five rounds, because I'm fed up of being mucked around and I'm fed up of having to muck you, the punters, around.

However, I'm still going to honour the cash payouts based on how the league stands now. That means Greg Lowe is our runaway BSoP champion and wins a whopping £60 bonus and title of BSoP Champion 2009-ish. Matt Clemson's last minute surge earns him the runner up spot and £30, and joint third is myself and Simon Fox who split the £20 between us. Congratulations all, if you could e-mail me your details so I can send you the money.

I'm really sorry it's had to end this way because I've really enjoyed our little Sunday night games (although I was a bit disappointed it wasn't quite as popular as I'd hoped) and if I can find a better and more permanent solution then I'd like to start it up again next year, or even later in the year. A big thanks to everyone who played, and hopefully I'll see you on the tables soon.

Still, not long until Fantasy X Factor.

It's "Would Probably Be Better in a Comment Box" Friday!!!!

From the "ooh, aren't journalists a bit slow, it's not wonder nobody buys newspapers any more" newsdesk, The Colour of Money has been axed.

Also Channel 4/Virgin Media - please have Big Brother on catch up the same night it goes out rather than appearing several days later. That would be fun and useful. Thanks bye!

Ooh there were two episodes of Wipeout this week. Fun!

10th June 2009

Fort Boyard 2009

Right! We know how it's going to work this year, thanks to Fort Bavard:

Six people to a team as usual, except on special episodes when there will be seven.
The route with all the tests has been determined in advance and is painted on the walls of the fort, from what I can gather. Does this mean no 45 minute time limit any more?
Edit: ah, no I see what this is - there's a banner with all the results on. It seems to show 13 tests and five adventures. It appears to be on rails so it can follow the team round, like a sort of modern day Horologue du Tigre. Er, and that's it.
5-7 keys needed to open the treasure room gate to varying degrees, but if they earn more than 7 keys they can be exchanged for extra clues.
Six new tests this year: 'le billiard' (billiards), 'le smash' (smash), 'le mal de mur' (the evil wall), 'le transformateur' (transformer), 'les marches en tubes' (steps out of tubes) and 'la chambrière' ("except chamber", apparently)
Once again there is a chance for the team to earn a bonus box of Boyards. There are three boxes and the team will play challenges. If they win a game, one of the empty boxes will be eliminated. The team pick from any boxes that are left.
Prisoners will be helping out in these challenges and are likely to get the nasty end of the stick. Shades of the 2004 Council here I think.
Adventures apparently as normal, two new ones this year: 'Le balanciers' (Beams) and le Pipe Line (Pipe Line).
It looks like this year the team will be betting treasure room time on the outcome of council games - my understanding is that the team find out what each game is going to be and select whether it will be played for 10, 20 or 30 seconds. The fourth game carries a risk, because if it's lost then they will lose 15 seconds. Each bet can be used once.
Treasure Room as how it has been for the past few years.
And that's it! New series starts June 27th, there's a very good chance it will be streaming on the official site where you can still watch last year's episodes. Eva Longoria and Tony Parker along with his basketball chums are on the first one.

9th June 2009

The Clipton Factor: Here Comes the Sun

Well, with the glorious British summer in full swing, this week we felt it's time to celebrate with two families battling it out to win a timeshare apartment somewhere hot whilst The Sweeney look on. This excerpt is from 2003.

8th June 2009

He's got a CD PLAYER PLAYER PLAYER PLAYER

So! What else says "contractual obligation" better than Big Brother 10?

Sunday night's ratings up against The Apprentice: You're Fired were just under two million. Not awful for Channel 4 on a Sunday night by any means, but compared to the same show on BB9 (Sunday of week 1), a full two million down. That's over half. (Source: Inside Big Brother).

The big story this year is that there's no live feed - i.e. the one thing that makes Big Brother uniquely Big Brother, which they've got rid of so they can cut costs (and not, for example, just to give a nightly highlight show that unquestionably paints the housemates in whatever light that fits the story, right gang?(*)).

But we can't help but feel this is a bit short-sighted. Of course, the live feed probably doesn't get that many viewers but this ignores the value these viewers have on the programme. These people are the ones who create the buzz and create the word of mouth, creating the stories, ultimately the people who are creating the viewers for the highlight shows. Think of all the interesting and exciting things that have happened on Big Brother over the years and now imagine what impact they would have had if there was no chance of any rumour and build-up that the live feed creates. Whilst your ratings woes may or may not be down to axing the live feed, removing the one thing that's most likely to get people interested can't be the solution, surely?

Personally we don't really watch it - although the entire evening of infamous BB5 fight night and Geroge Galloway and Preston nominating with everyone watching in secret were electric pieces of television that just wouldn't have had the same impact limited to the highlight shows. And Nasty Nick's comeuppance in the very first series, broadcast live online, was the thing that kickstarted the show in the first place. But despite not following, I like to keep up with people's opinions on forums and things, and if they something interesting is happening then it's useful to switch it on.

We've actually quite enjoyed the series so far, they seem like a decent bunch of people. I was a bit disappointed that the bus didn't reverse into the garden to pick up the evicted housemate, which seemed like a trick missed. Still though. Also, I am secretly quite enjoying Davina McCall's Twitter updates. Don't tell anyone though.

(*) If anyone from Endemol is reading, if you could edit it so that Marcus wins that would be grand. Or rather a tenner at 14-1 would be £150, but you know what I mean.

7th June 2009

Blimey.

Eva Longoria off of Desperate Housewives and beauty product ads and Tony Parker will be competing on Fort Boyard this Summer on France 2. The series begins in three weeks.

I'm idly wondering if their involvement on Fort Boyard is a test for ABC to think about some sort of I'm a Celeb spoiler programming next year?

In other French adventure related news, Carte Aux Tresors is getting a complete overhaul this year - this year three teams of two will compete in three challenges with the worst performers getting kicked off, and if the final team can find the Rose au Vents not only do they win €10,000 but they get to come back next episode and play again.

6th June 2009

Pickled Egg.

Clever, and one for all you Spec-chums out there.

Graham Norton's Saturday Night Takeaway

aka Totally Saturday.
I know it can be quite fashionable in certain circles to knock Graham Norton, but I've always quite liked him and certainly his being able to ad-lib amusingly catty comments on a live show raises what's otherwise a fairly average light entertainment format, one filled with lots of stuff you've probably seen variations of elesewhere on Noel's House Party/DFY Toothbrush/Johnny and Denise's Passport to Paradise/The Ant and Dec etc..
The Hamster Run (member of audience dresses as a giant hamster and runs on a giant hamster wheel to win money for themselves and a home viewer) was surprisingly more fun than it appears, very much a Grab A Grand for the naughties.
Are We There Yet? seemed really difficult on initial viewing. In it, a family must stop a rising and falling totaliser with enough miles between them to win a holiday - this week to Hong Kong where they need to score 6,400 out of 7,500. It's big prize PGA Tour Golf 2 on the Mega Drive, awesome. With only a 15% error of judgement allowed between them, I thought they'd stand little chance but actually they did OK (even if they didn't win).

Clip Boyard

This week's clip involves fun with water, buckets, and basic physics. It's not the best game ever. It's not the worst game ever, it's merely seaux-seaux. Thanks.

Seaux is French for 'buckets', translation fans. This clip comes from 2001, the game was played in 2001 and 2002.

5th June 2009

Right, it's late and I can't be bothered to list all the non-housemates, so I'll quickly name my favourites: Derren Brown lookalike Freddie-Nice-But-Dim, Gayle Tuesday lookalike Sophie, clearly the winner Wolverine lookalike Marcus, short June Sarpong lookalike Sophia and Indian Jamie Theakston lookalike Sree. Oh, and actual housemate Brazillian Roderigo seems OK as well.

It certainly, heh, "looks like" a fun few days in store, viewers, as the non-housemates attempt to become housemates.

4th June 2009

Ten series, nine years yeah?

Well, it's the TV EVENT OF THE SUMMER this evening, the night where everyone tunes in to see how many it girls with attitude yeah they're going to put in the Big Brother house before everyone switches off for the rest of the Summer. It's such a shame, we used to love the show but it's been years since its managed to hold our attention. Still though.

I'm working and will be watching the launch show on record, but feel free to discuss it in the comment box below.

Edit: Just watched Big Brother's Big Quiz on Channel 4, announcer at the end apologises to viewers in the South of England for sound interference. I didn't think Nikki Grahame was that bad. Ha! I should write for panel shows.

2nd June 2009

The Clipton Factor: Intervilles

Yeah, Wipeout is all well and good but does it have a bull and games that go on for slightly too long? I don't think so.

This clip was from 1996. The show, of course, is the precursor to It's a Knockout, and it was reversioned as Simply the Best over here in 2004. It continues in France to this day.

1st June 2009

Poor taste reference to someone missing the point of Survivor

Thanks to David for pointing this out, it looks like (tch, finally) we have our first reality show death - in Bulgarian Survivor. Here's a link to the story.

This quite rightly is very sad for all concerned, and I'm very surprised it happened on Survivor to be honest, which always seemed to take health and safety quite seriously. No details of the challenge that led to the heart attack have been revealed.

I'd be intrigued to find out if it was a production crew that also helps film other nation's versions, the French and Israelis had filmed on the location (the Caramoan Peninsula in the Philippines) previously.