"What are points?"
"Pointless!!!"
"The more you know..."
"The less it matters!!!!!"
These are just some of the phrases used in Fluke, a gameshow based entirely on luck. It is presented by Tim Vine who won some award at the Edinburgh Fesival once. For anyone who doesn't know he uses puns to great effect (i.e. funny compared to Richard Whiteley's)
The game is played by 5 people, 4 new ones and 'The Duke of Fluke' who was the winner of last week's show. He talks to them to a bit (maybe takes the mick a bit) and then the first round is played. The five contestants are lined up around a wheel with the BOAWJP - The Bit Of A Wasted Journey Ponter. It is spun and whoever it lands on goes home with a siulver short straw and is taken off stage by, get this, Major Dissapointment (A bloke in an army costume, ha ha!).
The surviving competitors then play a game where they are asked questions with 50/50 chances of getting them right. Examples include : " I interrupted Bob Holness who was reading Jurrasic Park. Which page was he reading at the time?" and then they would play the film with the answer. 15 points for a correct answer. Stupid? Pointless? Fun? Yes.
After each person has had 2 questions, they do the RaceRound. There is a board with four objects with a common theme. Each player chooses one of them starting with the one with the biggest points. When everyone has chosen, he presses a button and the objects race across a track (randomly). Whoever came last is out of the game - no matter how many points they have (Which is why it's called a bye-bye round). Losers get however many pounds as the amount of points that they have earned.
With the three people that are left, they play 'What will that celebrity do next?' Here, they play a film where there are places where a celebrity could do two things. At these places the contestants held up a card of what they thought they would do next. The clip would continue and if they were right they would earn 20 points. This would be done 7 or 8 times.
Then there would be the next 'bye-bye' round. There would be three doors, one of which had a thing you had to avoid, such as 'throwing lemons'. The person with the highest score would select a door (A rhyme I've just made up). If it wasn't somebody throwing lemons (usually a celebrity) then they were safe. It might have been somebody growing lemons (to fit in with the show's pun theme). Then the second person would choose a door. This would go on until either of the three was out of the game.
Round four was a first on the buzzer round. They were given a choice of two answers (without a question) and as soon as they thought they knew the answer (!) they would buzz in. Example: "Spice Girls or greenflies?" "Greenflies" "You'd normally find greenflies on a plant" Ding! 25 points! However, for the fun in this round, try substituting the wrong answer in... usually quite funny!
After that round is the final "Bye-bye" round. This changes from week to week but the example I'll give is Russian Roulette played with Party Poppers. There are 6 Party Poppers, only one of which works. The two players that are left take it in turns to try a Party Popper. If it popped then they won!
That person is the Duke of Fluke ("Repeat after me 'I (whoever) have become The Duke of Fluke by being a tad fortunate"). It's now they can play for the prize - "And what's the prize?" "A big surprise!". Usually quite good but then the final game involves having to beat fixed odds. The prize was in a cage supported by three ropes. The Major had a pair of ceremonial shears. The Duke has to answer 6 50/50 questions (Example- "I have a Cd box here. Inside is there a CD or a cream cracker?"). If they got a question wrong the Major would cut one of the ropes. If all three are cut then the player loses. If they could get 4 correct then they win the big prize! Win or lose, The Duke keeps the money won and can attempt to win again the next week.
Tim Vine carries the show along very well. The gameshow itself is totally pointless but is actually quite watchable in it's own little way.
Uppers: Genuinely original in places. Excellent playalongathome factor. Tim Vine is funny
Downers: Completely and utterly pointless.
VERDICT- 7/10 - It's a one joke series but it's a hell of a joke. Aquittal, lucky it got away with it.
Try to gues where these will take you!
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