FHM Magazine article, August 2000

Gone the way of the dinosaur

Rifling the musty drawers of sporting history

With the notable, noble exception of the Japanese, few TV executives are still willing to fund shows where people off the street can flirt with death, grievous injury and total humiliation for the entertainment of the viewer. Not so British television visionaries of the late 70's who realised that dressing groups of co-workers in primary colours and soaking them to the bone in freezing conditions made great telly. That show, which featured commentary from a complete twit called Stuart Hall, and a constant array of B-list celebrities dropping in finished in the UK in 1983. It was then that the bigwigs at Australia's Channel 10 decided to produce a local version, filmed alternatively in Dural, NSW, and in Queensland. The format was very simple: state-based teams of office workers would compete in a variety of events, amassing points until the end of the game.

Highlights included soccer in bulbous-headed giant suits; pool leapfrog, where contestants had to cross and Olympic pool by leaping between yellow foam "pads"; a game where the opposing teams would climb into large, hollow swordsman-statues on wheels and try to burst each other's "head" -- a balloon with a face drawn on. At the height of its popularity, the show soared up the ratings -- especially in Queensland -- and rocketed both Jackie Mac and Kiwi co-host Ricky May to Aussie stardom -- indeed, when the jowly songman snuffed it, the entire nation went into a state of mourning.



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