K to O
K is for Krypton Factor
"The ultimate mental and physical test” according
to the dour but strangely compelling presenter, Gordon
Burns. Four contestants would run the gamut of five rounds
themed around Dungeons & Dragons character attributes:
knowledge, intelligence, observation etc. Best was ‘dexterity’
where players often had to assemble a working nuclear
bomb from a box of Perspex cubes of various colours: “What
Jeremy doesn’t know,” Burns would whisper
conspiratorially, “is that conduit A can’t
snap into the green joist!” Rumour has it that this
round actually took hours for the contestants to complete
and was then chopped down to five minutes in post production.
Of course, the highlight was the assault course. Each
week a science teacher from Bexley Heath dressed in
a red tracksuit would lose his grip on the death slide
and disappear into the cunningly placed quagmire. Hurrah!
Died after 17 series, when the producers turned it
in a rubbish cross between Gladiators & The Adventure
Game.
L is for Lose A Million
Forgettable quiz notable only for a novel twist
on the genre: contestants had to get questions wrong
to win. It was also an ill-fated TV outing for a minor
celebrity called Chris Tarrant. Oh how we sneered at
that has-been. Until…
M is for Millionaire
A complete genius of a show and arguably the zenith
of sixty years of TV quizzing and format experimentation.
Introduced ‘phone-a-friend’ into pop culture,
“Is that your final answer” into catchphraseology,
and squillions of pounds into Tarrant’s back account.
Chris, we’ve always liked you.
N is for No Win No Fee
F airly anonymous daytime quiz fare, except for one
neat little twistaroo. Presenter Paul Ross doesn’t
get paid unless he wins the £4000 cash prize from
the contestants. Nice.
O is for oh dear,
we couldn't come up with an 'o'. If you can think of
one, please mail us.
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