A comical moment occurred during the assault course race on a 1988 celebrity edition of the show. In one of the water jumps, Sarah Greene was descending the pyramid-like wall the wrong way and an army instructor was yelling at her not to do it that way - so she pulled him into the water with her. Nice one, Sarah! In fact, she was 'rewarded' for her actions, in that one of her opponents, 'Mad' Lizzie Webb, very generously waited for her so that the pair of them could cross the line in joint third place. Adrenalin in North Yorkshire markets itself as the home of the obstacle course from the TV series, which offers paying public a chance to take on the Assault course. [11] The Krypton Factor was one of those shows which came to be associated with a very definite spot in the schedules, in this case Monday nights at 7pm. This wasn't always the case, though: the first series went out on Wednesdays, and the second and third on Fridays. Bonus scheduling trivia (and this really is trivial): the grand final of the first series was shunted way past the watershed to allow for coverage of crucial World Cup Football qualifiers... except in Scotland, whose team weren't playing that night, and which therefore got to see the final at its usual time, hours before the rest of the country. There were six rounds mainly, one of which was observation in which you get to see a short clip of a running drama and asked questions on it. Another one was mental agility in which you are shown something in some sort of grid pattern, asked to memorise it and then asked to navigate around it with tough questions like "what number is to the left of 3?" and going up to stuff like "starting at the bottom right, what is the number in the third up, two right and left one square?" Show the Folks at Home: During the "Two Takes" and "Continuity Differences" versions of the Observation Round, Gordon would point out the answers to the home audience while the contestants were handing in their answers.

Cue silent blue Granada ident (minus "Colour Production" at the bottom from 1986 onwards), leading us (until 1985) to an animated eye, virtual assault course, and whatever resembles an Open University Physics programme. We then "meet" the contestants, courtesy of Granada announcer Charles Foster - three are men in their 20s or 30s, and one of them women (Marian Chanter was one of them) - so much for equality in those days. In 1986 The Art of Noise takes its place - cue someone's hands adjusting the logo to the official letter K position, thus making it light up. The Super Round in the 1995 retool. Instead of deciding the winner, the points gained are used to buy "advantages". You can bomb on all the rounds including General Knowledge and come out the winner by getting to the top of Mt. Krypton first. The series had two separate runs. The first was a five-week limited series that aired on ABC from August 7 to September 4, 1981. The second was a weekly syndicated series that premiered on September 15, 1990 and ran until September 7, 1991.The Krypton Factor is an American game show based on the UK series of the same name. Contestants on the program were tested on their mental ability and physical skill. Yes, there have been one or two very very good performances but they do tend to be the exception rather than the rule. A swing of over 5 points is quite rare so the first three rounds really do matter.

Several other champions had also been highest scoring losers in at least one of their heats - these included David Lee, Mike Berry, Tony Hetherington, Andy Wilbur, Aaron Bell and Pete Thompson. This also occurred a number of times on Mastermind. The 2009 revival used a new assault course which only has room for two contestants at a time. The time it took each contestant to complete the course was recorded, and revealed when the main part of the show was recorded. Female contestants had 45 seconds deducted from their time. The assault course was once again changed for the 2010 version, with all four contestants competing at the same time. Due to his work commitments with Granada Television on programmes such as World in Action and Granada Reports and later BBC Manchester for North West Tonight, he resided in Manchester for over thirty years. Burns most recently hosted a Sunday morning radio show for BBC Radio Manchester and BBC Radio Lancashire. He is known for a bona fide style of presenting which has made him popular with his audience. [1] [2] Early life [ edit ] The music used during the scoring at the end of the Response round in 1988 was "Forgotten Town" by The Christians. In the 1989 series, " Left to My Own Devices" by the Pet Shop Boys was used.

How it works

The second semi-final and grand final of the third series were originally scheduled to air on 10 and 17 August 1979, but they were rescheduled to 4 and 11 November 1979 due to the technicians' strike of 1979.

A 1988 celebrity edition featured Sarah Greene, Chris Quinten from Coronation Street, Ross Davidson from EastEnders and 'Mad' Lizzie Webb. This was won by Chris Quinten. (See also "Key Moments" above). A celebrity edition at the start of 1989 had Willie Carson, Suzanne Dando, and Gilly Coman all being beaten by Henry Kelly. General Knowledge, in addition to the standard Speed Round, originally played for as much time as was left, with questions worth +/- 2 points (+/- 1 in the first series). Then in the early 1980s it changed to open with three questions to each contestant from a specific category for two points each, followed by a 90-second speed round with questions worth +/- 1 point. From 1986 onward it was one speed round with a solid time limit depending on the year (100 seconds in 1986, 1987 and 1989, 90 seconds in 1988 and 1990-1992 and 75 in 1993 and 1995) and questions worth +/- 1 in 1986 and 1987 and +/- 2 for the remainder of the series. Repeats of the original version, hosted by Gordon Burns, are currently shown on UK digital channel Challenge. This round only took place in the first series, where it was third. In it, the contestants were sequestered where they had to write a 30-second script on a subject given to them like a destination brochure, a letter of complaint, etc., which they had one chance to perform. The performances were filmed and a focus group taken in twenty cities and towns across Great Britain voted on the best effort. In the 1982 series, Heat 7 winner Jim O'Neil, a medical student, had to bow out upon accepting a research position in The Gambia and runner-up Ross Wright took his place in the semis.I remember one TKF contestant delivering a stilted sub-Ronnie Barker attempt at ridiculing The Guardian's reputation for typos. The punch line was, "Buy The Grauniad. Only Pifteen Fence." I get the impression that many people would rather base jump, go deep pot-holing or race at dangerously high speeds than have to publically perform a comic piece they've written themselves.