Scream If You Know the Answer!

Current revision as of 13:58, 12 October 2024

Synopsis

Duncan James hosts as celebrities team up with members of the public to form two-man teams, before answering questions and completing challenges while on various roller coasters and thrill rides at Thorpe Park, for the chance to win up to £5,000.

There are various rounds, however four rounds are played each week. In most rounds, the number of points per correct answer, or the number of points per second lasted is dictated by which number round it is. For example, a correct answer in round two will score two points, or lasting 14 seconds in round three will score 42 points. The rounds include -

Queasy as ABC – This involves each team having to ride either the Colossus or Nemesis: Inferno roller coasters, while taking turns to give answers to a given category. These categories are usually quite simple, like ‘Food’ or ‘Body Parts’ for instance, however the players must provide answers in sequence for each letter of the alphabet as they go around. Points are given for each correct answer provided by the correct player.

Easier Said…Than Spun - This round involves one player from each team riding the Slammer or Samurai spinning rides, while via an earpiece, their partner on the ground describes to them a series of everyday items being shown to them on flashcards. Points are scored for each correct answer given, according to the rules explained above, however on occasion, five points are awarded per correct answer, regardless of the round number. In the second series, this round also took place on the Zodiac spinning ride, with both team members taking part, riding in separate carriages.

Q and Aaaaargh! (originally Question and Aaaaargh!) - This round sees the host join the celebrity from each team on the SAW: The Ride or Nemesis: Inferno roller coasters (or the Samurai spinning ride from the second series) As they go around, the host asks a series of quick-fire questions, with the first player to correctly answer scoring for their team.

Yes or No and Down You Go – This round sees the celebrity from each team being hoisted to the top of the Detonator tower ride with the non-celebrity from the other team. Once at the top of the tower, the celebrity must ask the non-celebrity a series of questions. Should the non-celebrity say ‘Yes’, ‘No’, or ‘Maybe’, the round ends, and they are dropped from the top of the tower. Points are scored based on how many seconds they remain at the top of the tower.

Pair Shaped - This round also takes place aboard the Detonator tower ride. While each team ascends the tower, they can see a 4x4 board of panels on the ground, containing 8 pairs of symbols. Once at the top of the tower, the board is turned over, with each of the 16 panels being numbered. They must then shout out two numbers of what they think are matching symbols. If they are incorrect, or take longer than ten seconds to provide an answer, they are dropped from the top of the tower. Points are scored for each correctly matched pair. If they successfully match all 8 pairs, they are dropped anyway.

Stop the Drop - Once again, this round takes place aboard the Detonator tower ride. Once at the top of the tower, taking turns, the team-mates must name items from a given category. Should they provide an incorrect answer, or take longer than five seconds to provide an answer, they are dropped from the top of the tower. Points are awarded for each correct answer.

Twisty Listy - In this round, each team rides the Nemesis: Inferno roller coaster. Before they start, they are given the beginning of a story, for example, ‘I went to London and I saw…’. As the ride gets underway, each team member take turns to add an item to the list, so for example, the first team member might say, ‘I went to London and I saw an apple’. The other contestant could then say, ‘I went to London and I saw an apple and a carrot’, before the first team member would then repeat the sentence, adding a third item to the list. Points are awarded at the end of the round, based on how many items the team successfully added to their list. It should be noted the adjudicators are fairly liberal with what answers are deemed correct in this round.

Sum Like It Not - This round involves the celebrity contingent of each team riding the Rush giant swing ride. While on the ride, the two non-celebrity team-mates on the ground below hold up a series of large signs with fairly simple mathematical sums on them. The first celebrity contestant to shout out the correct answer scores for their team.

Retch-A-Sketch - In this round, the two members of each team sit opposite each other on the swinging, spinning Vortex ride. Once the ride is underway, the celebrity contestant is told an everyday item either via an earpiece or by the host who sometimes joins them on the ride. The celebrity must draw the everyday object on a small white-board, and then show it to their team member on the other side of the circle of seats. Each item the non-celebrity team member correctly guesses scores for their team.

Words of Whizzdom - This round also takes place on the swinging, spinning Vortex ride. One member from each team sits either side of the host, while on the opposite side of the circle of seats, eight people hold up a card with a letter on it. Once the ride is underway, taking turns, and with the host taking care of the timing, the two team members each have three periods of 15 seconds to name as many words as they can that can be made up from the eight letters on the cards. The minimum word length allowed is three letters, which scores three points, with four points for a four letter word (made up from the cards, not from their mouths) and so on. There is also one eight letter word, worth eight points, which can be made up from the letters. Any answers already given do not score.

Duncan’s Donuts - This round sees the celebrity contestant ride either the Samurai or Slammer spinning rides, as their non-celebrity team-mate asks them general knowledge questions from the ground below. The celebrity scores for their team for each correct answer they give, however, should they answer incorrectly, the non-celebrity must put a doughnut in their mouth. They can continue to ask their team-mate questions, but as their mouth fills with doughnuts it obviously becomes more difficult for the celebrity on the ride to understand what they are saying, and thus it becomes more difficult to score.

Stars in Their Cries - This round takes place on the Colossus or Nemesis: Inferno roller coasters, and sees one team member name a famous person. The other team member must then take the first letter of that famous person’s surname, and then name a famous person whose name starts with that letter. The team members carry on providing answers back and forth until the end of the ride, with points awarded for every correct answer, and double points for every famous person mentioned whose first name and surname begin with the same letter.

To Spell and Back - This round sees the celebrity team member ride the Slammer spinning ride, while their non-celebrity team mate stands on the ground below, with a blackboard with 30 words on it in front of them. The words are divided into three groups of ten based on how difficult they are to spell. Once the ride is underway, the non-celebrity team member must shout out a word from the blackboard, which the celebrity on the ride must then spell correctly. One point is given for each word from the easy list which is spelled correctly, three points for a word from the medium list, and five points for a word from the hard list. It is entirely up to the non-celebrity team member to decide which words from the blackboard they shout to their team mate on the ride, leaving it up to them to decide which strategy is best - pick the easier words but score low, or pick harder words for more points, but run the risk of time-wasting incorrect spellings.

After the four rounds have taken place, the team that has the most points moves on to the final round, the Cash Dash. This round takes place on the Stealth roller coaster, and sees each player in the team taking a separate ride on the attraction. As they travel the course (which only lasts around 15-20 seconds or so), they must name as many items from a given category as they can. After their partner has done the same, for every answer both players said, the non-celebrity contestant wins £500 up to a maximum of £5000.

Series 2

After recording respectable ratings for its first series, the programme returned the following year. The new series followed much the same pattern as the first, however it also introduced the following new games -

Rider's Block - Taking place on the Colossus roller coaster, before the ride begins one team is shown a list of items from a given category. Once the ride is underway, the team members must take turns to name items from the list. Following this, the opposing team takes their turn, naming items from the same list. Points are awarded for every correct answer.

Barfta Spinning Performance - In this round, the two members of each team sit opposite each other on the swinging, spinning Vortex ride. Once the ride is underway, the celebrity contestant is told the name of a film via an earpiece by the host on the ground. They must then convey the name of the film to their non-celebrity team mate via Give Us a Clue-style mimes and gestures. Points are awarded for every film title correctly guessed.

Pop-Hilarity Contest - Taking place on the Detonator tower ride, this game sees the celebrity team mate hoisted to the top of the tower, whilst down on the ground, their non-celebrity team mate is blind-folded, and must pedal a tricycle under a frame from which ten water-filled balloons are suspended. In the minute before the ride releases the celebrity to drop back down to earth, the celebrity must guide their team mate via an earpiece as to which direction they should cycle in order to pop the balloons by means of a spiky pole attached to their helmet. Each balloon popped is worth five points, with a bonus of ten points available for popping all ten.

Nobody Does It Wetter - This round takes one of two forms. In the first form, each non-celebrity team mate takes turns to pick five numbers from a board of twenty. Behind ten of the numbers is a small cupboard containing one or two sponges. The cupboards behind the other ten numbers are empty. Any sponges they find behind their chosen five numbers are then stuck strategically on their celebrity team mates, who are wearing Velcro suits. In the second form, both teams are asked five questions, the answer to which is always the name of a famous person. The celebrity team mate from each team is responsible for writing down the first name of the famous person, while the non-celebrity team mate is responsible for writing down the famous person's surname. They must do this without conferring. For each part of the famous person's name each team correctly write down, the team is awarded one sponge, meaning a maximum of ten sponges are available to both teams. Like in the first form of the round, the sponges are then stuck onto the celebrity team mate's Velcro suits. At this point, in both forms of the game, the two celebrities, along with the host, board the Tidal Wave giant splash boat ride. When the ride splashes into the reservoir at the bottom of the drop, with their sponges, the celebrities must attempt to soak up as much water during the splash as possible. After disembarking, the sponges are put through a mangle, with the water that is released being collected in specially-marked measuring tubes. Points are awarded for each unit of water collected.

Together In Electric Screams - This round takes place on the Quantum rotating pendulum ride, and sees one member of each team board the ride with a cup of water in each hand, and another on top of their helmet. During the ride, this person must attempt to keep as much water in the cups as possible. Meanwhile, their team mate on the ground must move a hoop of wire back and forth along a piece of copper piping. Each successful pass earns five points, however, touching the copper pipe with the wire hoop costs them a point, and sends an electric shock to their team mate on the ride, making it even harder for them to keep the water in the cups. Any water that remains in the cups at the end of the round is transferred to specially-marked measuring tubes, with points awarded for each unit of water collected. Which team member boards the ride, and which team member takes on the wire varies by episode.

Duncan James You've Changed - Taking place on the Rush giant swing ride, this round takes one of two forms. In the first form, the celebrity team mate from each team boards the ride, from where, at the top of the swing, on the ground they can see a large picture of the host dressed up in some comical way - for instance like a cowboy. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ride, on the ground, their non-celebrity team mate, has a similar picture. However there are seven difference between the two pictures. By means of comparing the images verbally via an earpiece (as neither team member can see both pictures), the team mates must figure out what the differences are, with the non-celebrity on the ground marking them with a giant pencil. In the second form of the round, the non-celebrity team mate boards the ride, from which at different points of the swing, they can see both pictures. With their celebrity team mate standing on the ground next to one of the pictures, they must communicate via an earpiece what the differences are, with their celebrity team mate marking them with a giant pencil. In both forms of the round, only differences which are circled due to being correctly identified verbally, as opposed to being circled due to miscommunication, or a random guess or stroke of luck are awarded points.

Clearly, this isn't one of those game shows that has spent many hours in the development stage. Putting people on roller coasters, and asking them questions is pretty simplistic. However, it works better than you’d expect, and is actually quite fun. Duncan James is a competent and energetic host, while the voiceover from Colin Murray is good, being both informative, but also slightly-mocking, in a funny, but never cruel way.

Credit deservedly goes to the team behind the show for managing to invent so many different games, and it was having a pool of different rounds that kept each episode in the first series fresh. It is disappointing therefore, that with the exception of the Q and Aaaaargh! and Retch-a Sketch rounds, none of the other first series games have made a return for the second series, meaning the two games noted, together with the small number of new games in series two are on a frequent rotation, resulting in each episode in the second series feeling rather samey. This feeling is compounded due to the fact the games are often played at the same point in the running order in different episodes. On a more positive note, the calibre of the celebrities, while not exactly A-list, is just a peg above what you’d usually find on a celebrity reality show (in other words, you’ve actually heard of most of them). On the whole, it represents a good half-hour of solid family fun.

Scream Extreme

For its third series, the programme underwent several changes as a result of Watch partnering with the Travel Channel in the United States which had aired the first two series across the pond. The first change saw the programme's title altered to become Scream Extreme. The next change saw the action switch to the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park in California. Like the first two series, the teams of two consisted of one famous person and one member of the public. However for this series, another change saw one team made up of British contestants, while the other team was made up of American participants. Despite these changes, the core concept of the programme - completing tasks on roller coasters and their ilk - remained, as did Duncan James and Colin Murray on hosting and voiceover duties respectively.

Participants

2010

• Kyran Brackan (ex-rugby player) and Ben Shephard (TV presenter)
  
• Jeff Brazier (TV presenter) and Anthea Turner (TV presenter)
  
• Amir Khan (boxer) and Katie Price (ex-glamour model)
  
• Barry McGuigan (ex-boxer) and Caroline Flack (TV presenter)
  
• DJ Spoony (no idea) and Suzanne Shaw (actress)
  
• Iwan Thomas (ex-athlete) and Angellica Bell (TV presenter)
  
• Phil Tufnell (ex-cricketer) and Cleo Rocos (actress)
  
• Tim Vine (comedian) and Gina Yashere (comedienne)
  
• Rav Wilding (TV presenter) and Jennie Bond (ex-BBC Royal correspondent)
  
• Matt Willis (ex-Busted singer) and Natalie Emmanuelle (ex-Hollyoaks actress)
  

2011

• John Barrowman (TV presenter) and John Thomson (actor)
• Lee Ryan (Blue singer) and Simon Webbe (Blue singer)
• Louie Spence (dancer and TV personality) and Tamzin Outhwaite (ex-EastEnders actress)
• Jack Osbourne (TV personality) and Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey actress)
• Denise Van Outen (TV presenter and actress) and Jason Gardiner (Dancing on Ice judge)
• Neil Morrissey (actor) and Edwina Currie (ex-Tory MP)
• Joe Swash (ex-EastEnders actor) and Vanilla Ice (rapper)
• Dom Joly (comedian) and Kate Silverton (BBC newsreader)
• Janice Dickinson (model and actress) and Joe Calzaghe (boxer)
• Michelle Collins (ex-EastEnders actress) and Gavin Henson (rugby player)

Key moments

The frequent swearing from the contestants - and the host - while on the rides.

The look of abject fear on the faces of the celebrities as the rides get underway.

The time during the Star in Their Cries round, when one non-celebrity, paired with actress and singer Suzanne Shaw, was required to name a famous person whose name starts with the letter D, and answered Darren Day - Suzanne Shaw’s ex.

The time rapper Vanilla Ice chose not to ride the 205ft tall, vertically-dropping, 0-80mph in 1.9 seconds Stealth roller coaster, apparently because of the weather. Hmm... Fellow participant, actor Joe Swash, took his place on the ride for the Cash Dash round in this episode.

Trivia

Any contestant who throws up is given the Chunder Wonder award.

In the third episode, a scoring error in one round initially saw the wrong team declared the winner. However in the spirit of fairness, both teams were given the chance to win money in the Cash Dash round.

The second episode of the second series saw a 75% successful reunion of boyband Blue as host Duncan James oversaw the competition between bandmates Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe.

On one occasion in the second series, the Cash Dash round was played on the SAW: The Ride roller coaster, due to a ride malfunction on the Stealth roller coaster.

Scream Extreme was Watch's first in-house game show to be broadcast in high definition.

A web-based Flash game was produced to promote the show, and remained available for some years afterwards. About fifteen of the all-time top 20 scores were achieved quite early on by a UKGS staffer with nothing better to do one Saturday morning. So if you ever played it and wondered who was filling up the high-score table with the names of UN Secretaries General... yeah. Sorry.

See also

Weaver's Week reviews: 2010 and 2012

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