Best of Friends
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In 2008, series 5 consisted of themed episodes, with hosts as follows: | In 2008, series 5 consisted of themed episodes, with hosts as follows: | ||
#'''Sport''' - Iwan Thomas and Darren Campbell | #'''Sport''' - Iwan Thomas and Darren Campbell | ||
- | #'''Music''' - Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes | + | #'''Music''' - [[Sam Nixon]] and [[Mark Rhodes]] |
#'''Activities''' - Iwan Thomas and Zoe Salmon | #'''Activities''' - Iwan Thomas and Zoe Salmon | ||
#'''Food''' - Gemma Hunt and Ortis | #'''Food''' - Gemma Hunt and Ortis |
Revision as of 09:45, 16 May 2009
Contents |
Hosts
2004-7: Michael "Abs" Absalom and Rani Khanijau
2008: Abs, Rani (now as Rani Price) and Ortis (any two in rotation)
2008 (themed editions): guest presenters, see Trivia below.
Broadcast
Talent TV for CBBC Channel, 7 March 2004 to 2008 (also aired on BBC1 and/or BBC2)
Synopsis
Very much one for the kids. Five children who are, yes, Best of Friends, take part in three challenges. Two or three do each challenge while the others are taken off for "a treat". The tasks are generally mildly unpleasant but not physically demanding. To take one show as an example, the three challenges were:
- Pick out the letters of your name from a vat of cold no-trade-name alphabet pasta shapes, then eat them.
- Transfer ten cockroaches from one container to another.
- Eat some (cooked) chicken's foot.
While the treats were:
- Go and see a movie, having the whole cinema to themselves
- Mess about in a recording studio
- Play an as-yet unreleased computer game
In the latest series, the tasks have become a bit more imaginative, which is all to the good - although with more of a "game" element to them, some of them actually look like more fun than the corresponding treats, which seems to defeat the point somewhat.
In each round, the kids can either volunteer to do the task, or leave the choice up to The Unlucky Dip - each child gets a sweet, sucks it, and if their tongue turns blue, they do the challenge. The presenters also have to go through the rigmarole with the sweets to decide which will supervise (and also do) the task and which the treat. Success in a task means that only two kids have to do the next task instead of three. The final treat is some big exciting thing, and the kids doing the task also get to do the treat if they succeed. For the final round only, all five can do the task (if they all agree) and pass or fail as a group, so that either everyone gets to have the treat, or none of them do.
There's a bit of an unsubtle goody-two-shoes, value-of-friendship "message" thing going on here which is a bit annoying, but then we cynical grown-ups aren't the target audience. It still feels more like it should be an insert into some kind of Live & Kicking-style umbrella format rather than a show in its own right, but it seems to go down well enough with those it's meant for, anyway.
Catchphrases
"You suck!"
Trivia
In 2008, series 5 consisted of themed episodes, with hosts as follows:
- Sport - Iwan Thomas and Darren Campbell
- Music - Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes
- Activities - Iwan Thomas and Zoe Salmon
- Food - Gemma Hunt and Ortis
- Performance - Sam and Mark again
Key moments
When the teams lose the final challenge, which commonly results in a sequence of one of the hosts enjoying the last treat by themselves over the end credits. Although occasionally, we do get to see the team blaming each other!
Inventor
Format by Jonathan Wolfson from a concept by Mark Robson.
Contestants
Sorry, but there are currently no plans to make more episodes of Best of Friends. Keep watching this page to see if the situation changes.