World's Strongest Man
(→Broadcast) |
|||
| Line 22: | Line 22: | ||
[[Philippa Forrester]] (1996-7) | [[Philippa Forrester]] (1996-7) | ||
| - | [[John Inverdale]] (1998- | + | [[John Inverdale]] (1998-2004) |
| - | Martin Bayfield ( | + | Martin Bayfield (2005-) |
[[Zoe Salmon]] (2009) | [[Zoe Salmon]] (2009) | ||
| Line 33: | Line 33: | ||
Commentators:<br> | Commentators:<br> | ||
| - | [[Paul Dickenson]] (1994- | + | [[Paul Dickenson]] (1994-2004)<br> |
| - | Jamie Reeves (2000- | + | Jamie Reeves (2000-4)<br> |
| - | Nick Halling ( | + | Nick Halling (2005-9)<br> |
| - | Colin Bryce ( | + | Colin Bryce (2005-)<br> |
Paul Dickenson (again, 2009-) | Paul Dickenson (again, 2009-) | ||
Referee and event designer:<br> | Referee and event designer:<br> | ||
| - | Dr Doug Edmunds (mid-1990s- | + | Dr Doug Edmunds (mid-1990s-2004),<br> |
| - | Svend Karlsen ( | + | Svend Karlsen (2005-) |
Bill Kazmaier (interviewer, 2005-6) | Bill Kazmaier (interviewer, 2005-6) | ||
Revision as of 22:25, 10 May 2011
Contents |
Host
Derek Hobson (1980)
Mike Adamle (1981)
Donny McLeod (1982-4)
John Craven (1985)
Archie MacPherson (1985-6)
Chris Serle (1988)
Bill McFarlan (1989-91)
Paul Dickenson (Voiceover, 1992-3)
Juliet Morris (1994-5)
Philippa Forrester (1996-7)
John Inverdale (1998-2004)
Martin Bayfield (2005-)
Zoe Salmon (2009)
Alex Reid (2010)
Co-hosts
Commentators:
Paul Dickenson (1994-2004)
Jamie Reeves (2000-4)
Nick Halling (2005-9)
Colin Bryce (2005-)
Paul Dickenson (again, 2009-)
Referee and event designer:
Dr Doug Edmunds (mid-1990s-2004),
Svend Karlsen (2005-)
Bill Kazmaier (interviewer, 2005-6)
Previous commentators to appear here
Broadcast
ITV, 1980 to 1981 (Britain's also 1979)
TWI for BBC 1, 1982 to 2004
TWI for Five, 2005 to 2009
TWI for Bravo, 26 December 2009 to 31 December 2010 (18 episodes in 2 series)
TWI for Challenge, 2011 to present
Synopsis
To those who take part, World's Strongest Man is more than a mere gameshow, it's a proper sporting event. To which we at UKGameshows.com say "oh yeah, then how come it's filmed months in advance, bunged out over Christmas, and they don't even read out the results on Grandstand or nuffink?". And then back away a bit sharpish, 'cos those guys are bigger than us. Much bigger. (Except Andrew "Stumpy" Raynes. We could have him in a fight, easy.)
Anyway, you know what this is. Thirty or so enormous blokes from around the world lift rocks, pull trains, hold up vans full of gold bricks, and suchthelike. The golden age was of course the 1980s, when it made a national hero out of British canary and budgie breeder and two-time world champ Geoff Capes. And later on it gave Jamie Reeves something to do in between hod-carrying appearances on Record Breakers.
The contest did hit a bit of a dull patch in the 1990s, but in recent years has become very watchable again, thanks in no small part to the stellar presentation team of John Inverdale and Paul Dickenson. Even Jamie Reeves, his hod-carrying days long behind him, turned up to explain the events and assess the competitors' chances. Unfortunately, the whole Strongman thing really has gone on to a more professional Proper Sport footing in recent years, which alas means that what with having to hold down proper jobs as well, Britain's part-time strongmen don't really stand a chance against those Eastern Europeans who spend 28 hours a day in training.
It's moved all over the place, from ITV to BBC, to Five, and now to Bravo. John Inverdale did the first year on Five before being replaced by Martin Bayfield, who does his best to imitate his predecessor, bless him, but doesn't quite manage it. Also, what traditionally marked the days off between Boxing Day and New Year is now on at the beginning of January, Paul Dickenson no longer provides commentary (though they have located a replacement, Nick Halling, who sounds spookily like him) and the episodes don't finish with one of the competitors beating Inverdale up in a variety of comedy ways. Never mind, though.
Trivia
In 2004, the contest was reduced to twelve competitors who took part in a complicated round-robin competition with a weird scoring system that we didn't quite understand ourselves. Happily they reverted back to the traditional "top two from each heat progress to the final" tournament format we all knew and loved in 2006.
As well as the main World's Strongest Man contest, the Beeb also showed Britain's Strongest Man, in which all the contestants are British, Europe's Strongest Man, in which all the contestants are European, and World's Strongest Woman, in which... well, you can probably work it out for yourself. Five also showed World's Strongest Man Super Series, a series of self-contained contests which serve as qualifying events for the main World's Strongest Man competition. British Eurosport also shows all sorts of variations on the theme, but we have to draw the line somewhere.
At 6' 10" (2.08m), Martin Bayfield is probably the UK's tallest game show host, perhaps even the tallest TV presenter overall, beating even John Leslie's impressive 6' 4".
Geoff Capes was a regular celebrity guest on various 1980's shows, including Crackerjack (on which he was inevitably gunged every time), Pot the Question and also Secret's Out, in which his budgie-breeding was his hobby for the panel of kids to guess. More recently, he has been seen on an advert for a certain insurance company. The advert shows Capes (complete with a mug bearing a picture of a budgie named 'Sparky', surprise, surprise) weighing down one end of a barge, while the advert's famous nodding bulldog is sitting happily (and high up) on the prow. ("Belting - right, Churchie?" says Capes. "Oh, yes!" replies the dog). Capes has also appeared even more recently on Antiques Master, displaying an impressive knowledge of, and interest in, antiques.
Web links
The living legend, Geoff Capes
