Go for It
Contents |
Host
Broadcast
Talpa and Potato for ITV, 27 August to 10 December 2016 (6 episodes in 1 series + 1 special)
Synopsis
Spectacular challenges come back to Saturday night.
In the beginning, ITV imported You Bet!. Then came The Moment of Truth and the BBC's Epic Win. Go for It has a heritage to follow.
The challenge is simple to describe: achieve a particular feat, in the studio, often under time pressure. Succeed and win £1000. Fail and leave with ignomy.
Go for It has a variety of attractive stunts. Many of them involve alcohol. A bloke making cocktails while bouncing on a pogo stick, someone riding a unicycle across upturned wine glasses, opening a bottle of champagne with a big digger.
Bring a corkscrew...
Others are bizarre - identify a vacuum cleaner by the sound of its motor. And some are familiar: solve Rubik's Cubes against the clock. All are difficult, and it's clear to the viewer that they're difficult.
The programme has pace, it lets each challenge unfold, each segment tell its story, and then moves on efficiently. There's no stalling to pad out a full segment (as on You Bet). Rehearsal footage (a bane on Moment of Truth) is rare. And there's no messing about with prize money, as seen on Epic Win. We'll get through six challenges in most episodes.
Every challenge was completed in the studio. Over time, this grew limiting, we'd love to see some location shoots in later series (Spoilers: We didn't).
Stephen Mulhern hosts with his usual bonhomie and positive attitude. He manages to be the star of the show without being the star of any segment.
Rewards for another success.Go for It was entertaining and lightweight television. It began life as lead in to The X Factor auditions, it could go out in any slot where ITV wanted family-friendly viewing.
Inventor
Created by John de Mol, and licensed by Talpa Global BV.
Theme music
Marc Sylvan and Richard Jacques, credited for "Music".
Trivia
Recorded at The London Studios.
Adjudication by the Beyond Dispute company.
