Junkyard Wars
Host
Cathy Rogers and George Gray (original hosts)
Cathy Rogers and Tyler Harcott
Tyler Harcott and Karen Bryant
Broadcast
RDF Television for TLC (USA) and Channel 4, 3 January 2001 to 2004
Synopsis
The American version of Scrapheap Challenge, made in America, for America, but to all intents and purposes still a UK show, at least in its early days. Indeed, at one stage the British and American versions were actually being made back to back, by the same crew, in the same scrapheap. Er, junkyard.
The challenges from the UK series were re-used for the American version, and Cathy Rogers hosted both versions (after all, there's few things America likes more than an "English rose"), so really there was little to distinguish between the two series. Interestingly, her original US co-host George Gray went on to greater fame by taking over from Anne Robinson on the US version of The Weakest Link. He was replaced by Tyler Harcott, a likeable Canadian beanpole who made a good foil to Robert Llewellyn when the two series combined for a couple of transatlantic christmas specials.
The American version effectively broke away from the parent show after a while and played out its final two seasons as Junkyard Mega-Wars, at which point we draw a veil except to note the presence of British "Scrapheap" veterans as permanent team captains in this version, namely Richard "Bowser" Munson in the first season and Dick Strawbridge in the second.
