Full Metal Challenge

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Full Metal Challenge
Starring Cathy Rogers Henry Rollins
Country of origin Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
No. of series 1
No. of episodes 13
Production
Location(s) Richborough Power Station
Running time 60mins (inc. comms)
Broadcast
Original channel Channel 4

Full Metal Challenge was a television series made by RDF Media for Channel 4 in the UK and the Learning Channel in the USA. Hosted by series creator Cathy Rogers and Henry Rollins, the show was very similar to Rogers' last show, Scrapheap Challenge. It was filmed in the United Kingdom with a budget of approx £6.5 million on location at the disused Richborough Power Station just outside Ramsgate in Kent.

There are initially 27 teams from around the world in the Challenge. Each team consists of 3 people. The teams were all given 1 month and $3000 USD (exchanged to their country's respective currency) to build a car. Their car had to be loud, noisy, big, and if possible, destructive -- qualities relished by the show's co-host, Henry Rollins.

The vehicles competed in a series of events, with each episode showing the competition between 3 vehicles. After the events, the teams each received points based on their performance. After all the events were complete, the team with the lowest score had to watch their car blow up. However, it is likely the car was merely dismantled, and the film edited to give the viewer the belief the car was destroyed. The car was typically driven into a large steel cylinder, at which point an unseen explosive explodes, and the car is consumed in a cloud of smoke, which clears to reveal the vehicle is gone. Since the explosion seen would not be sufficient to destroy the vehicles built, and there is never any shrapnel seen, it is obvious the car were not actually blown up. In fact, in the finale, all the cars were shown in a huge pile at the awards ceremony, proving that the cars had not really been destroyed.

The two winning teams faced off in a sumo wrestling match. The sumo-ring was re-sized for their cars, and was littered with things such as water puddles, nails, sandtraps, and generally anything to hinder or disable their vehicle. As with sumo wrestling, the objective is to push the opponent out of the ring. The winner of 3 moves on.

The overall winning team was "Aquaholics" from the UK with their vehicle Octopush.

At the time some of the vehicles involved in the series were on display at the Beaulieu Motor Museum.

The programme originally aired on Channel 4, the show was repeated on Dave in the autumn of 2007

Contents

[edit] List of games

[edit] Regular games

Three of these games appeared in each episode.

  • Ten Pin
  • Pitball
  • Hall of mirrors
  • Bumper cars
  • Roller coaster
  • Wetropolis
  • King of the Hill

[edit] Finish games

  • Sumo (for the two finalists of each episode only)
  • Grand International (first game played only in the last episode between the three finalists of the show)

[edit] Teams

[edit] UK teams

The Aquaholics
Team Members: Adam Russell Kyte, Martyn Pitman and Tony Stankus
Vehicle: Octopush

The Dodgy Oppos
Team Members: Anthony Edwards, Kevin Noble and David Davies
Vehicle: Wolverine

The Pole Cats
Team Members: David Ganiford, Rodney Arnold and Chris Thompson
Vehicle: White Noise

The Have A Go Likelies
Team Members: Barry Babister, Stuart White and Neil Challice
Vehicle: Devil's Mule

The Battle Bodgers
Team Members: Steve Atkin, Phil Hopwood and Martin Mitchell
Vehicle: Pure Adrenalin

The Body Snatchers
Team Members: Tim Miles, Debbie Bilton and Gerry Lea
Vehicle: Stomp

Three Shades of Grey
Team Members: Peter Anderson, James Anderson and John Brian Anderson
Vehicle: Wild Thing

The Mud Hatters
Team Members: Jeremy Greenwood, Michael Williams and Stephen Nicholls
Vehicle: Mega Hurtz

The Tartan Tinkerers
Team Members: Arie Rodenburg, George Gray and Tarik Rodenburg-Abro
Vehicle: Spartacus

[edit] North American teams

All teams are from USA except The Snowdiggers, which were from Canada.

Tribal Force
Team Members: Paul Shipman, Edward Hara and Leslie Hara
Vehicle: Rez Ride

The Snowdiggers
Team Members: Jonathan Gendron, Benoit Ranger and Christian Poirier
Vehicle: Steel Survivor

The Death Guild
Team Members: Sam Nordemann, Matthew Noble and David Howe
Vehicle: Monkey

Country Boys
Team Members: Keith Hartzog, Corkey Perkins and Billy Stafford
Vehicle: Southern Crusher!

The Hot Rods
Team Members: John Streets, John Buddenbaum and Jay Streets
Vehicle: Double Dub

The Law Dawgs
Team Members: Tom Rhea, Dave Corder and Michael Hicks
Vehicle: Impact Weapon

The Ball & Chain Gang
Team Members: Tim Wiggans, James "Jamie" Collins and Robert Cochran
Vehicle: Idiodyssy

The Washburns
Team Members: Ray Washburn, Shane Washburn and Jon Washburn
Vehicle: Agivator

Chicago Fire
Team Members: Mike Kappel, Joseph Mrozek and Edward Brennan aka Proby
Vehicle: 911

[edit] International teams

The Kalahari Cats (South Africa)
Team Members: Mike Rideout, Guy Fielding and Gavin Coetcee
Vehicle: Leopard

The Desert Pumas (Chile)
Team Members: Attilio Gattavara, Pedro Boeri and Nestor Aguilera
Vehicle: Marabunta

Kiwi Thunder (New Zealand)
Team Members: Trevor McCoid, Kent McCoid and Steve McCoid
Vehicle: Black Thunder

The Flamin' Aussies (Australia)
Team Members: Melissa Thompson, Jane Casos and Rebecca Anderson
Vehicle: Deflector

Flying Horse (China)
Team Members: Zhong-qi Sun, Tian Sun and Guo-Feng Chiang
Vehicle: Flying Horse

Indian Hope Trick (India)
Team Members: Raj Kapoor, Vijay Parmar and Jayesh Desai
vehicle: Delhi Belly

The Russian Bears (Russia)
Team Members: Maxim Nagaytsev, Evgueni Novitski and Alexey Novitski
Vehicle: Siberian Monster

The Autobahn Boys (Germany)
Team Members: Heinz Udo Fink, Ulrich Weinberg and Christian Diekmann
Vehicle: Humungus

The Ice Vikings (Iceland)
Team Members: Rafn Hardarson, Sverrir Ingjaldsson and Haldor Bjornsson
Vehicle: Thor

[edit] External links


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