The Krypton Factor

Yesterday's episode was shown on Channel at 11:10pm (because they showed the sporting awards at 7:30pm).

The episode was broadcast exactly as it was on ITV1 earlier that evening, with the ITV1 ECP & voiceover on the end credits, which said that The Bill was on next (when it was actually Point of Origin!)

This must have confused viewers. I was expecting the episode to be shown with clean end credits.

This also means that Channel has missed an episode of Dexter.

THE EXCLUSIVE FACTOR: This edition of my newsletter proudly presents a British scoop! I’ve signed an exclusive deal with myself to talk for the first time about The Krypton Factor which, of course, returned to the screen recently after a 13 year absence. In the last couple of months I must have been approached by 20 or 30 radio stations, newspapers and TV shows to talk about it but I turned them all down. I even said “no” to Richard and Judy! So, the one and only time I’m going to say anything about Krypton is right here, right now, exclusively in my newsletter. So straight in with the question everybody is asking me.

What do I think of the new series with its 21st century makeover and new presenter? Well, for me, watching it felt like how I imagine a husband must feel seeing his ex wife with her new man! But I have to say I quite liked it. Firstly I’m relieved it has stuck largely to the old format and traditions of The Krypton Factor. I feared that with the desire to give it “a 21st century makeover” it might go ultra modern and a bit daft with contestants riding quad bikes down the assault course avoiding water jets or using computers to build the Intelligence test puzzle on monitor screens etc etc.

And if you think I’m exaggerating, let me remind you what happened to the 18th and final series of Krypton. Despite the 17th series doing well with very healthy ratings the ITV Network Centre in their “wisdom” decided to radically change the show. Gladiators was popular at the time so they decided they wanted Krypton to become “Gladiators – with brains” and that it should be “an event” with “an arena feel.” TV executives love those sorts of phrases! So the show was totally revamped. The regular rounds, mental agility, physical ability, observation, intelligence and general knowledge were shortened and squeezed into a very tight part one. Then, in a totally separate studio, part two was staged. A giant steel maze was built, there was a complicated laser beam challenge, a semi parachute jump from just under the ceiling of the studio and Krypton mountain for the contestants to climb. The new scoring system was madness. All the points scored in the traditional 5 rounds BOUGHT the contestants small advantages in part two but didn’t count thereafter. In other words your points could, say, enable you to start climbing Krypton mountain from one rung higher than the other contestants! The person who completed all the “arena” challenges and reached the summit of Mount Krypton first won the show. So in effect all the points you accrued in the traditional challenges in part one counted for virtually nothing! And if you think that was bad enough, it gets worse! At one stage they decided to drop the assault course! Can you imagine that – dropping the most popular round of the show. It would be like getting rid of the chair in Mastermind. Fortunately we managed to get them to back down but at a cost. They decided the assault course should become the first round and be used largely to introduce the contestants. Oh…and the contestants wouldn’t race each other down the course!! Instead they would be given individual target times calculated after taking sex, age, weight and general fitness into consideration. So the fir!st half of my assault course commentary was spent describing who the contestants were and the second part commentating on a race that wasn’t. It would finish something like this…”So crossing the finishing line first is accountant Sam Smith though of course he may not be the winner….2nd is Jane Jones the Nottingham shop manager followed by Sarah Simpson from Yeovil and Bill Bloggs from Belfast….but in fact taking into account their individual target times Sarah Simpson in 3rd place is actually the winner, Bill is 2nd, Jane 3rd and the man who crossed the line first, Sam Smith is last!!” It was all a complete mess, the viewers hated it, and the show disappeared for 13 years!

So that’s why I’m so relieved the revived Krypton has returned to its roots and gets my seal of approval.

As I said earlier, I like it. But I have a couple of constructive criticisms to make. I’m not hugely impressed by the new “tougher than ever” assault course. The way it’s shot you never get to see how long it is or how many obstacles it has. And in my view all the contestants should be running at the same time. But in the new version there are two separate races – contestant A v contestant B, then later C versus D. Their finishing times decide the actual points breakdown. Back in the late 1970s we built a course specially for the programme at a territorial army base at Holcombe Brook near Ramsbottom. We either had 4 of every obstacle or one that was wide enough for all 4 contestants to be on it at the same time. We packed the course with obstacles – about 23 of them, all different – so that the contestants were constantly facing new challenges demanding different techniques. It was all action. And we built a road down the side of it so that our cameras could track along with the contestants. And we also placed a couple of cameras high up on cherry pickers to show off the length of the course. It really caught the public’s imagination and that assault course has raised over a million pounds for charity down the years with organisations using it for sponsored events.The other thing I think was unnecessary in the new show was putting each contestant in a chamber for the mental agility first round and wiring them up to monitor their heartbeat. Inside, the contestants are asked their questions by a disembodied female voice. I think that’s so unfair on new presenter Ben Sheppard. The first round is the presenter’s opportunity to establish his role as question master with viewer and contestant alike. He should be seen to be personally grilling the contestants in their chairs right from the start. But all in all, I think Ben does a good job and it’s a very enjoyable watch. I wish Ben and the team all the best and if they get even half as much fun as I did over its 18 year run they’ll be very happy indeed. One final piece of advice to them. The critics haven’t been too kind to the new programme or Ben but they shouldn’t take any notice of that. The press, in the build up to this Krypton revival, described the old show as “that television classic” and “legendary.” And I had to chuckle when they referred to me as “a legend” and “an icon!!” The truth is that in all the 18 years of The Krypton Factor – from 1977 to 2005 - the show didn’t get a SINGLE good review and neither did I as its presenter! But the important thing was we were nearly always in the TV programmes Top Twenty and hit a highest audience of 18.2 million. It would appear you have to grow old before you get any plaudits! So, enjoy your youth Ben – the rest will come.

Nevertheless, after being sceptical initially, I think it's good telly. Extending the length of shows in any future series to 35 minutes would counter the feeling of being cramped and rushed - much longer than that and I think attention could wane. Quiz shows that run for 45 minutes+ swiftly become tedious and hard to commit to.

Interesting that they introduced new puzzles in tonight's final heat. We hadn't seen the Times and Dates puzzle before and the putting together of blocks was like old school Krypton Factor rather then the touch screen surface puzzles we've seen in other weeks