Outrageous and very funny (Balls Of Steel)

Member Name: nickn5

Product:	Balls Of Steel
Date:	26/07/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes you laugh lots

Disadvantages: Lots of swearing at times

Daring, outrageous, risque and provocative - and a jolly good laugh. I actually first encountered this program quite recently, and thought, hmm, looks interesting, bit like a modern Trigger Happy TV.
Except that the exploits this lot get up to make Trigger Happy TV look so tame it's untrue.

The clue is in the show's title - audience members must vote for the act they think has the biggest 'balls of steel' to carry it off. Which is a thinly disguised excuse to air some of the bravest, funniest and most outrageous pranks played on the British public ever.

Let's take a look:

Alex Zane (or, the bloke who hosts a fake game show) takes great delight in winding people up who think they're on a genuine game show, by tampering with things, like causing a lie detector to buzz falsely, or by preventing a contestant ringing his answer bell, or sometimes just by plain lying. How he keeps a straight face, well, that's part of his talent. I find this segment of the show one of the funniest parts.

Annoying Devil (or, the bloke who dresses in a devil costume) runs round Britain terrorising innocent passers-by by playing all manner of tricks on them, whether it's walking behind them with signs pointing at them describing (rudely) what he thinks they are, or deliberately driving slowly in a car holding up traffic, or by annoying couriers collecting things, the list goes on. Pretty hilarious but just sometimes you do feel sorry for the victims!

Neg's Urban Sports (or, the young bloke who wears a cowboy hat and whoops) - this involved a variety of escapades such as leaping onto unsuspecting pedestrians backs and trying to hold on, or by carrying out a fake 'stick-up' in a shop/cafe/office and counting how many people lie down, etc. Along with the 'Fistful of Dollars' theme, this is really incredibly funny, and despite the audience votes, I would say that to do these stunts needs the biggest balls of steel.

Pain Men (or, the two blokes who like hurting themselves) - almost enough said there, really, except that these scenes do often involve parts of the anatomy and are not for the squeamish or prudish.

Big Gay Following (or, the friendly bloke who wants a bum) goes around and after the briefest of pleasantries, asks random men if they want a bum (a what?). Predictable responses follow, apart from one memorable occasion when a well-known radio presenter actually said 'yes'...

And the list goes on, the above being just a selection of the most regular offerings.

I have watched the whole of each series, and I would be hard pressed to choose the best. Mark Dolan hosts every episode, and actually I find he gets rather annoying after a while, with his 'too-scripted' lines and always the same introduction to each clip 'Let's take a look/Let's have a look'. But he does bring the whole thing seamlessly together.
A tribute to the popularity of the show is how many other countries have produced their own versions, to varying degrees of success.

As stated before, this show is not for the prudish (or squeamish in places), and if you don't like swearing, particularly avoid Neg's appearances.

Summary: Good example of great British TV