Dog Eat Dog

I am getting very concerned about the current plethora of entertainment shows on TV. It seems we as a nation have eschewed the qualities of light entertainment, we have turned away from well crafted and constructed comedy and we have ceased to value wit and intelligence. All this has now gone because what we really want to see is ritual humiliation, nothing seems to entertain more than someone putting someone else down. Whether its They Think Its All Over seeking to belittle our sports stars, Never Mind The Buzzcocks perpetually biting the hand that feeds it, The Weakest Link putting down any poor sap who cannot answer a question in 2 seconds flat or the dogs breakfast ...  Read the complete review

...in which the title of an absolutely spiffing Adam and the Ants single is snaffled to introduce truly addictive but spitefully awful prime time Saturday night TV viewing... (or alternatively) Gordon Burns and the Krypton Factor meet Annie Robinson and The Weakest Link in a marriage made in Hell where the bastard offspring is platinum blonde, wears leather and has ditched forever her 'Hurdy Gurdy' past... Take every man's favourite Lager Lass, the occasionally cussing, usually quite dumb and always gorgeous Ulrika-Ka-Ka-Ka Jonsson, the splendidly popular quiz show challenge format and the sort of unpleasant and sarcastic banter which ...  Read the complete review

It's not very often I find something on TV on a Saturday night that I enjoy watching, let alone a game show. One Saturday I was in on my own and I happened to switch over to BBC1, where Dog Eat Dog was showing. To start with I was not very impressed by the video footage of the six contestants on a 'Team building' day. It seemed that they had been encouraged to make bitchy comments about each other (a la Blind Date). As the show began though it got more enjoyable. Based on what the contestants learned about each other on that day, they each have to vote for the person most likely to fail the task. The person with the most votes has to take the ...  Read the complete review

When I first saw this advertised I was a bit dubious about it but it is great entertainment. Seven people compete for £10,000. They have been on a 24 hour course of tests together which include physical mental and dexterity tasks. They then use information gathered there to determin who will fail a given task in the studio. If the person selected is sucessful however they can get rid of one of the people who choose them if they fail they are out. Tasks include Maths, word games, a driving simulator and a tilting rotating climbing wall. This is like the Krypton Factor and the weakest link in one show great fun but the ultimate task is at the end when the ...  Read the complete review

This is a really odd type of game show but not too bad by Saturday night standards, if you compare it with what has gone before. If nothing else the format is a bit different from the normal. Basically you stick 6 contestants away for a week on one of those outward bound things with some mental exercises, mensa test etc thrown in. The idea being that they should each get a rough idea of what the others are good or bad at. Back in the studio the always photogenic Ulrika Hohnson, usually dressed in black leather, puts them through their paces. A game is described and they each have to nominate who they think will FAIL it. A lot of tactical voting goes on ...  Read the complete review