Scrapheap Challenge: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:43, 27 May 2003

Revision as of 22:57, 20 July 2003

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'''''Scrapheap Challenge''''' (known as '''''Junkyard Wars''''' in the [[United States]]) is a [[reality television]] program shown on the [[BBCChannel 4]] and [[The Learning Channel]]. The game show features contestants using materials available in a [[junkyard]] to build working machines that can do a specific task. At the end of each episode, the machines are pitted against each other in a contest to determine the winner.

Episodes generally consist of two four-person teams in competition, plus one or two hosts who usually consult with an "expert" judge who knows something about non-[[junk]] versions of the machines being constructed. Each team consists of three regular members, plus a fourth expert who usually has a better understanding of the class of machine being constructed for that episode.

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The idea for the show came from a scene in the movie ''[[Apollo 13 (movie)|Apollo 13]]'', where [[NASA]] engineers had only a short period of time to construct an air filter out of parts available on the space capsule.

''Scrapheap Challenge'' originated on the British [[BBCChannel 4]], but was imported to United States television under the name ''Junkyard Wars.'' Later, an American version of the show was created with the same name.

In the [[United Kingdom]], the two programs have distinct names, but American audiences only see the ''Junkyard Wars'' title. Sometimes, video of the UK version is even edited to blot out the name ''Scrapheap Challenge.''