The Desert Forges - Deeply Dippy In The Jordanian Dunes

This month (September 2019) sees the filming of 'Boyard Land', a winter offering of Fort Boyard with the format transposed to a theme park rather than the chills of the English Channel. However, it's not the first attempt for FB's host network TF2 to have a second adventure game show filling the winter schedule. In 1999, they commissioned Adventure Line to produce "Les Forges Du Desert" which was set in the Wadi Rum region of Jordan, an area with an average high temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The show was not successful and despite a high budget with an experienced producer behind it, low viewing figures led to TF2 cancelling it midway through its series.

Channel 5 weren't put off by its colossal failure in its home broadcast nation and in 2001 broadcast their own version of 'The Desert Forges'.

Hosted by the odd couple of Right Said Fred singer Richard Fairbrass and model Gabrielle Richens, the show challenged two couples to compete against one another in a series of tests of physical ability to be allowed access to the titular desert forges in order to be allowed to cast their own prize of real gold ingots.

Now, it's nigh on impossible to find any footage of the show online, it wasn't well-received and as such it seems nobody felt it worth rescuing from VHS recordings if indeed anyone recorded it in the first place, so in lieu of any footage from the show beyond this clip of the intro, and a full episode of the French version I'll include at the end, prepare for Fairbrass.

EDIT: Turns out its the French/Canadian version, the actual French version is even more elusive than I thought.

The show was broken down into three stages, the first being the Desert Duels, 4 challenges to gain control of a dagger. The first game, for example a race across suspended wooden beams, would decide initial control of the dagger and control after each duel would go to whoever did better in subsequent games. For example, there was one which saw the male contestant of the controlling team have to get as far as they could jumping across 7 pillars, his partner would then place it in a box at the side of the pillar he got to and screw it tightly, all within 60 seconds. The challenging team would then have to jump from pillar to pillar, checking boxes as they go and then have to unscrew the dagger to achieve control.

Clarkson hated vests

 The second part of the show takes place in the Palace, a group of tents and buildings in the middle of the desert where the teams are given challenges by the Poetess (played by swiss actress Melanie Winiger). The teams are tied together at the wrist and taken to their first challenge. The other team waits in the tent hoping for a chance to step in should the controlling team fail. At the start of each challenge, a candle is lit. Should the candle go out whether through burning out or as a result of each task, the team fails. To win, the team members must use their candle to light one of the gold forges in the final part of the show. If the team fails, they lose a flame and must return to the Poetess to get another. If they lose all their flames, their opponents get the chance to win the gold by completing the remaining games. The more forges that are lit during this stage, the more gold that can be won at the end. 

Before each challenge, other than the first one, the participating team is asked a "jidi", a mathematical or logical problem with a numerical answer. They are not told whether their answer is correct until after the four challenges are complete, the Poetess asks the active team their fourth and final jidi, before revealing which were answered correctly. The four answers follow a sequence from which a fifth can be worked out which can come in useful in the third part, the Forges room.

Watch carefully, he tries for a peek

The team that wins in the Palace moves on to the Forge room, a four-minute challenge to pour their own gold ingots. First, they have to move a minecart down a track to the other end of the tunnel. Partway along the track, they must complete a puzzle to raise a gate blocking the way. If none of the forges were lit during the Palace, the team must retrieve a key from the mine cart to unlock a cage and ring a bell, which causes the smallest forge to be lit. Once they arrive at the forge, the fifth number in the sequence from earlier on is given to the Forgemaster. If they've got it right the crucible for the molten gold is automatically released, but if not the team must release it manually, eating into the 4 minute time limit. With help from professionals, the team pours the gold from the largest lit forge into the crucible and then pours the gold from there into ingot moulds. They receive a fixed cash amount for every complete ingot made, incomplete ingots get nothing.

Considering this was devised by the team behind Fort Boyard, a lot could have been expected of the show but unfortunately, it wasn't the most straightforward of concepts and whilst grand in scale, it only lasted one series. That is however better than the 3 episodes it survived for in France. It may have been from the team behind FB but it wasn't a Jacques Antoine format, seems they still had plenty to learn.

Next week, I'm moving slightly away from adventure game shows but only because theres a Channel 4 show I've been watching a bit of on YouTube and I think it could do well if it returned, if even for a one-off special.